Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

The Yuu is a little heavy, but for the price is good value and durable.

How do you want to alter the blow end and particularly, why ?
How long have you been blowing ?
If you do alter it I am interested in the outcome, I am thinking it may reduce your meri range, depends how you modify it.
Various grads of sandpaper, or files.

Kel.

Lee, I have just received a Monty 1.8 after blowing my own flutes for two years. I don't have a Yuu in front of me, a friend has one. On my own bamboo flutes I was giving the chin rest a greater angle for comfort, and this brought my lips closer to the edge, perhaps too close as I could not usually get good pitch bend. but I would also chape the rim of the chin rest. I think you could take small amounts off, but play it for at least a week between shavings, that is, I think you will possibly make posture alterations to fit the new shape.

Please keep me informed as I am interested in what you do and the consequences.

Kel.     §

LStanford wrote:

Compared to my Monty Levenson flute, the edge that goes up under your bottom lip is very straight.  It seems like it should be more angled.  My teacher told me it needs a shave, as does one of his bamboo flutes, but he's  afraid to ruin them.

A suggestion:

Before you start whacking away at the angle of the blowing end, you might achieve your goal here by increasing the relief ('roundedness') of the chinrest (see area denoted by red arrows in the image below). The shakuhachi yuu may have a bigger outside diameter than the Levenson, and the comfort/fit is considerably affected by the outside diameter of the bamboo as it comes into contact with the slope of your chin where the shakuhachi rests:

       

If this doesn't work for you, you've done no harm, and can proceed with the angle change. A good home made tool for this is a sanding block made of a piece of wood about 1/2 x 2 x 4-5 inches with a piece of 100grit garnet sandpaper glued/doubleside taped to one side and a piece of 150 or 220 grit on the other side. A padded bench vise is also helpful.

Be sure to re-establish the chinrest relief after any angle changes are made. In my experience it is the amount/depth of the curve here that makes a difference; moreso than making the angle more acute.

eB