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>ANOTHER THING: Monty Levenson does not use lacquer on his
>shakuhachi, in places where he tells the public it is lacquer. He
>sent a bottle of his "urushi" to me, and I also have it here in my
>hand. And his label says, "SIMULATED Urushi Lacquer". And it is
>PRECISELY the same color as the "lacquer" I bought from restorers,
>the bottles are similar and the labels and label printing are
>identical. I would wager anything Monty is getting his SIMULATED
>lacquer from restorers, just like I did. But is it urushi lacquer.
>If it were, Monty would say so.
>
>
HI Gene,
To set the record straight:
1. The bottle of simulated lacquer I sent you (as a gift) was not
obtained from Restorers Supply, a source I learned about only after
reading your post. I mixed and bottled it myself in a 1 oz. flip-top
plastic container purchased from Consolidated Plastics Co, Inc.
<http://www.consolidatedplastics.com> I use these bottles for flute
oil and had some sitting around the shop.
2. The label was printed by me on my Dymo LabelWriter EL40.
<http://www.dymo.com> I entitled the label "Simulated Urushi
Lacquer", as it accurately described the contents of the bottle, and
added some instructions for use thinking it would be helpful to you.
If the label is "identical" to that used by Restorers Supply, having
the same printing and wording, I can only say it's an amazing
coincidence and their graphics people have great design sense.
3. The bottle contains a commercial oil-based paint using
high-density pigment and metalized extract concentrated dye dispersed
in methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) solvent. It's my own unique concoction
mixed with my own two hands after much trial-and-error.
3. Contrary to statement above, I do use real, authentic, genuine,
100% lacquer derived from tree sap on each and every precision bore
shakuhachi and jinashikan I make. I use it to coat the bore in
addition to epoxy-based lacquer. I do not use "real" lacquer to coat
the bindings on my flutes, hence my use of the term "simulated". I
use this term on the section of my web site describing options for
binding. http://www.shakuhachi.com/Q-Binding.html I suppose I could
eliminate any hint of possible deception to say that I do not use
authentic Japanese urushi lacquer, but it never occurred to me to do
so until now.
4. I suspect the present misunderstanding has to do with one's use of
the word "lacquer" - both as a verb and a noun. Perhaps you have a
valid point here, and I am guilt of using this term in too general a
sense.
When in doubt on matters such as this, I am prone to pull out my
dog-eared edition of the American College Dictionary (NY: Random
House, Inc., 1963) I've owned since my freshman year in college <No
Web Site. No Internet back in '63> Without quoting verbatim, the ACD
clearly defines the term "lacquer" in a generic sense for its first
two meanings, i.e. "any of various resinous varnishes" while
referring to "Japanese" lacquer as a specific form of a general case.
Same with the word "varnish". It is defined as "any of various
preparations of resinous matter dissolved in oil, alcohol or other
volatile liquids". Clearly, using either the verb or noun form of the
word "lacquer" appropriately describes a process of coating woods,
fiber or other materials with a variety of different solvent-based
resins and pigments.
5. The final sentence of your statement above is the only correct
one. You're right. If you simply asked, I would have gladly answered
your questions openly and honestly as I have done each and every time
you have written to me in the past. I am not in the habit of
deliberately misrepresenting myself, my work or the flutes I make.
All the best,
Monty
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<html><head><style type="text/css"><!--
blockquote, dl, ul, ol, li { padding-top: 0 ; padding-bottom: 0 }
--></style><title>Re: Lacquer skinny?</title></head><body>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial">ANOTHER THING:
Monty Levenson does not use lacquer on his shakuhachi, in places<u><b>
where he tells the public</b></u> it is lacquer. He sent a
bottle of his "urushi" to me, and I also have it here in my
hand. And his label says, "SIMULATED Urushi Lacquer".
And it is PRECISELY the same color as the "lacquer" I bought
from restorers, the bottles are similar and the labels and label
printing are identical. I would wager anything Monty is getting
his SIMULATED lacquer from restorers, just like I did. But is it
urushi lacquer. If it were, Monty would say
so.</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> </blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> </blockquote>
<div>HI Gene,</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>To set the record straight:</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>1. The bottle of simulated lacquer I sent you (as a gift) was<u>
not</u> obtained from Restorers Supply, a source I learned about only
after reading your post. I mixed and bottled it myself in a 1 oz.
flip-top plastic container purchased from Consolidated Plastics Co,
Inc. <http://www.consolidatedplastics.com>; I use these bottles
for flute oil and had some sitting around the shop.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>2. The label was printed by me on my Dymo LabelWriter EL40.
<http://www.dymo.com>; I entitled the label "Simulated
Urushi Lacquer", as it accurately described the contents of the
bottle, and added some instructions for use thinking it would be
helpful to you. If the label is "identical" to that used by
Restorers Supply, having the same printing and wording, I can only say
it's an amazing coincidence and their graphics people have great
design sense.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>3. The bottle contains a commercial oil-based paint using
high-density pigment and metalized extract concentrated dye dispersed
in methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) solvent. It's my own unique concoction
mixed with my own two hands after much trial-and-error.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>3. Contrary to statement above, I do use real, authentic,
genuine, 100% lacquer derived from tree sap on each and every
precision bore shakuhachi and jinashikan I make. I use it to coat the
bore in addition to epoxy-based lacquer. I do not use "real"
lacquer to coat the bindings on my flutes, hence my use of the term
"simulated". I use this term on the section of my web site
describing options for binding. http://www.shakuhachi.com/
color="#000000">Q-Binding.html</font> I suppose I could eliminate any
hint of possible deception to say that I do not use authentic
Japanese<u><i> urushi</i></u> lacquer, but it never occurred to me to
do so until now.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>4. I suspect the present misunderstanding has to do with one's
use of the word "lacquer" - both as a verb and a noun.
Perhaps you have a valid point here, and I am guilt of using this term
in too general a sense.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>When in doubt on matters such as this, I am prone to pull out my
dog-eared edition of the American College Dictionary (NY: Random
House, Inc., 1963) I've owned since my freshman year in college
<<font color="#0000FF">No Web Site. No Internet back in '63</font>>
Without quoting verbatim, the ACD clearly defines the term
"lacquer" in a generic sense for its first two meanings,
i.e. "any of various resinous varnishes" while referring to
"Japanese" lacquer as a specific form of a general case.
Same with the word "varnish". It is defined as "any of
various preparations of resinous matter dissolved in oil, alcohol or
other volatile liquids". Clearly, using either the verb or noun
form of the word "lacquer" appropriately describes a process
of coating woods, fiber or other materials with a variety of different
solvent-based resins and pigments.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>5. The final sentence of your statement above is the only correct
one. You're right. If you simply asked, I would have gladly answered
your questions openly and honestly as I have done each and every time
you have written to me in the past. I am not in the habit of
deliberately misrepresenting myself, my work or the flutes I
make.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>All the best,<br>
<br>
Monty</div>
<div><br></div>
<div><br></div>
</body>
</html>
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