To bore or not to bore...

 A few days ago I'd asked the noted shakuhachi maker Monty Levinson about bore smoothness. His reply: 

" In evaluation a shakuhachi, the following criteria are considered: bamboo aesthetics, craftsmanship, design parameters affecting sound production, as well as acoustical issues such as intonation, timbre, and resonance response of the flute.

Intonation is a determination of whether the instrument's minor pentatonic (5-note) scale is accurately tuned to "ichikotsu" (Western pitch) based on the strict standard of A=440 to 442 hz. at room temperature (20° C. / 68° F.) If not, which and what extent are specific notes are sharp or flat, and what can be done to correct the problems. Generally, pitch on jiari shakuhachi is determined by the relative size, position, and depth or chimney height of the finger holes, but can be affected as well by resonance issues associated with the oscillating air column inside the precision bore.

Timbre or tone color ("neiro", in Japanese) is largely determined by the aspect ratio of the bore—i.e., the relationship of cross-sectional diameter to its overall length—and largely a matter of personal taste. Timbre translates into harmonic configuration or the spectrum of frequencies that make up each individual tone. Not much can be done to alter this aspect of the a flute without completely redesigning and rebuilding the bore. Each traditional maker tends to have a recognizable quality of sound in this regard." 

Since I can only copy/paste from email in sections, he goes on: 

"Resonance Response is by far the most important issue in assessing the acoustical and performance qualities of a shakuhachi. It is the domain in which most wind instruments are likely to exhibit problems, but fortunately one that is correctable.

Resonance response governs how much air the flute will accept and how hard it can be challenged or pushed without acoustical consequences that diminish its sound production. If blowing across the utaguchi produces vibrations that match the natural frequencies of standing waves inherent in the profile of the oscillating air column inside a shakuhachi, then the transfer of energy is optimized. That is to say, little energy is wasted and lost in the transformation of breath to sound, so it is highly efficient. A well-designed shakuhachi bore—fabricated within a tolerance of plus or minus 0.01 mm.— has the potential to produce a strong, robust, or "big" sound with minimal vibrational input for all the open-hole frequencies. More simply put, the flute will respond by producing deep, rich tones having a wide dynamic range within a large envelope of sound if the vibrational modes initiated at the mouthpiece match the natural frequency of the instrument's precision bore profile.

Any shakuhachi, including the most primitive plastic plumbing pipe models, will perform adequately if the player blows softly, thereby exercising only the fundamental frequency in the harmonic series of sound. As more air is introduced into the bore and blowing intensifies, a composite of higher partials called “overtones" are simultaneously exercised giving the shakuhachi its distinctive full-bodied and resonant ringing tone. If the bore profile of an instrument is not properly fabricated and rendered to a very precise shape, acoustical problems will result. Unwanted vibrato, notes jumping into higher octaves, instability and weakness of tone, and, in extreme case, the inability to produce a clear sound at all are just a few manifestations of resonance problems. This aspect of assessing and grading the quality of a shakuhachi represents the greatest challenge to traditional makers." 

And to conclude: 

"That being said, some of the very best shakuhachi I’ve had the opportunity to play and work on, made by master craftsmen in Japan, look like train wrecks inside. While lacquered inside, the bores on these flute are not smooth at all, but highly eccentric. Areas of the interior bore that have been file out and/or show material added have been placed there for a purpose of enhancing resonance response of all the notes. What may appear to some as defects in the bores for jiari shakuhachi have been placed there intentionality to get the flute to play properly. Removing these “defects” by smoothing out the bore will only serve to ruin the flute." 

In other words, Not Recommended to smooth out the bore of a Yuu. That being said, I'm inclined to take my un-improved Yuu, which I've stained with some kind of wood stain from the hardware store and which, most charitably, could be described as looking like a big Tootsie Roll, go through the bore with a piece of Scotch-Brite (it's been painted red inside so we're talking paint here) and see how smooth I can get it, and try it out. It's kind of an "expendable Yuu". 

I also want to learn to make my own PVC flutes but here's the difference: I want to, instead of using a thicker piece of PVC to build up the mouthpiece, I want to have the flute 2 thicknesses all through. And ultimately I want to try learning to make them 2 thicknesses and also in 2 pieces so they come apart like a Yuu does. 

I sent an email to my pal Pat on the Big Island raving about pennywhistles, thinking if he showed any interest I'd send him one. But no reply. He does not seem to take positivity well. 

The Hall flutes I now have two of (I expect to get the package with the flute I'd ordered, cleaning rod, and Christmas song book on Wednesday night) are in the key of G, and I'm tempted to buy pennywhistles in other keys just to try those keys out. At $12-$15 a pop, they're tempting. A really common whistle key is D, and sadly in the Hall flutes there's a huge D and a D piccolo. 

I'm also going to get another Manhasset desktop music stand as I've now got space cleared to put two of them, and want to have my shakuhachi music, fingering charts etc. on one and my Hall flute stuff on the other. Maybe I can't have a middle-class type "music room" but I can have things so I don't have to switch bundles of music etc back and forth. 

One thing I've got to mention about today is, having gone to bed at midnight, and waking up at 8AM, although I felt a bit weird my body couldn't complain - it's had its 8 hours of sleep. And I had TIME. Time to pack the 5 or so things that had sold, time to call around music stores asking about a desktop music stand, even time to see if Park Avenue Music wanted to buy my last trumpet, which they did. 

I packed the things and took off around 11AM. I dropped off trash, went to Nijiya for a can of coffee and a couple of boiled eggs, went to the post office and dropped off packages, went to my bank and deposited the check I'd gotten for the flute, went to FedEx and dropped off the one FedEx package, then went over to Park Avenue Music, showed the guy the trumpet, and well,  I got less than I hoped to get, but then that thing's got this weird buzz when it's played much, and the guy's gonna have to pay his tech to fix that so ha ha the joke's on him and I don't have to worry about selling any more instruments. 

I'm keeping my clunky used Yamaha flute which at least plays, and I might have a use for. I have three Japanese shinobue flutes, as are used in taiko, and I think I might just donate those to the Nichi Bei store because anyone into taiko at all who makes their way to Japantown will go there. The little Yamaha fife I recently got, I may or may not mess around on but it was inexpensive enough that I may include it with the shinobue flutes or give it to a homeless person or something. 

The two shakuhahi Yuu's I have, I might as well keep both. So I'm really pretty much done with selling instruments. 

After Park Avenue Music, I rode back to Whole Foods to lock up the bike, then took the bus to West Valley Music where they said they'd have to order a Manhasset desktop stand but they have something called a "Grand Stand" that does the same thing so I went there and got one of those. It was a long ride on the bus there and back, and when I got back to Whole Foods I had two slices of pizza and a fancy "LeCroix" fizzy water because they don't sell the plain stuff any more.  

Then I picked up some bubble mailers at the Amazon place and just got back here. I tried out the new music stand and it's "very OK". One thing about it is, it can be folded very flat so if portability is needed, it wins over the Manhasset one. Otherwise, the Manhasset is a far better stand. But this is about $30 cheaper so there's that, also.