Native American Indian Flute with an Australian twist #3: Shaping

Hmm, not sure why the pics came out sidways this time.

-- "These are my principles. And if you don't like them, I have others." ... Cheers, David from Sydney Australia

I’ve built many flutes. You CAN, if you wish, use a waterproof finish inside the SAC. It will help, but it won’t PREVENT moisture penetration. The only way to make this totally waterproof is to make it out of plastic :)

And, yes, I’ve tried PVC… It doesn’t resonate like the wood. I oil the heck out of my flutes. I mean I fill the SAC with oil and let it sit overnight. Dump it, dry it a few days, and do it again. Usually this is tung oil. And AFTER it’s been glued up because trying to glue up oily wood is frustrating. :)

Keep the flute WARM when you intend to play it. Stuff it in your shirt or something. Cold flute + warm (moist) breath will water down the SAC pretty fast. Water it down severely enough and often enough and you’ll crack the flute. When I was first learning to play the didjeridoo, I played one so long I cracked it. Eucalyptus, shipped to the US from Oz and I believe made by Naiwa. Cracked. I fixed it, but still…

What will hold your block in place? Mine get lashed on with leather strips. That way I can slide it fore and aft a little if needed to compensate temperature changes.

Thanks for all of the info, I was planning on leather straps.

Is there a standard size for the playing holes?

-- "These are my principles. And if you don't like them, I have others." ... Cheers, David from Sydney Australia

Looks good, if you have a good fundamental key sound,, what else is there. If you are getting a good fundamental note and it is O at your tuner, go 6 cents to the plus side or to the right of your tuner, because it will drop when you drill and tune the finger holes.
Dennis ;>)

This will help you decide where, how big, etc for the holes…

Flute-o-matic

I’ve had flutes that I felt were “too long” for the diameter of the sound chamber. The fundamental note was there, but it was easy to warble it or pop an octave. So I made the fundamental higher in pitch by drilling “tuning holes” a bit back from the end and started measuring from THERE when I started making the finger holes. This allowed me to keep the overall length of the flute.

You can tune a finger hole by either making it a little bigger (it’s tough to make them smaller, but I’ve done it :) ), or by filing the underside of the hole (think…. cone-shaped hole).