Native American Flute

 This is a prototype on which I learned a whole lot about flutes. It is made from two long pieces of Cedar that were routed out to create the center opening. I used a plug turned from an old broom handle and glued it inside to create the two air chambers. After turning it, I added a mouth piece of Mesquite and turned it to match the diameter of the flute. The bird on top is made from spalted Beech. It is finished with shellac inside and clear matte spray on the outside.
 
 I added the bottom shot at the end to show that this is kind of a Frankenstein flute. The bottom was originally the top. I started with some plans I pulled from the net that were pages on flute building from 1945. I liked them because they had dimensions but I could not get it to play any sound when I clamped the halves together so I plugged all the original holes and used the bottom for the top.
 
 I found another site with flute facts and dimensions from John Stillwell. That is where I got the idea for the bird. I wanted to find how Bill Hayes from Pioneer Craft House in Salt Lake City made flutes when my friend Mike Wygmans ( a great instrument builder) loaned me a DVD for flute building and it was by Bill Hayes This was the best piece of information on flutes I have ever seen. It had a complete chart of tuning, but most of all it described the steps in the process so you did not get ahead of your self like I originally did.
 
I cannot play my flute does as well as I like. I have these overtones that take away from the sound of it and I can't seem to tune them out. This tuning business is a real art!! I called in to Bill and he called back and we talked for half an hour on what I can to do eliminate the over tones and he told me of the things he found that they are incorporating into their flutes they now build.
 
 It was a lost cause to get it to play F#. I tuned to that with the the Snark tuner on the end of the flute for this initial tuning by vibration and cutting to length. That plugged the air hole and changed the tone a bit and now the flute is about 1/2" too short from all the dimensions I see on other F# flutes. I found this out by playing it into a mike with a tuner on a laptop which gave the true notes. It plays G flat with all the holes closed so I made it a G flute and opened all the holes to make the right notes .I took it to the  flute festival and the Casa Grande Ruins and I had two of the  local native Americans  play it and it sounded really good in the hands of good musicians like that. They were surprised that I made it from scratch....Cheers, Jim