A Loooong Flute Journey....

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This is a post that might not trip your trigger in details, but it does paint a larger picture of how one of my singing sticks comes to life, which you may find interesting. A good many are made and finished in fairly short order, and those are almost always more simple in design.

Then there are the 'specialty' flutes, flutes that have some unique, detailed design element that requires a lot of extra work and, correspondingly, command higher prices. I basically build only what I envision and feel, taking custom orders very, very sparingly. I can and will only work when I'm inspired and 'feel' I'm in a good spiritual place. On those days where I'm out of sorts, I just don't touch flutes. Not a good mojo and mix of efforts. Sometimes they come to 'life' in a reasonable amount of time....and then, well....

And so I had this Ambrosia Maple closed end flute that I blogged about....get this...February 18, 2009! OMG, here I was thinking I've had this flute a year and it's well over two. Talk about how time flies when you're stuck in "writer's block"! Find that post by clicking HERE. Eegads.

This is the flute as it has pretty much sat since then, with only minor shaping at the 'foot' where the woodpecker was going to go....

The above two shots show my pics of a Downy Woodpecker feeeding, up against what I was 'envisioning' for the flute. Originally the flute was going to be an F#4, but as I honed down the woodpecker and tweaked the tuning, it was much better suited for a G4, up a half step.

Voila, the flute finished off with the woodpecker detailed and painted. NOW came another big hurdle...what to do for the block? The main interest is the foot of the flute, and I didn't want a detailed block that would compete with the focus of the woodpecker. Conversely, I didn't want such a simple block design that it detracted from the focus...and so I sat with notebook and pencil and sketched. And sketched. And sketched.

I've done this with only a very few flutes, where I take scrap wood and glue up a composite shape of the pieces. Above you see scrap Bloodwood and Ebony, my actual pencil sketch (cut out) of the main tail sweep bordered by two 'wing' pieces, once of which you see cut out.

The three pieces weren't quite wide enough for the flute, so I glued on 'side bars' on the outer edge, knowing I'd sand their width down some. Too, you don't want a pure Ebony bottom exposed over the flue as such a design would lead to quick wet-out...so I thought I'd incorporate the red with the Bloodwood for a bottom choice. The bottom above was rougher than normal as a couple of pieces fractured off, but I knew I'd slap it on the belt sander and flatten it all before adding the Bloodwood.

With some shaping and careful sanding, the block took on an elegant sweeping design of a bird of sorts, with tail and wings, the Ebony and Bloodwood repeating the colors in the Downy Woodpecker. Only one thing left to do.....

The new G4 Downy Woodpecker flute fresh off the press as of today, as I write. Still a couple of more finish coats to put on, and the most minor of touch-up...goes to prove that I don't just whip these 'kids' out without a lot of thought and intentional thought! This one is close to a record, I'll admit. Worth the wait, though, eh? ;-)

"Cadillac Flutes".....

It was another snowy, travel-trouble winter here, much akin to the previous winter. 50"+ of snow, made all the more frustrating by my lousy snow-driving car with only front wheel drive. May this will be the year I can afford a reliable used 4x4 so I can tame the slippery mountain roads here! I can see it now, scrimp and save to barely be able to afford a 4x4, then next winter there will be only two 1" snows and that's it! HA!

Anyhow, in response to the snow and cold (I still have to work in the still-unenclosed carport), I decided to celebrate the warmer weather by pulling out what I call my "Cadillac" woods, very rare, special pieces that are one-of-a-kind, most pieces good for only one flute. Many moons ago I restored a gorgeous 1957 Cadillac Fleetwood that, while possessed by the Devil, brought me much joy and appreciation for a while. Hence my moniker of these flutes pictured...

Pics SHOULD enlarge when you click on them....this is but a sampling of some of the more unique pieces, starting with THE most stunning wood I've ever worked before...tilt it in a strong light and it's downright holographic. There is over $100 in wood, mostly for the extreme curly Hawaiian Koa, and for the Gaboon Ebony endcaps and block...

A4 Curly Hawaiian Koa and Ebony drone

A4 Black and White Ebony with Gaboon Ebony drone

Bb4 Redwood Lace Burl w/turquoise heartline inlay

D5 Curly (rare) Pink Ivory with figured White Oak block

C5 Flame Birch with Bubinga inserts and block

C5 highly figured Ash with Massarunduba block

D5 Myrtle Burl with figured White Oak block

G4 heavily figured Myrtle

B4 heavily figured Red Oak with Narra block

And the survey said...

