One of my best friends and as far as I am concerned, a member of the family is Jon Kypros.  He is the owner and maker over at Shingetsu Flutes and makes awesome shakuhachi. One of my favorite flutes is the "Colonel" which is a 2.1 shakuhachi that Jon made me when we first met.  I have quote a few flutes from him now and I recommend you check him out.  Not only is he a great maker but a great player too.  He studies with Ronnie Nyogetsu Reishin Seldin up to 4x a week and is well on his way to be a shihan.  One important point to consider when purchasing a flute is if the maker is capable of playing the repertoire.  If the maker can't play the pieces, it is a good bet you won't be getting a fully functional instrument.  There are a lot of makers out there that sell shakuhachi that are simply unacceptable for learning the music.  It just makes learning an already difficult instrument more frustrating and in the end a lot of players who might have otherwise gone on to be great players quit because they feel they are incapable of learning the instrument when the simple fact was that they had an unuseable instrument.  Jon is always available to talk shakuhachi and I am sure he would even be willing to evaluate a flute you already have or are considering to assess it's playability.