Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

Hello,  I am Tom,  I have been visting the Forum for about a year.  I purchased a PVC 1.8 several years ago on EBay, with the help of a book tried to teach myself to play.  I was frustrated  and looked for a teacher on GOOGLE last June and was lucky to find one 70 miles away in Portland, Maine.  I went to a work shop he was presenting last July.  One of the other players had just purchased a new 1.8 and took pity on me and my PVC Shakuhachi. He let me take a Monty 1.8 root end home to test drive.  I purchase it from him and stared to take regular lessons last July.