Rippei Shinobue Tenchimaki Japanese Lacquer

Nuribue (coated flute)
We sometimes hear from Shinobue players that their flutes cracked during the performance.
As nuribue are coated with lacquer, the condition of the bamboo doesn’t change easily.
Therefore, you can keep your flute in good condition.
Coated flutes are so resistant to climatic fluctuation that they are hard to crack compare to non-coated or wicker-wound ones.(*)
We “ Shinobue Rippei” aspire to make long –last flutes with resonant tones under any circumstance.
(*)As they are made of natural bamboo, we can’t say that there is no possibility of cracking at all.

■Fuki-urushi
An old Japanese lacquer “urushi” is called japan by Western people.
Fuki-urushi is one of traditional techniques to apply urushi.
We use unrefined urushi just tapped from the tree, so we call it kiurushi (raw lacquer) Putting it on the silk cloth or washi, with which we rub it into a flute repeatedly.
By doing so, the flute has natural feeling and increases sturdiness.
The production of urushi in Japan has been scarce, so it’s very expensive these days. kiurushi in Joboji -cho, Iwate pref. for fuki-urushi.

■Tuning and feeling of blowing
Shinobue for Uta(song)is tuned in sol-fa scale that is suitable for ensemble with Western instruments like the piano or the guitar.
Tuned in A=442Hz equal temperament and adjusted the octave.(*)
Bamboos are produced by the nature, so no two bamboos are exactly alike in figure.
Our Shinobue produce rich overtones by making inside of the tube uneven according to its figure artificially
The secret of well-carrying sound is in this figure inside of the tube.
That’s why we worked out making such a sound and the feeling of blowing that are unprecedented. (*)We measure it at 20 degrees C, after winding inside of the tube to warm.

There may be un avoidable error due to the temperature or the shape of player’s mouth.