Wooden Flutes

Standard Flutes in the key of D:

The Flute-Head:

My flute-heads are all made with a tuning slide from Nickel-silver. The head is not completely lined with metal tubing, it stops about 40mm below the blowhole. The Tuning slide has also a layer of cork between the timber and the nickel silver tubing so the timber can still move a little and is not restricted by the tube. That helps to avoid cracks. I use this method now for a good few years and it has proven worth the effort.

All timbers are treated with various types of oils to protect them from moisture and to keep the quality of the bore surface as smooth as possible. The Rings are made from Brass and are available in plain Brass, Silver-, Nickel-, Black Nickel- or Black Chrome plate. If desired they can be made from solid silver as well.

The Blowhole is designed in a fashion of a modern Böhm style blowhole. The shape is an elongated round hole not square as seen on some Böhm System flutes and not oval as on the old style flutes.

The standard Headcork is without any adjusting mechanism, the Head joint is closed off by a headplug made of the same timber as the head (unless a feature plug made of a different timber is preferred) with a Paua shell Inlay in the centre.

The Flute-Body:

I distinguish between two versions for the flute-body:

One-piece body

The Flute consists of the Head, the Barrel and one long joint that has all the finger and noteholes. There is one tenon that connects to the Flutehead.

Two-piece body!

The Flute consists of the Head, the Barrel and two joints that make up the flute-body. The top-joint has the top three finger-holes and the bottom-joint has the lower three finger-holes. There is one Tenon that connects to the Flutehead and one that connects the two pieces between the a fingerhole (ring-finger, left hand) and the g fingerhole (index finger, right hand. If the instrument has a g# key, the notehole is on the top-joint.

Both versions have the same bore and notehole dimensions with the exception of the g# hole on keyed flutes that has to be in a different position on the two-piece body model, to make space for the tenon. All tenons are capped with brass to ensure stability and to protect them from harm.

The noteholes are medium sized, not as big as the holes on a Rudall & Rose or a Pratten (to my knowledge...), but big enough to produce a rich, voluminous sound. All finger and note-holes are undercut and finished by hand.

C-Foot Model Flutes

The Flute-head:

The Flute-head is the same as on my Standard Flutes.

The Flute-body:

The flute body consists of middle-part and foot. The middle part holds all six fingerholes and the foot the noteholes for Eb, if the instrument has a Eb key, D and C#. The longer bore facilitates an easier playable third octave and extends the range of the instrument two semitones to low C, provided that C# and C keys are fitted.

The middle part can be made as one piece joint or split into two joints, between the g and a (3^rd and 4^th) fingerhole, the same way the Standard Flutes can be made up of one or two piece bodies.

The Keywork

The Keywork that I make is a high quality, pin mounted design. As materials I use castings in bronze, nickel-silver tubing and key-cups, steel springs and steel rodscrews. Generally I get all keywork and pillars silver-plated, but can do Nickel-, Black Nickel-, Black Chrome- or un-plated keywork on special order. Shown here is a close up of a typical Bb key with a recess to allow for easy "roll-on" action with the Thumb, the key is Black Nickel plated, the timber is Satiné.

For my Keywork I use the finest white leather pads that can be fitted with metal resonators to improve sound and compensate for the damping effect of the closed noteholes.

All my experience that I acquired during my apprenticeship as Bassoonmaker in Germany (W.Schreiber & Söhne in Nauheim) and in the following years as working craftsman goes into design and production.

Keywork on flutes other makers

My Keywork can be put onto other maker's Flutes if that's desired. It tends to be more work, but often worth doing

The same materials and designs are used, sometimes slightly altered to suit the needs.

Samples of Flutes

This is Karl Nesbitt playing a C-Foot Model Flute with 8 Keys made from Tulipwood