hi everyone, Ive recently gotten an old nagauta shamisen and of course i know the pegs will move and it is custom to have to tune even during playing but my problem seems to be beyond that. the tuning pegs do fit snug but they move way to much all the time. ive tried lightly sanding them to have a solid grip in the holes and it has helped only slightly. my question is, is there any other remedy to this or should i buy new pegs for my shamisen (if that’s even possible)?
Welcome cj,
You’re right, peg slippage is a constant concern, even with a top grade instrument. Very light sanding can help when the wood gets shiny, but you’ll eventually wear the pegs down to stumps doing that (I can say that from personal experience).
There is at least one old thread where this was discussed. The pegs are called ito maki in Japanese, and putting those two words in the search bar (in the lower right of the main page) gives you this:
tldr: Try violin bow rosin if you can get it, try toothpaste if you can’t. Don’t bother with those whitening strips, though; they don’t work.
Has anyone tried dried sugar? You know how sticky spots of dried soda can be. I would try that, but now with the soda because I think the co2 might “corrode” the metal and wood.
I wrap my itomaki with a thin layer of masking tape. The tape is soft and gets shredded during tuning, leaving the itomaki slightly sticky.
Yeah as long as it isn’t visible and doesn’t cause harm to the wood and metal it should be alright with any solution.
Japanese sumi ink is often used. It has something sticky in it to hold it in block shape, which also gives a bit of traction to anything it is applied to. This may be too difficult to find, but it is the traditional solution.
For white Itomaki,you may use rosin. And for black itomaki use sumii. You may use transparent rosin on black ones also… Since it will gradually turn transparent,and the itomaki will be very sticky.
I thought about using… Errr… Nah! I didnt test it (-: