Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

Shiretane wrote:

Hi

I have a 1.8 David Brown wood Shakuhachi and I am unsure if each time after playing I should break it into two pieces for cleaning and storing, or if I should just do this occasionally to make sure the cork remains dry and the joint doesn't become loose.  I am worried that constantly breaking and re-assembling the flute might also loosen the joint.  Can anyone advise?

Thanks

Leave it together. Only take it apart if you must for travel. There's no good reason to dismember it for cleaning. Just pull the spitrag through it and be done with it. David's joints are very strong, but they do get stressed from the effort of taking them apart repeatedly. If the joint (nakatsuge) should get loose, or start to leak, then you can worry about it.

I'm not completely sure, but I think David's joints are corked. If so, you can use a bit of regular cork dope to improve the air seal.

There's also a 'better' way to get the two pieces apart, rather than just pulling on or twisting them:



The idea here is to reduce the lateral tensile leverage on the joint, applying the pulling along the axis of the joint instead.

If your joint is corked, you should forget about the vaseline or pomade. Less is more, in that case.

The joints on a David Brown flute are cork, and for this reason, I respectfully disagree with Edosan and suggest storing this flute taken apart.  That's the conventional wisdom for cork-joint woodwinds.  The cork can compress over time and loosen the joint. Treat it like you would a clarinet, oboe, wood recorder, etc. A bit of cork grease from a music store is not a bad idea.  It only takes a little, but excess just gets pushed around, not soaked in or anything.

In the case of a bamboo flute with a lacquer joint, keep it together unless you have a need to carry it in parts (usually travel).

In either case the flute is weaker at its joint, so treat it gently.

Chris Moran wrote:

edosan wrote:

Strike here repeatedly with other hand.

I cannot tell you how black and blue I've beaten my hand doing this.

Occupational hazard...

Good point, Mike. That notion was lurking around in the dim recesses of my memory even as I posted that.

Last edited by edosan (2009-09-01 19:34:11)

tight as a crab's ass

Growing up on the Chesapeake Bay, I've had my finger up many a crab's ass (or was it the genitals?).  They open up quite easily.

I realize it's the south.

You say that like its a bad thing.  In all fairness, I did grow up right at the mouth of it, so it was the southernmost part of the bay.  I wouldn't want to be associated with those fence post sitters in MD anyway.  Contrary to its classification as a Mid-Atlantic, VA was the Capital of the South, Richmond specifically until it was burned.  I always thought folks from Maine were Yankees, but now I see they are just snooty.

Can someone tell me the best way to pull two flutists apart, or should we leave them joined ?

Kel.