Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

The bore does not need any alteration from a standard 5 hole instrument.

Toby

Hola Henrique,

Here is a link to my blog entry where I converted an old 5-hole to a 7hole. http://www.yungflutes.com/log/archives/ … g_a_s.html

There are also a few threads here on the Forum about 7-hole shakuhachi in case you didn't see them yet:

http://www.shakuhachiforum.com/viewtopic.php?id=220
http://www.shakuhachiforum.com/viewtopic.php?id=37

Basically, just drill a small 3mm - 4mm hole where your lower hand pinky finger would feel comfortable at when playing. A small hole will allow you room to enlarge and sharpen for pitch. On Jiari flutes, the hole size is quite small so that it can be higher up for an easier reach. The hole is drilled angled down towards the bottom of the flute because the bamboo wall is very thick there (the proper hole placement would be lower). If you have thin walled bamboo, you do not have to factor this in in for pitch.

Each flute has to be tuned according to the taste of the maker. A standard Jiari may not require any bore work but you can decide if any adjustments need to be made after the holes are drilled. Spot tuning is only one technique for a maker to achieve desired results. A new Tsu Meri hole  may affect Tsu and Ro becasue it is near the Choke point - a very critical part of the bore that influences these two very important notes (for traditional players). Do you have a YUU you can experiment on?

This photo may help for the Ri Meri hole. It is smaller then #3 and #4.



Here is the sound file from this the flute playing the five hole scale first and then the seven-hole scale.

Hear the 7-Hole Shakuhachi Scale

Have fun mi hermano! Perry