Interesting mix of woods. Didn't know you could tune a flute. How do you do that?

 

Tom, I started answering but it is a deep deep rabbit hole. You have to drill each finger hole to specific size or have them at specific distance from the air holes.

https://www.flutopedia.com/naf_tunings_map.htm

 

Thanks, I looked it up and it is incredibly complicated. A mystery to me.

 

Tom, a mystery to me too. lol

 

The more I live with this flute the more I don't like it. I went with a thinner wall flute in the hopes it would be louder and have a warmer tone. I can't tell the difference between this one and the thicker wall flutes I've made.

I really like the look of the larger flutes (fatter) than the thin walled flutes.

Also the wood species of the wood is not my favorite. The hickory is a little too figured.

I have three more blanks left but don't know if I'll finish them or start over with thicker wall flutes.

 

Seems to me that larger diameter would require more air flow too. I recall that there is a mathmaical relationship involved in spacing of frets on a guitar, or openings in a flute.

 

Tom, you are right but...

In this case, the diameter itself doesn't change. The thickness of the walls is what I am changing.

You are on the mark on the tuning of the flute. The diameter and length of the resonant chamber (length of flute or sound chamber) and the finger holes dictate the notes being played and the flute tuning.

An internal diameter of 7/8" at ~16 inches from the sound hole makes a F# flute. The hole distance of the finger holes from the sound hole and size of the holes themselves create the individual notes for the flute.

 

The second flute from the batch. Since I am not digging the flutes, I made a temp totem for it to celebrate my USAF heritage. I'll be ditching this one as soon as I have something to replace it with.

Does not play all that great. I am losing air somewhere but not sure if I want to trouble shoot it. If I have time I may start a new batch tomorrow.

 

If anyone wants to try building their own Native American flute. This is my design. It is based on Bluebear flutes, Charlie Mato-Toyela's flute design. He has graciously shared his flute design on Youtube for anyone to follow. A lot of options out there to try.

 

Sometimes you get lucky.

I was super unhappy with this batch of flutes. I tried to go fast and messed up the glue ups horribly. They all slipped and none of the flute blanks were straight or even. The first two flutes came out really poorly and played badyly and are pretty much wall hangers (decorations only).

Yesterday, I thought I would throw the blanks into the burn pile and start over.

This morning I changed my mind and I thought I should finish them and have them for gifts as wall hangers. So I quickly turned the last three flutes and rough tuned them. Shockingly, all three came out as decent flutes.

I did not tune them perfectly but that is okay. I try to tune my flutes to F#, A, B, D, E, F#. These flutes are tuned to F/F#, A, B, C#, E, F#. All that means is if you play with someone else it may sound a little off if they are playing with a properly tuned instrument. The flutes sound fine if you are playing on your own.

Need to start designing some new totems for these flutes.

 

Sometimes you get lucky.

I was super unhappy with this batch of flutes. I tried to go fast and messed up the glue ups horribly. They all slipped and none of the flute blanks were straight or even. The first two flutes came out really poorly and played badyly and are pretty much wall hangers (decorations only).

Yesterday, I thought I would throw the blanks into the burn pile and start over.

This morning I changed my mind and I thought I should finish them and have them for gifts as wall hangers. So I quickly turned the last three flutes and rough tuned them. Shockingly, all three came out as decent flutes.

I did not tune them perfectly but that is okay. I try to tune my flutes to F#, A, B, D, E, F#. These flutes are tuned to F/F#, A, B, C#, E, F#. All that means is if you play with someone else it may sound a little off if they are playing with a properly tuned instrument. The flutes sound fine if you are playing on your own.

Need to start designing some new totems for these flutes.

View attachment 404311

I need help. I’m close to giving up, I’ve spent time and money. Also blood (I cut my finger on the router table) I can’t get the track to make sound. I follow Charlie from blue bear too.

 

I'll try to carve these tomorrow but expecting possible severe weather tomorrow.

