Some Help Building Bamboo flute

[Cyfiawnder]

Hi all... SOme of you know me, and some of you don't, I'm lazy so I'll let the others introduce me for me
Anyway I recently aquired a nice piece of Bamboo and I want to at least make one flute out of it and at least one whistle (no R@@@@ders though), but I am having a hard time deciding what type of flute... and how many tone holes... Right now the the questions are more towards prepping the wood. The Wood has already been dried and there are no Cracks evident. The wood structure inside the "joints" is still intact so I am going to have to drill and ream that out. When should oil be applied to the bore? Pre or Post assembly? I intend to make it a two or 3 piece instrument depending on the dificulty involved in making the joints. I already know it's going to be two piece because I like having an instrument I can tune... Oiling it before I start assembly could cause problems with the adheisive I use for the tuning slides... Should I ream it out then make the slide and lower joint, then oil it before I start drilling the tone holes? Also does anyone know if there are any calculations to get an estimate Inned Bore Diameter and wall so I can figure out where to put the holes? The Wood is naturally tapered and the wall thins out towards the bell end, so how do I go about figuring where hole placemement should be? I'm sort of at a tie between Building it in the "classic" Irish Flute Style with the two holes on the Bell end of the whistle, or in a 8 tone hole configuration... In both instances though I also have no idea how to figure out where to place the extra holes...

I figured I'd put this post here since it is the flute forum
Merry Meet
Cyfiawnder

[michael_coleman]

If you only have one piece of bamboo I hope you are ok with ruining it because chances are you will need quite a few to get the kind of flute you want. It has taken me somewhere between 50-60 feet of bamboo to get an octave in tune with itself, let alone the second octave. Some things I have learned: First, make sure you have the bamboo prepared correctly. If you haven't already taken a torch to it, I suggest doing it, no matter how hot it gets where you live as it changes the molecular structure of the wood and makes the wood glean with a nice finish. Unfortunately, you may not be able to make a whistle and a flute out of the piece you have as I just recently learned that discrepancies in the tuning from one octave to the next has to do with the wrong length to bore ratio. Since your bore diameter is fixed you will need to find a length that will correspond to that bore size (other wise the first and second octaves will not be in tune). I do this by putting the embochure hole in first and slowly cut off the end of the bamboo until both octaves are in tune (this is why making a whistle may not work, although you may get lucky). Search for the flutomat on a search engine or on here to get the right hole size and placement. Mind you, it is best to start out with a smaller bit size than the one recommended because once you drill (or burn in my case), its permanent. I recommend using a hot tip (I use a torch and old drill bits) to make the holes as it makes a nice hole with no burrs and you will not run the the risk of splitting the wood.

Yes, do bore out the inside nodes except for one on the end where you place the embochure hole. Place the embochure hole about 19 mm from the end node (if you are making a low D, I believe it is 19 mm, can anyone confirm this for me?).

Thats a lot of info and realize that I still haven't made a flute I have kept despite my best efforts. So, I hope this information helps.

Best,
michael

[Cyfiawnder]

I have built a couple of whistles (see this thread http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php ... c&start=15) so I know whats entailed with making them. I haven't used FLutomat for a while I have graduated to TWCALC. Oops I already sort of sliced off the Node at the end of the piece I intend to house the embouchure. But I already made something that can be placed into the bore to Cork it... even though I'm not using a cork. I did it because AFter about 3/4 of the way through that Section the Wood started curving heavily I thought a Bent flute would look weird... By saying tourch I'm guessing your refering to a butaine tourch and not an Oxy acetaline. Interesting information on the surface. I am aware that the Flute should have thread tightly wraped around the parts that could possibly split. Like all the open ends...
Thanks for the tips
Justin

[John S]

I think the Idea of heating the Bamboo is designed to relieve tension in the wood that could lead to cracking.
Wood is essentially a co-polymer of Cellulose and Lignin. The lignin serves to "glue" the cellulose fibres together.
At room temperature Lignin is a crystalline material but has a glass like form above a certain temperature. Above this temperature the wood becomes plastic and any tension can be released.
This temperature changes with the moisture content and settles to 50*C above 15%.

TTFN
John S

[GaryKelly]

Might this help: http://www.webspirit.com/fluteman/

[vadorman]

Here are a few of my whistles-flutes. I find a ratio of 15/1 is the best. That is 15 inches long (from the mouthpiece to the end) to one inch inside diameter. Most of the bamboo I have found, or 3/4 pvc lends itself to low G. 1/2 pvc comes out C or D. That doesn't mean you can't make it into other keys. They just won't play well in the upper octaves. I drill the mouth hole first. 3/8" works well some of the bigger flutes I use a 7/16". Then I drill the octave hole. Six holes seems to be the best. Sometimes I put seven, but I just half cover the hole on most of them to get the flat.

I think if you click the image below it will give a bigger image, if I did it right.
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[Cyfiawnder]

Well as the flute plays now It plays Low C# quite easily (C#4) With a little more blow power it hits C#5, and a little more than that C#6 ... I think I'm going to need me some Keys... Perhapse Block style.. I'm going to have to buy them cause I don't have the means to making my own... Well I probably could but... maybe i'm a little lazy... As it stands right now TWCALC spits out some impressively long distances... Only problem I can see right now is the G hole falls right on the 2nd joint... Guess i'm going to have to do some hole fenageling.... For those of you who are wondering, it's 23 3/16" from the middle of the embouchure to the bell end... so it will probably be like 23" even for a D maybe I'll leave it at C# and make it a Harmonic scale... what do you guys think... Oh In case your Wondering I cute the nodes out... They were being too much of a hassle so it's not going to look like a bamboo flute... it woun't haqve any "knuckles"....

[Cyfiawnder]

Looks like i won't be building anything for a while... At least not until i get the 15 stitches removed from my right fingers... 8in my thumb, two on the tip on my index finger 2 o the tip of my middle finger, and 3 on the side of the nuckle closest to my finger nail also on my middle finger... not only will i not be making any... i won't be playing any either...

[GaryKelly]

Owwweee.

[Lambchop]

... not only will i not be making any... i won't be playing any either...

Uh oh! Is there music for one-handed flute?

I wish you a speedy recovery . . .

[Cyfiawnder]

A super high Sakuhache or N/A flute