Medusirena, our good friend/Bachido Model, just showed me this stylish sanshin.
http://www.asovivasanshin.com/tropication_index.html
Alo~ha!
great looking sanshin , they are also making solid spruce top sanshin which i found very interesting , they took some of the guitar architecture to build it.
hehe theyve been doing that for about a year asfar as i know, ive always wanted the pink one ^^ very pretty
That’s kinda what Taichi san was wanting to do to make the shamisen cooler - painting pictures of the skin and such.
some inlays or bindings could be cool as well ! Mmmh i need to try it , walnut shamisen with mapple binding and a koi inlay around the tenjin area … looks cheap in my head actually !
Would be awesome ^.^ personally i was thinking of drawing on the skin of mine… but i was noticing nobody else seemed too so i thought it was abit taboo
meh will try it ^.^
And then there’s straight-up dye… I was telling Kyle about this banjo that I saw at a festival a few weeks ago. So gorgeous in person: http://www.docsbanjos.com/banjos/recently_sold/150/
Stained all the way from gold to blood red. Mmm…
And then there’s straight-up dye… I was telling Kyle about this banjo that I saw at a festival a few weeks ago. So gorgeous in person: http://www.docsbanjos.com/banjos/recently_sold/150/
Stained all the way from gold to blood red. Mmm…
Oh wow ^.^ its lovely
would like to see it on a longneck
some inlays or bindings could be cool as well ! Mmmh i need to try it , walnut shamisen with mapple binding and a koi inlay around the tenjin area … looks cheap in my head actually !
Ooh! That would be nice! 
Someone told me that their brother bought a $2000+ Sanshin which had a full dragon along the top of the sao. o_O That stuff would be so cool to see in shamisen.
Would be awesome ^.^ personally i was thinking of drawing on the skin of mine… but i was noticing nobody else seemed too so i thought it was abit taboo. meh will try it ^.^
Definitely try it! 
I’m sure colored itomaki were taboo at one point, so don’t let that stop you. 
Oh wow. I hadn’t seen them yet. That’s very tasteful. The streaks really stand out (in a good way)
And then there’s straight-up dye… I was telling Kyle about this banjo that I saw at a festival a few weeks ago. So gorgeous in person: http://www.docsbanjos.com/banjos/recently_sold/150/
Stained all the way from gold to blood red. Mmm…
Ho wow , this is amazing , i’ve never seen natural skin colored on an instrument , but this is a very very good idea !
Ooh! That would be nice!
It would be cool to see but i think the shamisen needs to keep a bit natural looking , i don’t know how to say it with the right words , but inlay art is tricky , the true genius is to be able to put tons of inlay and to keep it sober and discrete at the same time .
Two good examples for me : William Laskin for his inlay work
And Michihiro Matsuda because he has to be influenced by Shamisen , look at the head pegs and general design of the neck.
http://www.gryphonstrings.com/eGazette/2010-12E/images/5A-Michi_headstock.jpg
http://www.gryphonstrings.com/eGazette/2010-12E/images/5F-Michi_heel.jpg
And this is the good example of “way too much”
http://www.12fret.com/new/Martin_D-100_Deluxe_left_handed_guitar.jpg
Beautiful work but it’s killing my eyes .
oh boy I need to get such head pegs as on the Michihiro Matsuda one for my next selfmade shamisomething (unfortunately the koa wood source I thought I had seems to not be one so I am still lacking materials) and those aloha sanshins look great
Very nice work on the tuning pegs of matsuda’s guitar ^.^
its beautiful, It would be nice to see a few custom shamisen
the thing i would say to remember though is the shamisen is new, aslong as it makes the same sound it did 30 years ago people will learn to love it as we have, then maybe branch it off abit :3
(experimenting is still awesome)
would be nicer if the shamisen were to become abit more known first ^.^
But Bachido does a very good job in showing people so we shouldnt have any trouble.
Wow, that is very impressive inlay work!
I want to take that inlay out to dinner. Oh goodness, it is beautiful.
I want to take that inlay out to dinner. Oh goodness, it is beautiful.
You love that inlay, bro! You love it!
Thank you guys i just woke up and i had such a laugh now i can go chop some wood with a smile!
Here is the William Laskin’s website : http://williamlaskin.com/
there are plenty of inlays you can date Grant
Fun, cool sanshins and just flat out gorgeous banjos! I’m also loving those tuning pegs. (Guitar itomaki. Heh.)
As for shamisen, at this point even the craftman’s signature on the tenjin would be a radical departure that I would welcome. Some of the Chinese sanxian I’ve seen around the 'net have had pretty fancy headstock designs.