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Well as per some recomedations, I went out and spent a whole $5 for some tonkin. I downloaded Ken LaCosse's .pdf file, am still waiting for the Levinson book and here is where I am and of course I do have some questions.
The tonkin was 10 feet long so I took my douzuki saw and cut it into 3 nice 24" lengths. Tried to get one cut about an inch to a node and another where 24" landed. One blank has 3 nodes and the other 2 have 2 nodes. The closer cut will be the mouthpiece.
Dimensions
OD is from 1.24" to 1.37" typ. both ends
ID is 0.73" to 0.91" typ. both ends
I will be going by the plans..
First question... Does the material I will be removing at the interior of the nodes act like a filter?? In other words will this be the "tapering" bore I will be making? Not alot of tapering in its natural state.
Should I, in the future purchase thick wall or thin wall bamboo as the cost in quite minimal. Compared to guitars this is very low.
I would imagine the mouth piece is going to be very dependent on wall thickness.
All the tonkin pieces I viewd posessed very wide spaced nodes. However I am getting to be friends with the owner and he raises bamboo for sale as plants and also for his business, bamboo furniture, and occasionally "cleans out the herd" and has soom ground level pieces available. These will be green.
Has anyone used a seriously sharp chisel to refine the mouthpiece angle cut?
Well I am seeing this is not a chuck of bamboo with some holes in it. However when tap tuning acoustic guitar tops you do have to "listen" to the wood.
Thanks for any help...
Peace
Robert
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You don't get a natural taper above the root; it's the root area of the culm that supplies the taper. Everything above that
is pretty non-tapered. The node membranes within are not useful in adding any taper to the bore, and they are more or less
cleared away flush with the bore surface.
The timbre and performance of the flute is to some extent affected by how much of a given node ring protrudes into the bore.
Mujitsu knows a lot more about this aspect than I do.
To a point, thicker walls are better than thin walls, and the inner diameter must be taken into acount. You do have more control
over shaping the blowing end with a thicker wall.
The best way to cut off the wedge for the utaguchi is by clamping the culm into a bench vise or otherwise securing it, and cutting
with a hack saw, then smooth it flat with flat files and sanding sticks. If you have a good floor-standing disk sander handy
that's even better--if you've made guitars, you're already checked out on that method (I made 'em for 20 years ).
Unless you know some secret arts, I'd stay away from a chisel for doing this.
Whereas the bore can be bigger, you want the end you blow into to be 2 - 2 1/2 centimeters. This is achieved by leaving some
of the node material in the mouthpiece as you shape it, thereby having the option to use any diameter you wish. This is called
an ikigaeshi (breath return), and is sometimes even built up by glueing in a small crescent section of bamboo opposite the
blowing edge--I think you usually see this only in ji-ari flutes though, where the whole inside of the bore is built up to precise
dimensions.
This image, of a jinashi by Kinya Sogawa, shows an ikigaeshi
Again, on some bigger bore flutes by Kinya Sogawa
Showing the bevel cut and back cut on the chinrest (2.8 by Perry Yung).
This flute also has a 'natural' (as opposed to added) ikigaeshi.
The 'flatter' the bevel (ie, less than 30 degrees), the more of a curve
you will have right at the blowing edge.
Last edited by edosan (2007-10-25 00:06:00)
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Hi Robert,
robert wrote:
First question... Does the material I will be removing at the interior of the nodes act like a filter?? In other words will this be the "tapering" bore I will be making? Not a lot of tapering in its natural state.[/quote}
Tapering is either natural near the root of Madake bamboo or done by fillers. The nodes can baalnce and shape some resonance spots only.Should I, in the future purchase thick wall or thin wall bamboo as the cost in quite minimal.
Yes. Thick walled bamboo is better for shakuhachi making.
Has anyone used a seriously sharp chisel to refine the mouthpiece angle cut?
I met a shakuhachi maker who refines the angles with a sharp knife. He does, however, cut the angles first with a saw.
Well I am seeing this is not a chuck of bamboo with some holes in it. However when tap tuning acoustic guitar tops you do have to "listen" to the wood.
Thanks for any help...
Peace
Robert
I like listening too! Some people check the density and dryness of a piece by "flicking" the bamboo with a finger nail. A dry dense piece has a sharper "tick".
Good luck and keep us posted! - Perry
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Edosan, good to see the old 2.8 again! I miss it:)
Best, Perry
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Oh golly, what have I got myself into. Just received the Levinson book and wow this is going to be an adventure. So I see that like guitars I need to make quite a few. I especially can't wait to figure out dealing with bore tapering and epoxy. I can see that bamboo selection is way important and hopefully I can get some nice root/ground level blanks someday. So off to finish the first three.
Thanks all
Peace,
Robert
P.S. Now to find someone to teach me how to play....
Closest I found is Seattle
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robert wrote:
P.S. Now to find someone to teach me how to play....
Closest I found is Seattle
Hi Robert. I think you said you were in Portland? Larry Tyrrell lives there (or on the edge of it, maybe). He's a talented teacher/player/composer. And nice guy.
-Darren.
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