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Not too shabby! A wonderful low C flute is first to emerge from my recent thick curly maple board I blogged about last week. I used the end of the board that had the most 'issues' per warp and bow and unevenness, jointing and planing until I had some sense of uniformity...the only minor upshot of that is the patterns from the bottom don't necessarily match up to patterns on the top. Then again, that's a pretty natural thing for most flutes to begin with.


It's 29" long, but I kept the SAC short (area from mouthpiece to the block) to make the reach easier. It's only about 19" from the mouth end to the lowest hole, and the finger holes are a comfortable 1.25" to 1.5" apart, center to center. The lower the flute key, the bigger the diameter the finger holes and the greater spacing; with that said, there are 'tricks' you can use in the lower key flutes to compensate for expanding dimensions and shorten the gaps. This is an easily played low flute with a wonderful voice.


The pictures are the unfinished flute with only a coat of Danish Wood Oil rubbed in. I recorded a song with the flute before I started putting on the shiny finish coats this morning...the shiny finish will accentuate the curl and figuring. With the short SAC, the block couldn't really go too far back....instead, I added pieces of Mahogany to the side, like wings, and brought them forward in an aesthetically pleasing curve. Just something a little different that worked well on this flute.

Since I can't load MP3s into this blog, I made a movie with the pictures above and embedded the test song in it...

Quick post of flutes

(NOTE: Blogger has been misbehaving badly with today's photos, and I even tried to write a new entry and reload them all...none of them would show up! So bear with this temporary trouble and check back if you are having trouble viewing pics)

It'll take me a while to transfer this to the website, but thought I'd pass along some new 'kids' to fellow fluties out there...finishing up flutes takes a looooong time, but these are well on their way to singing full-time. Most have no blocks designed for them yet, another time-consumer...but this is the first serious batch of new flutes coming out since last fall. As always, click on pics to enlarge...text with pics should answer most questions!

New flute: "Spirit Horse" (mid F#)

Finally, here my latest creation, one I've named "Spirit Horse".  It's a closed end flute of Papua New Guinea Walnut, keyed to mid F# (F#4).  It's got a beautiful voice, if I do say so myself, but as I write I've not made a sound file of it yet.

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I don't have any deep hidden meanings in any of the designs, although the thunderstorm on the forehead is just that. For me it represents the Thunderbeings, and the supercell storms of the Plains. To the Native Americans, the horse of the west wasn't on the scene until the early Spaniards brought them.  Once tamed, the horse transformed many tribal cultures, not only for transportation but also for hunting and certainly warfare.  Spiritually, the horse represents freedom and power, a spirit that cannot be broken.  It also represents safe passage into the 'new'.

When I finally decided to make a horse from the solid wood end, I immediately wanted it to look like it was at full gallop...I wanted that movement, that freedom, that unbridled spirit (literally and figuratively!)...and I had this abstract idea of color and designs instead of a 'normal' look, more representative of the Spirit/Dream world. (Too, it may have been a hold-over from painting the Hippie Flute!).  But what to do for the block?

I certainly didn't want a second horsehead...and a regular sweeping bird didn't seem to work.  I thought about an old style geometric block found on the oldest Plains flutes, but then I had this idea to stylize the mane flying in the wind...

I wasn't sure how to get the effect, but since I decided to keep the mane black, I knew I had some flat pieces of Ebony.  I chose a basic block for the base, angled for aesthetics...could have made it 100% Ebony, but it absorbs no moisture and makes a flute 'wet out' under the block where moist breath travels.  I cut four long rectangles of Ebony, and then used my oscillating drum sander to make the 'waves' for the flying mane, hitting the corners as well to round each over.  Too, I wanted a tad separation between the tips of each piece, so I sanded a little off the sides of each tail.  I actually made about 6 pieces, and then sat down and played with it like a puzzle.  I wanted each to look different and not be aligned in the same way...I thought that would be easy but it took some real manipulation to get the four pieces I liked in a precise order.  With a little glue and more sanding, the concept came to life.

I was orginally going to leave the Mahogany base natural, but the more I thought about it the more I liked the idea of reintroducing the turquoise, so I painted it.  While I had ideas for doing other ornamentation, once the block was finished, I had that feeling of peace that my new 'kid' was just as it needed to be.

New flute: "Kingfisher" mid-G ~27" long

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I guess I should be thankful I can turn out any flutes at all this especially wintry winter, given my lack of a shop!  The latest one to be finished out is a wonderful playing mid-G closed-end flute of a Kingfisher.

In a closed end flute, when the two routed blanks are glued together, the very end of the flute isn't an open circle...that bore is stopped with (in this case) 4" of wood left solid...the 'exit hole' to let the flute know its the end of the routed barrel is an oval cut out of the bottom.  The leftover chunk of wood at the end allows you to carve whatever you'd like...in this case, I had been seeing lots of Belted Kingfishers, so I figured that was good enough 'message' to go that route.  I do have one other Kingfisher close to this design that was adopted several years ago...I don't make too many of these flutes as they take a lot more time and can be a bit tricky to voice out to my high standards.  This one is a one bold player.

Flutemakers who put carvings on the end do so in many ways.  Some add wood to make the head taller/wider, and some glue on the carving after making a regular flute.  I like to make the carving withing the flute's parameters without adding anything, just my choice.  The Kingfisher's eyes are jet black, so I inserted Hematite beads and painted them black.  While the head tufts are noticeable in real life, like the back of a Merganser's head, that's a bit impossible to carve/create on a flute, hence my 'stylized' burned ridges on the nape.  I opted to apply the same gloss finish I did on the flute, though I may go back and put a satin finish on just the head...or give a potential 'parent' that option if they want it.

It's made of quartersawn Southern Red Oak, only the second flute I've made from that wood, mainly because it takes a lot longer to finish well because of the significant open grain.  There is an inserted Ebony band behind the block, simply there for a design and color balance.  Once the flute was voiced out, I overdrilled each playing hole with a 1/2" bit and glued in Walnut plugs...once dried, I sanded them down and drilled out the centers, returning the flute to pitch.  The 'rings' around the holes give the flute a very nice 'look' without too much extra trouble. 

The block is a piece of Claro Walnut...well, technically Claro is a grafted Walnut with intense figure, and this may just be crotch Walnut (where two large trunks or limbs branch apart - always full of figure, that part of any tree).  As I started to shape the block, I really didn't know how I was going to shape it, so I started with the arcing concave top, shaping the 'tail' to a point.  The block looked too chunky at that point, so I decided to thin the 'waist' of the block, and kept going until I had this trapezoidal shape that I found pleasing to the eye.  I often gravitate towards simple sweeping lines in blocks for their aesthetic beauty...each being custom made, such blocks require lots of hand-sanding.  

(FYI, there is a sound sample of it on the flute website under 'Specialty' flutes.  Blogger lets me add video, but not purely audio samples, sorry!)

A whale of a flute!

...and it's no fluke!  Well, part of it is, I guess...

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I think it was 1.5 years ago that while walking Mercy on a trail I found a little 3-inch plastic Orca some child had dropped.  At the time I thought I should make an Orca flute or make a block like the toy, as it had a neat shape.  Basically, I just started messing around with ideas. I had a foot-long chunk of Sapele (suh-PEE-lee) that I mused could serve as the body for a very different style of flute, building the flute mechanism into the body itself.

I cut the large rectangle about a third up from the bottom, lengthwise.  I routed only the thinner section, given my limited flute length, which makes the design like one of my flat-bottomed half-pipes.  As you'll see in the photos below, to play this flute you roll the Orca over and blow through its mouth.

The fins and fluke are made of Bubinga, and only until a week ago I had no base on which to display the flute.  I was originally thinking of driftwood, though I didn't have any on hand.  But I did unearth a big piece of Manzanita root I'd forgotten about, and decided to scoop a big piece out of the top to look like a wave and hold the flute.  Some hand-rubbed finishing set it off handsomely.

To hold the Orca in place, I added a small wooden peg that goes into one of the two top playing holes.  The large hole in the photo below is simply the 'end' of the flute...air has to exit somewhere for these flutes to work.  The bigger challenge was to design a block that was integrated into the flute and didn't use a leather tie...the answer was to take small thin pieces of wood, angling the inner edges to 45 degrees, thus building a snug slot for the block.  Once I got the design working properly, I sanded down the outside so it blended beautifully.

With a simple pressure the block can be slid out easily...

The flute is a tad under 12" long, and is tuned to ultra-high Bb Verdi tuning (A432).  The aerosol can gives a good size reference...

...and it was 'adopted' just last night!  Haven't even made a recording with it yet, but that's on my to-do list today.

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Batten down the Carolina hatches lest ye and everything else not nailed down blows away today.  This winter definitely has an attitude and takes no prisoners!

"Signed, sealed, delivered...."

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The 'Hippie Flute' has landed in the hands of its happy owner as of Saturday morning, and here are the pics I had waiting in the wings to publish. You think I would have thought far enough ahead to record a song with it, but nooooooooooo that would have required me to think ahead! Oh well, you can only accomplish so much when things get hectic, eh?! I photographed it without any finish so I wouldn't deal with reflective glare, etc. Paints are acrylics in multiple coats, topped with a wipe-on polyurethane finish. The black lines were originally done with a Sharpie at the 'coloring book' stage, but finished off with a Rapidograph pen before sealing.

