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#1 2006-12-28 08:13:50
- matthew
- Member
- From: Okayama, Japan
- Registered: 2006-07-16
- Posts: 25
komuso style utaguchi
Hey all,
I was looking at some of the recent pictures on Perry Yung's website and he has a couple of flutes where the utaguchi is cut with a much more blunt angle. It looks really nice and I am wondering if anyone would share about what happens when one deviates from the thrirty degree angle that seems to be pretty standard. What other angle options are there and how do they sound/feel? I just went into the woods and gatherd a half dozen pieces of "dead in the ground" bamboo and all of it is of the wide bore variety. I'm thinking of adjusting the angle some...what do ya think?
In addition, any thoughts on working with dead bamboo vs. the green stuff would be apprectiated. It always seems to devolop cracks pretty fast on me.
Thanks for the inspiration everyone,
Matt
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#2 2006-12-30 00:10:10
- Karmajampa
- Member
- From: Aotearoa (NZ)
- Registered: 2006-02-12
- Posts: 574
- Website
Re: komuso style utaguchi
My presumtion on greater angle utaguchi is that it may have a meri preference to keri.
What bamboo did you pick, my objection to the 'dead' bambnoo I have in my grove, which is philostichys nigra, black bamboo, is that it smells really BAD !
And the wood is softer and has decay.
But.....you may have a better variety.
Kel.
Kia Kaha !
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#3 2006-12-30 01:42:46
- matthew
- Member
- From: Okayama, Japan
- Registered: 2006-07-16
- Posts: 25
Re: komuso style utaguchi
Thanks for the thoughts. The bamboo I'm working with is madake (hard for me to tell, but the Japanese farmer who owns it said so). It seems that some of it is too far decayed to be used, but I was able to find some that was still a bit green, but on it's way out. It does seem to smell a bit, but I can put up with it.
I've taken green stuff from the same grove, but since I'm new at this when a flute doesn't work out or I bust up the piece trying to get it out of the ground I feel kind of bad. Maybe in the future I will be more confident, but for now I was thinking I might as well use the stuff that died of natural causes.
I'll be sure to let you know how it turns out.
Matt
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#4 2006-12-30 03:03:52
- Karmajampa
- Member
- From: Aotearoa (NZ)
- Registered: 2006-02-12
- Posts: 574
- Website
Re: komuso style utaguchi
I have planted madake, it is a lot tougher than 'black' to cut out of the ground, I use a bolster chisel, that is a wide chisel used to cut bricks, and a heavy hammer to cut the roots until the culm is loose.
Yes, it is necessary to be patient as a good culm is not easy to come by.
Be sure to dry any culm for as long as possible.
The 'black' I use is useful to make elementary flutes that actually sound good and I am getting good experience towards using the stronger and denser madake.
Kel.
Kia Kaha !
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