Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

david · 2008-11-20 14:58:30

Does anyone know who John Niemi is and if he is still making shakuhachi?
The first shakuhachi i ever bought was made by him. It's a 1.8. I bought it for around $7. I couldn't even play it for about 2 years. It decievingly looks like a very cheap toy flute. Only 3 nodes, the utaguchi is not cut on a node, very thin black bamboo. A very bad first flute to learn on. But it is now one of my favorite flutes. very sweet and a perfect pentatonic scale! I can't believe how perfect the notes sound!
So I was wondering if he makes proffesional quality flutes?

edosan · 2008-11-20 19:21:10

david wrote:
Does anyone know who John Niemi is and if he is still making shakuhachi?
The first shakuhachi i ever bought was made by him. It's a 1.8. I bought it for around $7. I couldn't even play it for about 2 years. It decievingly looks like a very cheap toy flute. Only 3 nodes, the utaguchi is not cut on a node, very thin black bamboo. A very bad first flute to learn on. But it is now one of my favorite flutes. very sweet and a perfect pentatonic scale! I can't believe how perfect the notes sound!
So I was wondering if he makes proffesional quality flutes?

Pretty sure he's not making flutes of any kind (and has never made professional quality flutes). He shut down his website
at least 3 years ago, and doesn't show up on a Google search.

Tairaku 太楽 · 2008-11-20 23:25:44

He sold most of his wood to Ken LaCosse who is now making excellent flutes out of it.

If you want one of his flutes I have a 2.7 he made me about 12 years ago which is probably among his better efforts. I'd sell it for $300.

Yungflutes · 2008-11-21 09:35:36

Hi David,

david wrote:
Does anyone know who John Niemi is and if he is still making shakuhachi?

A few of his root end flutes came to me for tweaking in the past. Some were better than others (which is the case for all makers). They were all Hocchiku - all natural - style. They all looked like they had the touch of someone who liked to work with his/her hands. I never played his Black Bamboo flutes though.

The first shakuhachi i ever bought was made by him. It's a 1.8. I bought it for around $7. I couldn't even play it for about 2 years. It decievingly looks like a very cheap toy flute. Only 3 nodes, the utaguchi is not cut on a node, very thin black bamboo. A very bad first flute to learn on. But it is now one of my favorite flutes. very sweet and a perfect pentatonic scale! I can't believe how perfect the notes sound!

There's nothing like a nice playing inexpensive shakuhachi!

So I was wondering if he makes proffesional quality flutes?

I recall reading about his flute making philosophy a while back when he had a website. He seemed to be into the most natural kind of flute. He wrote something about not caring enough about Western pitch to chop a flute in half.

edosan wrote:
Pretty sure he's not making flutes of any kind (and has never made professional quality flutes). He shut down his website
at least 3 years ago, and doesn't show up on a Google search.

Tairaku wrote:
He sold most of his wood to Ken LaCosse who is now making excellent flutes out of it.

I bet he's got a stash... and he's just taking his sweet time.

Namaste, Perry

waryr · 2008-11-21 21:54:33

I have one of John's flutes, a 2.3 that is excellent. His flutes are definitely hocciku. They are all natural, and the utaguchi is cut at a different angle than my other flutes. It plays fine, however.

Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

#1 2008-11-20 14:58:30

john niemi

#2 2008-11-20 19:21:10

Re: john niemi

david wrote:

#3 2008-11-20 23:25:44

Re: john niemi

#4 2008-11-21 09:35:36

Re: john niemi

david wrote:

edosan wrote:

Tairaku wrote:

#5 2008-11-21 21:54:33

Re: john niemi

Board footer