Custom Bachi Story: Matching Itomaki

A customer reached out to me and asked if I could make a bachi that matched the color of itomaki on a new shamisen he just purchased from Bachido. The itomaki were these beautiful purple-dyed figured mango with African blackwood tuning pegs. I wanted to make sure that I could match the wood as best as possible, so I reached out to Kyle Abbott from Bachido to see if he had any leftover wood from making the itomaki that was too small for more itomaki but big enough to make a handle for a bachi. I was in luck, because he had something that was just about the right size for me.

Near the transition to the blade, the wood is not quite wide enough, so I had to take some of the left over pieces and pad out the handle width slightly. Grain matching for such a varied grain wasn’t possible at all 4 locations, but for the two parts where the color changed the most, I added small accents with silver inlay to help visually break up the color and add a nice effect. When polished up to 2000 grit, the figure pops out of the handle and shimmers in the light with a truly remarkable effect.

I paired the handle with a dark smoke acrylic to match the transition to the African blackwood in the tuning pegs. This was a truly fun custom project to see come together!

Above image from Bachido

Custom Bachi Story: Remote Matching of Size/Weight/Balance

This customer was a big fan of Ainoco bachi and had been using one for both practice and performance for several years. Over time, the tips began to wear and it was time for a replacement. Having used this bachi for years, they wanted have the replacement match the previous specifications as much as possible. However, being in Japan with me in the US, I was unable to directly measure or handle the bachi to see how it felt. So, the customer sent detailed measurements of the size (total length and handle dimensions), weight (134 g), and balance point (~70 mm from the base). Also, based on the photo of the original acrylic material, I recommended some candidate materials for them to choose to achieve the same flexibility.

I started by making a test bachi with purple acrylic, because I needed to understand how much the weight changes from the sum of the component weights to the final sanded product. I guessed correctly that it would lose around 3 g when using walnut handles, so the purple bachi was spot on 134 g. For the balance, I used the normal 84 g of steel weights, but had to add additional lead strips towards the acrylic side to get the balance point correct as well as the final total weight. The two bachi for the customer also came out at the correct weight and balance.

This was a really good challenge for me to see how well I could make things to customer specifications. It also gave me an opportunity to study material difference for different acrylics made to the same specifications. With the size, weight, and balance properly set, here is what the customer had to say about the playability:

“I am very happy with both bachi. The Golden bachi is very close to my ideal. It is very easy to control and play, and it seems to work well for a wide range of styles, from Jōngara-style playing to minyo. My shamisen has a synthetic skin, and I feel that the Golden bachi has a very good compatibility with it. It also has a nice amount of flex, which gives me confidence when playing. The Titanium bachi has slightly more flex than the Golden one. I think this makes it especially well suited to minyo styles such as Western-style minyo and Akita minyo, where that extra flexibility can be very useful.”

Custom Bachi Story: Bachi for Large Hands

Another customer reached out because his beginner plastic bachi was too small for his hands which made playing uncomfortable. So, I extended my normal design to 20 cm in length to add some extra room to the end which gives him plenty of space to allow for comfortable playing. You can see his review of this bachi below:

“I googled around to find a bigger bachi since the basic one I got with my purchase of my shamisen made my hand hurt. I found @zengobachi and sent Truman an e-mail to see if it was possible to get a larger bachi made.

The level of service and inclusion in the process of making the bachi impressed me very much. From the questions about measurements of my hand and my current bachi to the updates along the way in the crafting process, I felt totally safe when choosing @zengobachi for my new bachi.

The only thing that is better than the service that Truman provides in the ordering process is the actual finished product. It feels so comfortable in my hand, and the best thing is that you can really feel the quality of the bachi.

If you want a high-quality custom bachi, I recommend you reach out to Truman at https://www.zengobachi.com/”