One of my clients, a shakuhachi teacher who has given me much repair work over the years, is also a violinist. He asked if I could work on his antique Italian Violin. I used to work on guitars in the past so I know a little something about stringed instruments.  As with shakuhachi, each hand made instrument is unique and every repair has to be approached accordingly..

This one had a crack in the head stock at the tuning peg. This needed to be stabilized in order for the peg to hold tension.

I actually did a repair like this years ago on a Shamisen I collected in Okinawa so I knew exactly what was required - a post insertion. First a tiny pilot hole needed to be drilled. Next, I made a bamboo dowel to fit. The space was small and tight so I ended up making jigs to hold things in place for the clamp.  The tuning peg fit in snug and was able to hold the tuning. As I was checking the tension, I wondered if any one had ever played traditional Japanese music on this instrument. I then proceeded to plucked Sakura on it. And went on to some riffs from Rokudan and Kurokami. It sound great to my ears! Afterwards, I looked inside the violin. The yellowing label under the F hole read, among other things, Cremona - 1627.

For those who have flutes in the shop. Please know they are being worked on in a timely manner. This one is a Shugetsu from another teacher. It will have the full inlaid rattan bindings. Repairs sometimes take a little longer than expected due lacquer curing times, which is affected by temperature changes. Winter is nearly here. Keep your flutes humidified and away from dry heating.

Among other exciting activities this week,  Sasa’s new 2nd grade teacher asked if I could do a shakuhachi demo for her class. I said only if Sasa could do the show and tell with me. She’s quite a talented visual artist so I wanted to show off her work.

She drew and I played. It was a great father and daughter collaboration!  On Sunday at 1pm, we’ll be performing in Draftwork at Danspace Projects in the East Village,NYC:

http://www.danspaceproject.org/calendarandtickets/detail.php?id=51
It’s a new work-in-progress by choreographer Maura Donohue, a collaboration of shakuhachi, performance art and modern dance improvisation.

All in a weeks work

Oh, did I say, “my life rules?”