Admission first, I have to concede to myself that I have been a complete jeezly snob for 30 plus years. I turned up my nose at tin whistles. Yesterday I bought a Clarke D whistle to help me memorize tunes and play in the car. Oh yea, after reading the posts on playing and driving I had a run at it with the transverse flute. Fine at the reds but sucks otherwise.
Anyways, that little whistle is sooo beautiful. I wish I would have had one of those when I was growing up on the prairies. They are remarkable.
But my submission is, does anyone hotrod their flutes? In my first post I spoke of the flute maker who overhauls flutes. He rounds off the bottom inside of the toneholes to decrease turbulence just like I would grind intake ports on an engine.
My Haynes and most good flutes have tone holes that meet the main tube inside at sharp right angles. This was a sign of good craftmanship but not necessarily good science. This guy maintains that rounding of those corners leads to better sounding flutes. The M&E has drilled and thus sharp inside meeting angles. I am tempted to round those corners off.
Maybe that turbulence is what give the wooden flute it's unique sound. Round off those edges and you might find it starts to approach the sine-wave smoothness of the metal flute...?
I make bamboo flutes, and a lot of times I do round the insides of the holes.I think it does improve the sound a little bit.It will also sharpen the note a little.If your M&E is in tune with itself,and sounds ok,I don't think it's worth it to risk the tuning.
I have a silver flute too, and it's holes have sort of sharp angles on the inside,I think.Also, I can change the way it sounds by the way I play it.It can sound almost like a wooden flute,or all smooth and classical,depending on what I'm playing.
-Kelly
Hotrodding
Hotrodding
Admission first, I have to concede to myself that I have been a complete jeezly snob for 30 plus years. I turned up my nose at tin whistles. Yesterday I bought a Clarke D whistle to help me memorize tunes and play in the car. Oh yea, after reading the posts on playing and driving I had a run at it with the transverse flute. Fine at the reds but sucks otherwise.
Anyways, that little whistle is sooo beautiful. I wish I would have had one of those when I was growing up on the prairies. They are remarkable.
But my submission is, does anyone hotrod their flutes? In my first post I spoke of the flute maker who overhauls flutes. He rounds off the bottom inside of the toneholes to decrease turbulence just like I would grind intake ports on an engine.
My Haynes and most good flutes have tone holes that meet the main tube inside at sharp right angles. This was a sign of good craftmanship but not necessarily good science. This guy maintains that rounding of those corners leads to better sounding flutes. The M&E has drilled and thus sharp inside meeting angles. I am tempted to round those corners off.
Thoughts?
# Posted on November 21st 2003 by ppitussi
Re: Hotrodding
Maybe that turbulence is what give the wooden flute it's unique sound. Round off those edges and you might find it starts to approach the sine-wave smoothness of the metal flute...?
# Posted on November 22nd 2003 by Ottery
Re: Hotrodding
I make bamboo flutes, and a lot of times I do round the insides of the holes.I think it does improve the sound a little bit.It will also sharpen the note a little.If your M&E is in tune with itself,and sounds ok,I don't think it's worth it to risk the tuning.
I have a silver flute too, and it's holes have sort of sharp angles on the inside,I think.Also, I can change the way it sounds by the way I play it.It can sound almost like a wooden flute,or all smooth and classical,depending on what I'm playing.
-Kelly
# Posted on November 22nd 2003 by seisflutes