I’ve been trying to catch upon a lot of repair work that came during our family trip. Two old flutes were purchased on ebay and sent to me for evaluation. This one had a worm hole.

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Both flutes had damaged tops and missing utaguchi inlays. At first glance, they seemed like textbook repairs. But, it turned out that only one worked.

The one with the worm hole was not repairable as the holes went all the way through to the root. This flute will never make a sound again.

The other one was quite chewed up at the top so I filled some areas but decided to use a wider inlay so that there would be more “meat” to grab.
It also had to be asymmetrical so I choose a piece of horn with marbling to detract from the shape. The owner was lucky on this one. It plays quite well. The other was not so lucky. He decided to leave the flute with me. This has happened twice before with other eBay purchasers. I would think twice about purchasing shakuhachi from Japanese antique dealers who say they do not know how to play the flute.

Schools not back in session yet so it was “take the kids to work week”.  More play, less work for another two weeks