Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

Hi Ben,

Doing an inlay usually requires a little fudging to get it it to fit snug. We start with ideal shapes on both the bamboo and inlay material but when it comes to the actual fitting, one has to give. So the result may not be exactly what the maker intended.


Old flutes usually had steep insert angles. Here is a photo of a repair where I had to fit the horn to the existing cavity in the bamboo. On this kind of repair, I had to constantly adjust the shape of the insert in order to fit sung. On a new flute, the maker can fudge both the bamboo and the insert (shape and angle) making the process quicker. This would result in the slight variations on the final surface shape.



Here's an insert of an ivory Sogawa inlay over a Buffalo Horn Kinko to raise the blowing edge a millimeter. I made this 3.5 flute for Tairaku a few years ago. In actuality, I should have done the Sogawa inlay then since this really is not a Kinko flute.  I hope the flute doesn't become schizophrenic:)

Many professional makers in Japan will also do different inlays, mostly Kinko or Tozan.

Namaste, Perry