Custom-made acrylic bachi for Tsugaru Shamisen

A man playing a shamisen at an outdoor festival with traditional Japanese lanterns hanging above him.

I’m Truman, the maker of ZenGo Bachi. I’m an amateur musician based out of Portland, Oregon. I started playing shamisen in 2021 under Yumi Torimaru (Kotori Oyama), where I’ve come to love how the instrument is used in both traditional and modern music. The shamisen bachi is used to strike the strings, and differences in shape, edge thickness, weight, and material can all have an impact on the tone of the instrument. I wanted to try out different configurations, but it would cost too much to buy a lot of different bachi for experimentation. I had a chance to play with an acrylic bachi by Ainoco and loved it. I realized that the raw material cost was fairly low, and if I put in the effort to learn, I could make as many bachi as I wanted. So I experimented and refined my bachi making process over the past couple of years and I started making them for my teacher and some of her other students. Now I want to share them with other shamisen enthusiasts throughout the world who are looking for a quality hand-made bachi at a good price. Please check out the Gallery and Pricing pages and send me an email if you are interested or have questions!

Shamisen Player and Bachi Maker

  • Walnut/Solar Flare Gold Shimmer Acrylic

  • Bloodwood/Scarlet Translucent Inking Acrylic

  • Fishtail Oak/Purple Acrylic

  • Cherry/Pink Pearlescent Acrylic

  • European Figured Maple/Blue Acrylic

  • Mahogany/Yellow Acrylic

  • Ziricote/Red Acrylic

Your Bachi, Your Style

With a custom made acrylic bachi, you can choose from a wide variety of acrylic colors, patterns, and wood types in order to reflect your personal style.

The blade of the bachi can be sanded down to produce the desired flexibility and tone. This way you don’t have to sacrifice great sound for great looks!

  • The starting price for a custom bachi build is $125, which includes an acrylic blade in a color of your choosing, wooden handle, and steel inserts to add weight. Other options include more dynamic acrylic patterns and exotic wood handles. See the Pricing page for more details.

  • If your build uses materials that I have on hand, I can usually make the bachi in less than 1 week. Ordering new materials will add on the time that it takes for them to come in.

    Applying finish to the wood handle can take 1-3 weeks depending on the desired finish. I can give you an estimate based on your specifications and the number of current orders I have.

  • Aside from picking the acrylic/wood types, I can also adjust the overall length, edge thickness of the blade (to desired flexibility), and the weight. For steel-weighted bachi, the maximum weight ranges between 120-140 grams depending on the material used for the wood handle.

A man smiling outdoors, wearing a bandana and an apron, holding acrylic bachi, with trees in the background.

In Memory of Greg Matsuura

ZenGo Bachi has two meanings. The 前後 technique means to alternate play in the forward (mae, 前) and back (ushiro, 後ろ) positions. 前/後 also means before and after. I take great inspiration from what came before, and there was no bigger influence to me than the work of Greg Matsuura of Ainoco Bachi. Greg was a pioneer in making acrylic bachi for shamisen and I’ve been inspired to learn to create ever since I had to chance to play with one of the bachi that he made. I used that inspiration to develop my own process over time, and hoped to reach out to Greg and connect once I was ready. Sadly, that time never came, as Greg left us all much too early, passing in May of 2025. My goal with ZenGo Bachi is to carry on and build upon the legacy started by Greg and Ainoco into the future.

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