What a crazy week I’m having! It feels just like this Jackson Pollack painting we saw last weekend at the Met. Sasa said,” Daddy, I can do that”. I said. “Great, and please keep this kind of spontaneity and freedom in your life!”. It’s always hectic here in the workshop, but this week on top of the repairs, commission work, shipping and lessons, I also took a Sankyoku workshop lead by Ralph Samuelson with the fabulous Yoko Hiraoka on koto and shamisen. What an amazing elucidating experience! (More in this later). On top of all this, I’m also opening a show at La Mama E.T.C. Please come if you are in NYC.

Some interesting validation and discoveries this week in the repairs department.

Correction:

The flute on the right was the repaired flute. The one on the left is in my collection.
The old, all natural shakuhachi on the right came in for evaluation. It lacked playability and I knew that the depth of the utaguchi was the main issue. The depth on a old flute is usually minimal, similar to the flute to the left. The work looked recent so I’m sure the person who did it was not a traditionally trained player (or repair person). Lowering the depth can make Otsu sound better for a beginner with a lose embouchure. But doing so sacrifices the response at the top of Kan (second octave), where there are lots of notes used by experienced players. The edge being too far away makes it difficult to access and control the high notes.

At the request of the owner, I inserted an utaguchi inlay made from Water Buffalo horn in the Myoan Style.

The top of the flute showed the handiwork of a monk. I love seeing the marks of the maker.

Unfortunately, I had to clean this all up because I also built up an ikigaeshi to make the top of Kan work. I normally insert a bamboo ikigaeshi but the back had some deterioration an dIdn’t want to remove any bamboo to make a clean graft so I used bamboo dust and CA glue to build it up. In the end, the flute had much better balance and Go no Hi and the Ha notes worked well, which didn’t before.

Here’s what the owner just sent me:

“Perry, I got the flute today. You are such an artist. I can only imagine what it is like to bring these old flutes back to life…Thank you so much. - G.M.,Washington

Another flute in the shop week needed the #1 (Tsu) hole moved for both comfort and adjustment for Tsu Meri. I took the plug from a piece of Japanese Madake I harvested in Kyushu in 2002 to match the bamboo.

Slow, careful Japanese style fitting.

Now, off to the theater (said with a British accent).