A 2.0 tuned in the key of C.
Purchased in April 2011.
Purchased from and made by Ken LaCosse (deceased) of San Francisco, California. It does not have his hanko as it is only a beginner’s flute and not high quality.
It could be made from Madake Bamboo, but I do not know. It is a uniform light colour and does not have the mottling which madake has. However, my flute isn’t cut way down at the root either.
It is one-piece (nobekan), which is jinashi (no ji filler), completely unlacquered and with no mouthpiece inlay. This makes it a hotchiku or jinashi nobekan.
It is either brand new or just very new. It does not have the darker colouration around the playing holes indicative of long use. It does have the burn marks, revealing the way the holes were made.
For me, it requires more breath on lower notes and a finer sharper breath on higher notes. It “breaks” on strong breath, and I have “squeaking” issues. I have a good range of the normal octave, but for the upper octave I can only reliably produce the lowest couple of notes. I’ve heard of flutes that can reach into four separate octaves, but I don’t know anything about reaching them. Perhaps this flute cannot do that, or perhaps it’s jut me for now. My embouchure is pretty crappy right now, as it’s been less than a week!
