What's Protective and What Can I Remove?

General
#1

And the total beginner noob questions continue … sorry guys, I’ll get past this stage soon lol …

  1. I assume that the protective covering on the tip of the tenjin (headstock right?) can be removed?

  2. My shamisen came with a plastic / rubber cap at the end of the sao where it sticks out of the other side of the dou. I assume this was just so I can assemble the sao and place force against the the ground and I can remove it now?

I do know the doukake is meant to stay on as a protective cover on the top of the dou. I actually want to make my own doukake and matching tenjin cover too. (I know there’s detailed instructions in Kyle’s book.)

#2

I’ve been told that most people leave the cover on the tenjin on, as it can chip pretty easily if you bump it into something.

#3

  1. Yeah, like Kamil said, I leave mine on. It’s good protection (I’m WAY too clumsy with a shamisen in my hands) and doesn’t look bad either, no need to remove it, as it doesn’t affect sound or really anything at all. But, if you really wanted to you could.

  2. It should be removable, yes. Or at least there’s no real need to keep it on, as it’s not as if it held the neo in place or anything, that’s all done by the strings anyway. That said, it doesn’t affect anything either, so do whatever you’d like with it.

#4

As the others have said, keep the tenjin cap. They’re such a mainstay of the shamisen aesthetic that even the basic blacks are often maintained and occasionally kept covered with their own, removable cloth bag.

#5

Eh … I just wish it looked better lol. Mine is one of the cheapie black paper mache things. I found a Nagauta doukake I really like from Kameya. I am hoping they have extra fabric and I plan to just glue it on the cover I have to match the doukake.

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