If you want to make a bachi (e.g. see Kyle’s book), what are the kinds of wood available in the US that would work?
Basswood is a good choice - lightweight and tight grained, but quite soft. A good wood to practice making a bachi with. Ditto Poplar and Cottonwood.
From there it is experimentation. I would avoid pine, fir, redwood, spruce as all too fragile. Walnut is dense and tough; white oak tough and somewhat flexible. Chinese elm is very like kekaki wood - strong stuff, and the long fibers of eucalyptus make it an interesting choice.
I have noticed that water buffalo horns are now sold as dog chew toys - http://www.amazon.com/Petco-Water-Buffalo-Horn-Chew/dp/B00GPNY3YA
Horn is the best; tough, flexible, able to be worked to a thin edge with as much flex as an acrylic guitar pick. Making the striking edge of horn and body of wood is challenging, but will yield a superior result.
Ganbatte!
Domo arigato, Tomo!! I used to make shakuhachi too – following patterns in Kyle’s dad’s excellent shakuhachi book.
. . . surely will order that book sometime . . . 
so far I have just started out on the tin whistle and like it a lot and that will be good enough for a longer while but I do like slow airs more than the faster stuff so I would be more of a low d whistle guy but I decided that rather than a low d I will buy a shakuhachi sometime . . . anyone familiar with whatever could be the cheapest options? would also plastic pvc or whatever cheap shot shakuhachi be any good or is a real one handmade out of bamboo the only serious option?
Shakuhachi have been made from everything imaginable, even jade! I have a PVC one made by Ken LaCosse that is not only easily playable but wholly in tune for each note.
The first ‘successful’ shakuhachi I made was not root end, just plain jane cane. I still carry it on trips. The beauty of using plain cane is that it is just bamboo - if it fails, try again. High quality madake bamboo stock is wicked expensive, but you might be able to find cheaper root stock from a basket making supplier. Frank’s in the US is a good supplier: http://www.franksupply.com/bamboo/bamboo-products.html#fluteblanks
Austria may be more difficult. Making helps you understand the interesting qualities of the instrument, like back pressure from a narrowing bore, but one can play without making, certainly.
I see bamboo shakuhachi on eBay for $50 to $100 that look like they might be OK. Maybe somebody bought one and now needs some quick money?
You do get used to whatever flute you are playing - if I practice on one flute for days and then switch to another, it takes a bit of time to find the embouchure again. The point is that you can make or buy a cheap shakuhachi to get a feel for the instrument - if it grabs you, then you can go down that path. If you do, Monty Levenson of Ta Hei Shakuhachi is, IMHO, the best maker in the US. And a very nice man. He can sell you top quality cane and talk you through making one, or sell you a top quality flute, if you have more money than I do.
In Japan, for wooden bachi they usually use oak for the body and boxwood for the tip. For making or getting the bachi heavy enough, they insert a piece of lead inside the body and cover the place with a piece of padouk wood. The place where the lead is inserted can be easily noticed as the padouk wood is brown.
Thanks Tomo for those pointers I might pick up on that when the time has come . . . anyway I figured that instead of possibly buying a low tin whistle even though affordable I would rather want the variety of embouchure possible with a shakuhachi in case I would actually venture into playing another flute than the easy and oh so cheap regular tin whistle . . . so far the tin thingy is fun enough and cool in its own right so I’ll see what might come next after that thing I already have
Hi Tomo
I saw you had a really nice bachi among your art works.
How do you mill the water buffalo horn to the right thickness, and how do you join it to the wood handle. Do you make a sandwich of wood? Any tips would be appreciated.
Happy New Year
Dave
Thank you very much for your kind words, Davesan
Horn is worked with sharp knives, plane, files and sandpapers from 80 grit to 2500, buffed out with white diamond. It’s easy to work and control and so satisfying to get to the polish part. Wonderful material, though I never forget where it came from.
It’s a tongue and groove joint, horn to solid wood - no laminating involved. Holding up so far.
I intend to make several more in several styles, materials and sizes in the next two months (I have seen many old ones that are so much lighter than what is sold today - they seem to have been made for female hands, i think). I will do my best to document what I do (I tend to make it up as I go) and post, prolly to Flickr, but I will post a link here and share. I hope to have some for sale at ShamiKamp in March in San Jose.
All the best to you and yours
tomo
I finally posted a shot of joining horn to wood:
I am working on some for sale, hopefully in time for the ShamiKamp in April in San Jose.