The particulars are it's made of spruce, in the key of low C, and I built an in-bore constriction about 5 inches from the foot of the flute to make this a much more compact low C flute. The short SAC (area behind the block) makes for a more comfortable hand placement, closer to the player. Typical of softwood flutes, it's oh-so-mellow...perfect for the theme, dudes.

The new parent Sharon mentioned something I'd thought about...whether one would be comfortable playing Native songs on such a flute, would it feel right, etc. While I was alive for Woodstock, I was too young to remember much about it or anything going on then. But was it not an era that stood up against government control and lying, covering up 'truth' and strong-arming those that refused to play by the Fed's rules? Was it not about truly loving peace and acceptance of everyone as they were? Can't encapsulate such a significant cultural movement, of course, but I would have no problems playing serious soulful songs with that baby.

I did tell Sharon that she needed to buy a pair of glasses with round yellow or rose colored lenses, as well as a cheap afro wig...be in a somber concert, start talking, put on the glasses, then the wig, then pull the flute out...wouldn't that be a hoot?!

Love that oil step!

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Nothing fancy to report this morning, except I took a group of 4 new flutes to the oiling stage, which is my very favorite part. The wood grain comes to life, and as you add finished on top of the oil it only gets better!

FYI, the flute on the left has only pilot holes drilled for the fingers...completing that step can be done later. I used Teak oil on the end flutes, left and right, and Danish wood oil on the middle two. Haven't used Teak oil before, so I'm experimenting with it...supposedly sinks into the grain and hardens, so I'm curious to try it on various woods. These particular flutes were sanded to 400 grit before the oil was applied.

First up....flame Maple with a touch of bark inclusions...over an Ebony base...


Next may well be the wood that instigated my allergic reaction, though not sure...it's Cape Beech from Africa. The 'scales' are called rays, and look like a cross section of cells under a microscope. This closely resemble the rays in Lacewood, the Australian silky oak I'm exceedingly allergic to (the dust, that is). I've done nothing more than muse if rays, regardless of species, have similar compounds that create the unique look...might give me a clear hint to stay away from woods with such rays!...

The flute on the far right is one of the Mahogany members, and while it looks like the light area didn't get enough oil, it's actually a very shimmery wood...as you tilt it in the light, what looks light will appear dark, and vice versa...just happens to be the way it looked for the picture.

By the way, from last Wednesday's post where I played my "Child's Play" song, the second flute from the left is the one I used...and it is already proving to be one of those flutes I'll have a hard time parting with (A#/Bb). All the blocks are made but in the multi-step drying process, so you only get to see the flutes in their birthday suits!

Always nice to have a little comparison shot, eh? Gearing up for this Saturday's show in Waynesville, the 26th Annual Church Street Fair...and none too pleased to see a 50% chance of rain...hope that changes for the better!

Delivery day!

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I think I could tweak and tweak and tweak myself into trouble with flutes...the more you look closely, the more you can see you want to diddle with, seeing things that 999 out of 1,000 pair of eyes would never ever see! Alas, gussying up the 5 flutes to take to Asheville today, Tuesday, for judging later this week,for potential membership in the Southern Highland Craft Guild.

Too, yesterday was a squirrely one that I won't go into detail about...except to say when you're looking for a break for things to slow down so you can catch your breath, that's when a bevvy of other things flare up like a California wildfire! Can I get an "AMEN!" from the choir???!!!

For today, I'm posting detailed pics of just the freshly finished Green Heron flute (low E), complete with carved creek and trio of Grandfather rocks. The body is figured Black Walnut, and the block is a single piece of Basswood (plus the glass eyes).



What's peculiar about photography sometimes is how certain colors don't translate exactly; while the Heron's head looks rather light and blue, it's grayer and darker...tweak as I might I couldn't get a great match, but you get the idea!

Lastly, I took a group shot of the 5 show flutes I'm turning in:


From top to bottom they are:

1. "Praying Hands" (mid F#) in Papua New Guinea Walnut, Dogwood and Bloodwood
(loaned from private collection)

2. "Jonah and the Whale" (low E) in Makore with a Galilean boat of Peruvian Walnut
(loaned from private collection)

3. "Great Blue Heron" (low E) in Quilted Maple, burl caps, dragonfly inlay and Poplar head
(loaned from private collection)

4. "Green Heron" (low E) per above

5. "Thunderbird" (mid G) in figured Black Walnut and Claro Walnut T-bird w/ turquoise

I'll show some of the details in other flutes in forthcoming blogs shortly. For now, I've been burning waaaaay too much midnight oil during the daylight hours so I'm going to go pull my plug. Y'all be good now, y'hear?!