Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

Hi Phil  Please take this with a large grain of salt.  But here's what I have seen in my amateur fiddlings.

My jinashi flutes are generally in the "ru with 1 open" category.  Some *can* do it shaded, but most respond with an unwanted harmonic with even a little shading of top of the 1 hole.  On my one jiari flute I play ru with 1 shaded, of course. 

Now... I had a small revelation with two flutes I was midway finished than can't play a proper ru.  Even with 1 wide open, they tend to want to fall into that same harmonic (like the others if I shade too much).  So this got me thinking...  maybe open the top of the 1 hole (evenly, though maybe overcutting on mostly the outside would also do it) a bit?

I have done this on one of the problem flutes and now it doesn't fall as *easily* into that harmonic.  i.e. ru is easier to play.  So my working theory (and it's nothing but that) is that if I applied the same "open the top of the 1 hole, possibly even just overcutting" treatment to a "normal" jinashi flute... I could then play ru (or would probably *have* to play ru) with 1 shaded.

Of course, this should also sharpen tsu a bit.  On the flute I tried this on, I actually didn't notice that effect and/or possibly tsu was already flat and I didn't notice that originally.  This would be a happy set up for a smart "double fix" as Ken likes to suggest.  Of course, this could also make the entire flute unravel.  So I'll shut up now.

-Darren.