Hey all!
So I’m very new to all of this and was thinking about buying the Raven shamisen from the store because it looks the best to me, a truly gorgeous instrument. My only concern is what it comes with as the wording seemed to be unclear. I got the impression that I just came with the shamisen alone and that other things like strings, bridge, tailpiece and doukake needed to be purchased separately. I don’t think this is something I will pursue to a professional level, I have a hard enough time doing that with guitar already, but I have recently started a journey of becoming at least passingly familiar with other cultures’ stringed instruments and my research has lead me here. I am ready to buy but just wanted to know what I should expect before I do. I appreciate any info people can give me here, thanks.
Correct. All accessories are sold separately.
Hi Birb and welcome. 
As MMXIX said it comes alone.
You’ll need to buy the brigde/strings/neo/doukake and the most important part : the Bachi.
I bought an Akatsuki few years ago and Su_aka_M showed me something super usefull : a kind of rubber band that you put on your lap that prevent your shamlisen from slipping while you play.
Another thiong super usefull : the yubikake. Once you try it, you wonder why we don’t use it on yestern instruments.
Hope you’ll have fun.
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