Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

Things get fairly cold here in Finland during winter. The only cracks I have ever gotten on a flute were, as far as I could tell, directly related to taking a flute out during very cold weather. I transported one flute from my home to another place a couple of times. It was always stored in a bag properly but several cracks still appeared on the surface. After I stopped taking any flutes outside during the winter period I haven't had a single crack on any of my flutes. I believe very strongly that cold weather affects shakuhachi, either because of cold or because air is generally very dry if temperature goes down. It could be just luck but I would find it strange that I have a flute that cracks as soon as it gets taken outside and then I have no cracks for nearly two years after that.

Of course, this was quite cold weather. If you are at zero degrees celsius or so it might be less of an issue. Past -10 or even -20, I certainly would not take a bamboo shakuhachi outside. This may be nothing but voodoo magic on my part but I honestly believe that really cold weather is a factor in cracking.

I've had one of my flutes in pretty cold backpacking weather a few times.  The night temps were 25-28F, day temps 40's. Its one of Perry's 2.0 with a laquered bore.  I keep al my flutes in plastic bags and then in a fleece wrap to slow down the temp changes.  Then thow in my sleeping bag at night. 

One thing to be mindful of is if the Bamboo of the flute has a higher moisture content( or is natural un-coated bore)it is possible freezing temps could cause enough expansion to crack it.

It is so nice playing outside int the wilderness though!

Have a great trip!!!

Ken

dstone wrote:

P.S. - I also took hose clamps and rubber, just in case...

Hmmm... wouldn't having it fully bound prior to the trip serve the same purpose preemptively? From Perry's response it sounds like the chances of damage are minimal anyway, so a nice set of bindings would decrease the chance of any problems even further just in case. The fishing line ones aren't that hard to apply yourself, maybe it won't be as pretty as a professional job, but still not bad. As far as instruments to carry in my car when the weather gets cold (and in general, excessive heat can't be good either and it's probably not the best idea to keep your most prized instruments in a car), I chose a plastic flute instead of a wooden Irish flute and a wooden shakuhachi instead of bamboo. Something tells me my logic is flawed... However, I think I should check on that plumwood kaval that's been sitting in that case in the trunk for a couple years now.

...

I just checked and the kaval is fine. It was in the trunk of my car since Oct 2006 in New England weather. I have a hunch that these instruments are more robust than we give them credit for. Of course, that leaves open the question as to why some of them seem prone to cracking no matter what you do. Maybe it's poor selection of stock or improper curing. I also have a feeling that extremes like sub zero fahrenheit like in Finland or getting one too close to a campfire probably will test the limits of any wood or bamboo instrument.

Besides,what about the woodblocks of komuso playing in the snow, or the tales of Nezasa players melting the snow they were sitting in by playing, or the tales of traditional shakuhachi masters having their students playing barefoot in the snow till the flutes grew icicles?