Re: [Shaku] FLUTE MAKING

From: JASON CASTNER (jchanwagenki@yahoo.com)
Date: Fri Apr 29 2005 - 13:43:40 PDT


WOW, lots of difficult questions... :) just kidding

MY CULMS - Some of them I saw off even at a node.
others I left the way they were because I like the
natural, just broke off because of wind/water storms
look. looks really cool.... They are all different
lenghts, widths, and colors. some are like a 1.3
shakuhachi or smaller - a couple are like 6 inches
long. I make the small ones with 5 or 6 small finger
holes on the front side. no thumb holes. small
flutes are cool because the sound pierces the air and
travels extremely far. some are as big as 3.0 or
larger. and then all sizes inbetween. some are big
as my wrist in diameter, others like 1/2 in diameter.
colors range from brown and black to white and tiger
stripped.

Some of the culms tapper naturally, others I will burn
with different sized rods and manipulate a tapper if
possible. sometimes u dont need a tappered bore and
somehow 2 octaves come out great???? I dont know why.

some have 2 nodes, a few exceptional ones have a nice
curve at the bottom and have 7 or 8 nodes and look
like a proper shaku.

without sanding the bore they sound clean yet raspy
and buzzy. after sanding they sound like clean and
glassy and peircing. they respond faster as well.
river cane vibrates easier than dense/heavy bamboo.
sound is vibration.

working out finger hole positions isnt hard. just
think how many fingers do you have, how far can they
reach or how close can they be and still be
comfortable. then how high or how low should the
first hole be and go from there. I use a tuner as
well. and start with a small rod 1/8 inch maybe???
didnt measure it. and work up to bigger and bigger
rods untill I get a nice sound. then move on to the
next hole.

2 ways to make flutes - intelligence and intuition. I
rely more on intuition. but intuition means more
mistakes perhaps, however out of 50 or 60 flutes that
I have made I only burned away 6 or 7 because they
sucked.

jason

--- Tuscia-Falconer <falconer@enternet.co.nz> wrote:
> Jason, how are you working out the position of your
> finger holes ?
> Are your culms all different lengths ?
> Are they tapered ?
> How many nodes do they have ?
> You say that firstt you burn out the bore, shape
> your utaguchi, get your
> sound then sand out the bore. What changes in sound
> are you noticing between
> the 'burn out' and the 'sand out' ? Perhaps because
> you have not made finger
> holes at this point there is not as much change as
> there might be if you
> already had the finger holes.
>
> Kel.
>
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> .
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