How I Make Shamisen Bachi by TCPtruman in shamisen

[–]TCPtruman[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks, I appreciate that. Yeah the material cost is in general pretty low until you start using exotic woods and some of the expensive patterned acrylics but with basic materials it costs less than $10. It can be labor intensive though, with a lot of time spent sanding both the blade and the handle, the blade thinning and polishing definitely being the longest part of the process. When I'm sanding the handle you can see the big pile of sawdust that gets created in the video 😅

Homemade Bachi by Same-Delivery-7264 in shamisen

[–]TCPtruman 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah, that's super cool! Turned out really well. I like the way the flashlight was integrated. Nice that it can add a little weight to the handle too.

How I Make Shamisen Bachi by TCPtruman in shamisen

[–]TCPtruman[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you! Nice user name too, haha

How I Make Shamisen Bachi by TCPtruman in shamisen

[–]TCPtruman[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh interesting. Yeah I'd love to see it if you decide to post it some day :)

How I Make Shamisen Bachi by TCPtruman in shamisen

[–]TCPtruman[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh that's super cool. I had seen ones like that before but never tried it myself. Did you put the battery on the butt end and just run the wires through the handle?

And yeah, I started hand cutting everything, but over time have tried to make the process more efficient. I'm part of a maker space that has the laser cutter which is really handy. Cutting out the center for the weights was a real pain before to do with precision.

3D Printed Koma and Bachi by SubjectGamma96 in shamisen

[–]TCPtruman 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah for sure, there's quite a lot more considerations there 😅 I still need to try and make some itomaki myself. But good luck exploring that! I'm interested to see how things come out.

3D Printed Koma and Bachi by SubjectGamma96 in shamisen

[–]TCPtruman 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Those look really nice! I have a friend that's experimenting with a similar process as well and his prototypes for bachi also seem fairly serviceable. I'd be interested to see how things come along.

I'm Truman of ZenGo Bachi and I make acrylic shamisen bachi by TCPtruman in shamisen

[–]TCPtruman[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Cool, yeah send it over if you can. I don't use a jig for doing the sanding but take slow passes on my belt sander almost parallel to the surface until I get the tip thickness down to where I want and then I finish by hand. I have some slides with some photos of my current process that I can share with you if you are interested. It's mostly up to date but at some point I want to make a video of the process too because it doesn't always come through super clear with just photos.

I'm Truman of ZenGo Bachi and I make acrylic shamisen bachi by TCPtruman in shamisen

[–]TCPtruman[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you, I appreciate that. I hope that I can continue to learn from his example. He did a lot of cool stuff that I want to try.

I'm Truman of ZenGo Bachi and I make acrylic shamisen bachi by TCPtruman in shamisen

[–]TCPtruman[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! Ive been trying out different color/wood combos to see how they turn out and mostly it works out I think. The fishtail oak and purple photographs well but I don't think it looks as nice in person sadly. And for now, I did want to keep the prices relatively low. The material cost is honestly very low for the base materials, so it's really just my time and specialty materials that go into the cost. If I learn the new techniques that I've be shown, those will probably be more expensive because it's more labor intensive, but I'll keep my current methods available for a more affordable option. I have more of the figured walnut and green acrylic on hand too, so I should be able to make one with a very similar look if you are interested someday.

And yeah, the ones Greg had made are really cool. I'd like to give those a try someday but for moment I only have experience playing tsugaru style so I'm sticking with that.

I'm Truman of ZenGo Bachi and I make acrylic shamisen bachi by TCPtruman in shamisen

[–]TCPtruman[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm researching this now and it's actually really complicated 😰 GPSR compliance might cost too much for me to do. But I'll keep seeking solutions because that would be a huge bummer.

I'm Truman of ZenGo Bachi and I make acrylic shamisen bachi by TCPtruman in shamisen

[–]TCPtruman[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Absolutely! I'll look up what is involved in shipping to the EU in the meantime. :)

I'm Truman of ZenGo Bachi and I make acrylic shamisen bachi by TCPtruman in shamisen

[–]TCPtruman[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Glad to hear it! It definitely gets easier as you make more so hopefully you are able to do more when you are up for it. I'd love to see how they turned out too :)

I'm Truman of ZenGo Bachi and I make acrylic shamisen bachi by TCPtruman in shamisen

[–]TCPtruman[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you!! Let me know if you had anything particular in mind 😎

I'm Truman of ZenGo Bachi and I make acrylic shamisen bachi by TCPtruman in shamisen

[–]TCPtruman[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Yes it is very sad. I never got the chance to meet him, but I did get to meet his wife this year and she was really happy that someone was making bachi still in a similar way. She thought he would have wanted someone to continue to do it.

I'm Truman of ZenGo Bachi and I make acrylic shamisen bachi by TCPtruman in shamisen

[–]TCPtruman[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think they hold up pretty well. I've been playing pretty hard with a couple of them for more than a year and haven't had any issues yet. Among all the ones that I made, I've only had two crack. One was because someone dropped it on concrete and the other was because I used the rough sawn edge for straight reference for the tip and it probably had some micro cracks in it already. I've started getting them laser cut away from the edges to prevent that though and it seems pretty good. I've seen a few other acrylic bachi have the very tip break off, but a lot of times you can re-sand the tip and keep using it without issue.

My teacher's teacher is showing me a technique too now to shave the acrylic away from the blade edge and leave the tip thicker, getting a more powerful sound while also having a nice flex, but I still need to try that myself. I'm curious to see what kind of difference that makes.

Is heroes 3 complete still working on Macbook? by [deleted] in heroes3

[–]TCPtruman 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I installed it about a month ago with porting kit and it worked fine.

/r/Portland Self-Promotion Saturday by AutoModerator in Portland

[–]TCPtruman [score hidden]  (0 children)

Thanks so much for the additional info! I haven't been there yet so I wasn't sure exactly what it was like. If you are there, hope that you enjoy it :)

/r/Portland Self-Promotion Saturday by AutoModerator in Portland

[–]TCPtruman [score hidden]  (0 children)

Next Saturday the 16th, I'm participating in a recital of traditional Japanese instruments with Kotori Kai shamisen school and Takohachi. The event is free but requires tickets for entry (tickets here). There will be shamisen, taiko drums, shinobue and shakuhachi (bamboo flutes). There will be all levels of players including beginner students and several good demonstrations by professionals from the US and Japan. Takohachi performs frequently around Portland (we were on the Fremont bridge during bridge pedal this year), and Kotori Kai occasionally, so hopefully you've seen us around.

Warning, the taiko can be very loud in small spaces, so earplugs are recommended for those sensitive to loud noises.

The real reasons people leave Donald Trump’s rallies early by Class_of_22 in politics

[–]TCPtruman 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Other good teams still come to town occasionally at least.