which side of the skin?

Building/Repair
#1

hi guys
just about to reskin my first project shamisen and i have a question

I’m using drumhead goat as my skin and it’s medium thickness, opaque white.
it’s really nice quality and very smooth on both sides, i can’t tell which is supposed to be the playing surface!!!
One side looks like it MIGHT be the hair size and the other has vein channels so which do i use?

#2

All of my natural leather shamisen have very obvious folicles, so I would assume hair side is what you want…

But this is probably a question better directed at Mr. Abbott himself or one of our handier folks.

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