The things I do to fill me time, eh? Today, I decided I'd like a nice, bassy shakuhachi... I went with 3' of the left over piping; it was waaay too hard to make a note and kept hitting harmonics, so I scaled down to the longest shak I've heard someone repeatedly make - a 2.6. It played a note! Great!! Now, where the feckles do the holes go? I used http://www.mujitsu.com/howtomakeshakuhachi.pdf for a really awesome guide, and just like that, it played in tune! It's in G#, to be precise! Magical. It actually sounds pretty nice, but you have to take it slowly with the notes, kind of letting them warm up... it's not responsive like the one I made on Tuesday! Have a listen... sorry!
I then had another tiny bit of pipe and no joints left, so I thought, "why not make a mini one?". So I did. It's official size is a 0.5 (only 15.5 cm - lol), but guess what... it's in tune as well! G# again... freaky. It's got no second (Kan) octave, though, unlike the bassy-one which always wants to jump right out into the upper-register where it plays responsively at last!
It's very interesting, this shakuhachi flute-making malarky! Wee oop!
Here are some piccies and sounds!