 

Finally got to carving. They did come out a bit thick but that is okay. CNC carved in mahogany with two coats of lacquer.

I do these so infrequently I forget all the lesson learned from the last time I made them.

 

Very interesting carvings.

 

Tom, thanks.

My wife wants a roaring bear head for her flute now so back to the designing board. The wood pecker (bottom right) was her totem.

So far my flutes can be considered experiments or design evolution. I am almost there on my final design.

 

Started working on the bear head 3d model for the totem. I will continue this on the cnc section. I am planning on making a two piece carving (left right) I will glue together.

 

It didn't take long to make something. It kind of looks like a bear. lol

Into the library it goes for the next time I do some more totems.

 

I have finalized my design that I am happy with. The flute walls are 1/4" thick vs the thinner 1/8-3/16 walls I tried earlier. You can see the size difference.

 

It's always fascinating to hear about your flute-making adventures! Even with the challenges, your dedication shines through. The variety of wood you've used, the 3D-printed totem, and the unique scale on the first one all make for an exciting journey in crafting these wooden flutes. Keep up the creative work!

 

Hi @murphybridget and welcome to the Forum. Making musical instruments of any kind is absolutely fascinating. One of the members is making a concert style guitar. If you really want to sit in wonder, check out making and restoring violins. The craftsmanship involved is astounding. The violin makers have highly specialized planes, glues, choice of wood, and some hand carving. And it requires special jigs to assemble and glue it together.

Look it up on YouTube, I think you'll really appreciate it, even if you won't make one yourself. I love the sound of a well played violin and getting to understand the way they work is captivating. Wish I'd learned to play one when I was young. If you watch the Yamaha method children in preschool are playing rather complex pieces.

Thee is something almost intuitive about playing it. One thing I learned is that the bowing upper arm does not move during play. For that, the elbow is what moves. But to play the four different strings, the upper arm moves up and down so the horsehair on the bow only touches the one (or two) strings. There are no frets on a violin, and tuning one is something of an art because when you tune subsequent strings, it changes the tension and sound of the others. So you have to creep up on perfect tuning. Amazing stuff.

You might also enjoy this video of Olaf the Violin Maker. In this one, he takes a cheap violin and improves it,

 

Welcome to the forum @murphybridget

 

Welcome to the forum @murphybridget

 

The main thing is to have a completely sealed flute. Make sure your surface on the nest and the block are flat to each other to make a seal. Some flute makers use a strip of leather as gasket for the seal.

Next make sure the flute itself is sealed. I know it not traditional but I have started using lacquer or poly to make sure there is no air leakage.

Flutes I thought were unusable started playing after I took care of these issues.

 

Welcome to the forum @Tomkelly

 

You may already know about this site but it is a great resource.

https://flutopedia.com/index.htm

Also make sure the channel between the slow air hole and the main flute is between 1/16" to 1/8", is smooth and the sound hole is around 1/4".

The native American flute is incredibly forgiving if the basics are there. This was my test of concept prototype. I made this one to see if I understood the mechanics of making one before I jumped into the deep end.

As terrible as it looks it sounds amazing. Sadly it may be my best sounding flute from all the ones I've made but it is definitely the ugliest.

So don't give up. If the one you are working on doesn't eventually work. Treat it as your prototype and start building you real one.

 

G'da and welcome to the forum, @Tomkelly

 

Slapping a new totem on an old flute. This flute is tuned to what I think is F flat. My memory is not good. A good practice going forward to to inscribe the tuning and signature on the back of them. But for a future flute.

This one is made from a big box store cedar 2x4. You do not need fancy wood to make a working flute. Having said that I have a hard time playing this flute due to its size (28 inches long). As I have gotten older, I have become short and wide (think of a fantasy dwarf) unlike when I was young, short and beautiful. lol

So a consideration when you build your flutes. The longer they are, the longer your arms need to be to play comfortably.