Welcome to my corner of the world! =)
My journey into the flutemaking world has been an awesome adventure. Not only have I learned and am always learning neat new things; I'm also meeting great people, and making great connections!
My adventure started around late January/early February of 2013, and has since rocketed me into a hobby that is quickly becoming a lifestyle. When I started out, I didn't even know how to keep a flute in my hands, much less be able to get any sound out it.
I originally got started by making big whistles called Low Whistles out of PVC piping, based on designs I had found on the internet.
Let me tell you, whistles are MUCH easier to play than standard "side-blown" flutes.
They just don't compare though, when you consider the limited range and expression of a whistle; versus the versatility and strong, sweet voice of a side-blown flute.
By summer of 2013, I had several low whistles, a side-blown flute and a rim-blown flute (of a special Japanese design).
Having made these, and wanting to learn more about PVC, I started really researching it on the web. What I found startled me: PVC is full of all kinds of toxins, none of which I want/need near my mouth and lungs!
Surprised, I sadly thought that my days of affordable flute-making were at an end.
All those hours I had spent in the garage learning had been wasted. Or so I thought...
I started looking for a safe, non-toxic alternative to PVC. It needed to be of the right diameter, round, and hollow.
Lucky for me, I stumbled across bamboo flutes during one of my online quests.
The answer to my problem was clear! Bamboo! Of course!
Natural, non-toxic, the same general shape that I needed, and beautiful!
I found a place called Beautiful Bamboo Farm just a couple minutes down the road from where I lived. What luck!
I made a call to the nursery, and set up an appointment. Next morning bright and early, I was out there checking out their setup. I was greeted by the manager, and after I explained what I was looking for, she pointed me right to what I needed! I took home some canes, and started figuring how to work with bamboo. So now, 11 months later, I not only know how to make beautiful flutes from bamboo, I also work at the nursery where my bamboo quest started!! :)
And the adventure is only starting.... =D
PVC is not good. Extruded acrylic plastic is non-toxic and inexpensive, and good for proto-typing. A plastic flute isn't very inspiring but it's regular and bamboo is irregular. The Acrylic tube is good for experimenting, gives better control of the variables.
ReplyDeleteIf you have 100 pieces of bamboo you'll have 5 pieces that will make an excellent flute and that's even with the best species like Assam bamboo, i.e. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sl_l4WhBwWI
Not to say you can't make a nice flute with lesser quality bamboo.
I'm a librarian so I've studied flute making academically as I would study anything.
Here are some internet sources you might be interested in:
Mark Sheppard has a site with a lot of good info: http://www.markshep.com/flute/
He wrote two books on flute making, one on bamboo flutes that is long out of print but it's worth the trouble looking for it.
For a long time I new there were calculations for determining the best tone hole locations but couldn't find a source. Here's the best one I found: http://www.chrysalis-foundation.org/flute_tone_holes.htm
It's simple algebra but you'd want to write a spread sheet.