Over time, I have been working on restoring the shakuhachi given to me in London gathering.
Here are three of the nice shakuhachi that I was honoured to give their voice back !
In November, I’ve been working on this beautiful 1.8 ji-ari made by well known Tom Deaver. It is a professional level flute that was unfortunately cracked in several places on both parts…
Albert who gave it to me wanted me to repair it with traditional inlaid rattan bindings which is a very long and meticulous work; here are the different steps in pictures :
Next one is another Tom Deaver ji-ari given by the same person but longer in 2.1.
On this one, besides a big crack on the upper part repaired with the same technique, the utaguchi needed a buffalo horn inlay replacement; the challenge was to shape the piece of horn in order to suit perfectly in the former carved location (I usually do it in reverse order !)
After finishing the utaguchi inlay, I had to re-lacquer the bore with urushi where it was damaged.
The last flute is a 1.8 old kinko ji-ari which I couldn’t identify the hanko; probably around 80 years old regarding its manufacture, the several repairs and the bamboo patina. I bought it from a professional player who hasn’t been very kind with it…
The general tuning had been modified both on finger-holes (opened and filled with epoxy) and bore (modified on the kanjiri part).
Thus, I had to completely re-tune it and then lacquer it again but this flute has already been through much worse regarding its different repairs giving it a very wabi-sabi looking !
This shakuhachi has a very nice mellow and dark old kinko tone colour.
In order to have it well tuned, I had to enlarge pretty drastically the tone-holes (final average of 13mm) which results in a bigger volume and easier meri fingering.
I will put it on sale soon…
