FINALLY MY NEW SITE

Finally i have start to make my new site,is on construction now, i will add a specific shakuhachi flute section on it.

http://gregorysaraco.altervista.org

Hope you like it!

gregory saraco luthier,repairman,traditional shakuhachi,guitar and violin maker.
gregory saraco liutaio costruzione e riparazione strumenti a corda

New shakuhachi forum!

This is the new ESS shauhachi forum http://www.shakuhachiforum.eu/index.php.
I don't have update nothing on the blog in this time because,now,after years of studies,i have begin to build different kind of instruments,i have build a weissenborn guitar,and a 16 inches viola,so i will continue to make and restore shakuhachi for emprove my tecnique,but now i must share this blog,with a personal site where in the future, i can show and sell my instruments.
I'm finishing a violin,and i have restored(in the free time) a good 2.7 shakuhachi and i'll post here the step of this last work..soo BUSY this year!

Time for holidays

I have been on holydays for two entire weeks with my girlfriend..i did need it!..breathing healty sea air..wonderful and peaceful place here in south italy..my background heart.
Play a lot,remember my old friends,and the early years here..i whish meet all of you again..i know everyone make his way to,but i can't forget you at all!..

CHALLENGING SHAKU SMOKED

Hello!..a lot of work this week!..i've had the opportunity to work this beautiful japanese madake root,selected for make a 2.7 shakuhachi,but there was a big problem..the section marked in red was cracked,and for me impossible to fix,with a good result.
So i have decided to go for a 2.7,but joining the two parts,just between the fourth,and five hole,i was lucky because i have saved the piece above the third hole.
I know this is not a "how to" method,the joint by tradition is not placed here,but i think the result will not disappoint me,this is the plan:cutting away the cracked piece,hollowing out each,carefully measure the two parts together,handcraft the joint section insert(by the same bamboo),carving each middle joint,make the utaguchi,tune the "RO"in both octaves,than,join permanently the two pieces with glue,and go ahead,like on a "nobe"piece.
I have decided to fix it permanently because i don't like flute with rings,and my idea is to "leave" this flute as naturally as possible:same madake section joint,a mixture of natural resin based glue,and same bamboo dust,that will guarantee a strong transmission of vibration in all the body of the flute...more pictures soon..
..cutting the two pieces..

..carving out the root..i love the smoked smell!!

..insert making..

..insert sanded..

..this adjusting must require precision,is a step of vital importance for the bore shape,and the right sound of the flute..

..two parts glued..i have carved a channel for bind it with the stronger braided fiber i have find,it has a breaking strength of 110 kg!..it's almost finished..darkbeauty..

..utaguchi finished!..

..finally finished!!...soon i will add the sound file..

NEW 2.75 SHAKUHACHI

Hello! work almost finished with my last big bore 2.75 flute..pitched in F..made with a very thick and heavy piece of chinese madake..natural utaguchi,i have applied a "marble like" ikigaeshi ("breath-return") because the natural section of the ring was broken from the starting of making,it's really confortable howhever.
I have add a light coat of a natural,trasparent lacquer;outside and in the bore for prevent mold and trouble with moisture..the tone is rich,dark and hollow..the khan register is a little difficoult to dominate,but still in tune with itself..

here is the sound..sorry for the poor quality i have recorded with hurry..

GREG YAMAGOE HANKO SIGNATURE

Hi all! after a long waiting this is my new proud hanko sign 山越 .."the fire will dancing surround the matter with his heat..from the black of the ash,to the gold of the aurora there is only a step...

ABOUT ME..

Hi all..welcome to my blog on traditional shakuhachi futes.
My name is gregory saraco and i live in northern italy,i'm a young musician,shakuhachi craftsman and player since 2007..
I began carving the wood when i was child,i remember my great-uncle teach me how to bend the wood with fire and steam..i start to make small knife,whirlgig,and walking-sticks,for playing purpose.
I leave the woodworking for a period of time,but i decided to restart when all my interest was direct to the music..i studied traditional flute for three years at school,and i began to study the guitar,i LOVE the acoustic sound,playing folk music listening to my grandfather Rocco,who still plays folks on twelve strings!.
I actually like to play blues and folk music Robert johnson,Leadbelly,Blind Willie Johnson,on my tricone,acoustic guitar and weissenborn that i have learned selftaught.
Some avverse condition on my way,not let me be a luthier,as i wish,but i must say that i have always search to build instruments.
My interest for shakuhachi begin in 2007 when i make a research on the sect of Fuke-shû,and honkyoku pieces,and i was amazed to see that beautiful flute,and the expressive sound it produced.
My soul was stolen listening a famous shakuhachi masters tajima tadashi and watazumi,i begin to make jinashi flutes in accord with the way of watazumido,the sound of this flutes is "complex" and misterious,it required more focus and concentrate for play,i prefer the sound of the occhiku flutes because they're in harmony with the elements,nature and myself,but i like to make flute with inlays too.
I have started with poor quality bamboo for the firsts year,but without the right tools and space,make some mistake..continue to search for good bamboo..better tools,and a teacher,and in 2009 i start to live in my new home,with my girlfriend Laura,finally i've found a good space to work on my flutes,and a good time space between my first work,and flutemaking.
I want to say thank you to:Brian "Tairaku"Richie and Ken "Mujitsu"LaCosse that gives to me tons of news,contact and advises for shakuhachi making,and all the shakuhachi BBQ people http://shakuhachiforum.com/ ,Perry Yung of yungflutes that i have followed on his blog,and help me to learn some things on reparation,restoring,and making.
Unfortunately at start of 2010,i was hit by a massive pneumothorax,and hemothorax, enforced me to 20 days of hospitalization,and suddenly 3 month of total ease..I've taken all that time for meditate,and increase my knowledge about shakuhachi..listen to it during the night,i remember a dream in that period of me,in a wonderful deep forest mountain,follow my master that show me the right way to heal with breathing.
I began to ear,play everyday,and follow my own way to rahabilitate and heal me with shakuhachi,this encrease tremendously my passion for this flute.
This is the story,and one of the reasons,of my name "YAMAGOE",the koten piece of dokyoku school.'quote': "May be interpreted as overcoming a difficult task in a less than perfect way. This piece is meant to encourage the overcoming of difficulties".
"It was not originally intended as a performance piece. The spiritual practitioner must find the extremes of everything in order to realize a part of oneself that has not as yet been used. In other words, one must push to the threshold of dying during one's training in order to glimpse the self limiting ideas of life/death.
I know for somebody shakuhachi is only a piece of bamboo with holes to play,but not for me,there's something more,but this is just my way....A DEEP BLOW..gregory
"It's fine that you are all deep into music. But there's something deeper and if you would go deeper, if you go to the source of where the music is being made, you'll find something even more interesting. At the source, everyone's individual music is made. If you ask what the deep place is, it's your own life and it's knowing your own life, that own way that you live"