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Early efforts. Three transverse flutes, made by me, myself, and one quena, given to me by a very kind lady in Adelaide, South Australia.
The quena is an end blown flute, originating in South America. End blown flutes are very ancient - perhaps three thousand years old, from Egypt, India and China.
But I like the transverse flute, so that's what I make.
The best of the three is the medium size, second from the left. By accident it ended almost in key, with an acceptable scale.
The little one on the left has a beautiful voice, but is impossible to actually play a tune on, and the long one is what I call a meditation flute. On a quiet night you sit outside and play a stream of notes. Everyone stays away, and you get a chance to think.
These were made a year or so ago, improvements have been made. I'll post some more photos soon.
Six timber flutes, three completed, three under construction. All made from cypress pine except the one on the far left, which is Tasmanian oak.
Cypress pine is my preferred timber, though there are plenty I haven't yet tried. But cypress is good looking timber, with plenty of colour variation from chocolate brown to cream, and it works well using chisels, hand plane, hand saws. It's only drawback is that it can be very knotty. Often the knots look good, but not ideal for instrument making.
Three timber flutes. The long one is my first full size flute. Like Shakespeare' ideal women, she has "a voice ever soft gentle and low", in the first octave anyway. A bit more puff and she jumps up the octave very nicely, but gets a but more raucous.
The little one is only 26 cms long. Sounds great, but because she starts so high I can only play about an octave and a half. But I'm a better flute maker than player.
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