Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

Today at work I came across a couple of bamboo sticks. They are quite thin and might work for something like 1.4 or below. I just picked one up on random, figuring that it was in the best shape of the bunch. I didn't measure it or anything because I never expected to get a sound out of it. I have no experience with any sort of tools whatsoever apart from some simple woodwork at school back in the days.

My tools were a bit limited since I basically had one blunt saw, one very rough straight file and a ton of iron pipes of various lengths from really thin to really thick. I figured that the komuso most likely didn't have that much and so I should do just fine. I started by cutting a piece so that I had a little bit of extra at both nodes and a grand total of four nodes. Since I had no tools to easily remove the inner nodes I figured that I'd stick to that particular setup as it left me with two inner nodes that might be close enough so that I could use a screw driver or something to take them out. At this point I had no idea what length my flute-to-be was.

I first removed the two end nodes by hammering a nail through them until the whole thing was gone. I used a file to finish the job to some degree. The inner nodes were tougher but I managed to break them with a thin iron wire that was tough enough to not bend. Few hits with it did the job although I had no control over what happened inside. Too bad I don't have a file long enough to get the rest of the nodes out. Air seems to be going through, however, and the nodes are almost gone.

I filed an utaguchi on the flute after everything else was done. I could kind of play it even without utaguchi but adding that detail made all the difference. I first tried to make one with a saw but that didn't work at all. File worked much better and gave me something that at least looks roughly right. I was hoping to use the belt sander but unfortunately I was stuck with a guessing the correct angle with my not-so-great file.

The utaguchi came out too deep but I couldn't help that given that the bamboo was pretty thin at that part. On the other hand, it actually works just fine and Ro can be bended quite a bit. I tried Otsu no Ro, Kan no Ro and Kan no Chi and they all worked to some degree with no strange sounds or such.

What surprised me was that although I picked the length completely at random based on the distance between four nodes, I ended up with almost precisely 1.8 piece of bamboo. I was about 0.5cm over 1.8 but the other end still has about that much to remove. Then again, I believe my bore size differs somewhat from reference 1.8 and thus the pitch of Ro isn't exactly D. It is close enough, however, that playing it now feels much like playing a normal 1.8. This was what clued me in at first because blowing Otsu no Ro felt somehow familiar.

So far I have a semi-functional flute with no finger holes. I'll drill those in a bit to see what happens. I can't do a whole lot of tuning with no tools or materials to use but I figured that it'd be nice to see how well this thing turns out. I'm completely amazed that it actually produces a sound that is no worse than many flutes that I've tried. I also need a chin rest or at least I have to sand that edge as it is currently pretty rough for the chin.

I'll try to post pictures once I get home.