Boehmish Bansuri

[Sillydill]

I came accross this recently.

From Anubodh a NEO-BANSURI. It is a bansuri made in a very Boehmish style. Here's a link: http://www.anubodh.com/neo_bansuri.htm



Just thought it would be interesting, though pricey at $245, but Anubodh basuri appear to be very finely crafted.


All the Best!

Jordan

[Doug_Tipple]

From the Neo-bansuri website:
"Neo Bansuri gives you

Increased Loudness (Higher volume)
Very stable and rich sounding lower octave
Minimal or no sibilance (hissing sound)
Richer overtones
Slightly higher blowing resistance
Point to note : 'Slightly higher blowing resistance' -while provides added richness, stability and volume to the lower octave, can be just a little daunting for an absolute newbie as the blowing needs to be more focused in the higher registers."

The above characteristics are the result of the increased chimney depth of the embouchure hole due to the presence of a lip plate on a thin-wall bamboo flute. The same improvement can be noticed with the addition of a lip plate to a polymer flute.

[talasiga]

.......
The above characteristics are the result of the increased chimney depth of the embouchure hole due to the presence of a lip plate on a thin-wall bamboo flute.

Yes, that's really original insight there Doug. If you get a flute and it sounds different after you put a lip plate on it, the difference must be due to the lip plate.

[Tweeto]

I've seen several simple system conical flutes that had lip plates. So there's not really anything "boehmish" about that. I think I prefer the look of no lip plate, but I do appreciate the sound that the plate allows. Best would be a lip plate that gets progressively thinner toward the edges, so that it's shaped like a mound, adding thickness only to the blowhole.

[talasiga]

I've seen several simple system conical flutes that had lip plates. So there's not really anything "boehmish" about that.
.....

If I recall correctly it was T. Boehm who introduced the non "barrelic" embouchure plate that we are accustomed to on the Boehm type flutes. Anubodh's Neo-bansuri introduces such a plate to his traditional bamboo flute and credits the Boehm precedent. So it is Boehmish for him to do it (although it is not a word I like) in the context of bansuri if he is the first to do it with traditional indic bamboo flutes.


BTW, the morpheme "bans" in "bansuri" literally means bamboo. The 'n' is nasalised as in that Canadian place called "Banff".

[Doug_Tipple]

.......
The above characteristics are the result of the increased chimney depth of the embouchure hole due to the presence of a lip plate on a thin-wall bamboo flute.

Yes, that's really original insight there Doug. If you get a flute and it sounds different after you put a lip plate on it, the difference must be due to the lip plate.

Talasiga, sorry to bore you with my non-original thinking. However, there may be others on the flute forum who are not as knowledgeable as you are and who may be interested in what I have to say, no matter how basic. They may agree or disagree and use that as the basis for their own exploration.

To summarize briefly, as a maker of cylindrical-bore pvc flutes with and without lip plates, I have found that my flutes with the lip plate play louder and easier, especially in the first octave. Also, because of the greater chimney depth of the embouchure hole with a lip plate, the flute offers more resistance, playing more like a wooden flute. I think that this is especially true for flutes made from thinner-wall pipe or bamboo. Wooden flutes, because of the design of their headjoints, are already thick enough to cut a very good embouchure hole without needing the extra thickness of a lip plate.

[talasiga]

Hi Doug. Do you agree with what I said to Tweeto?

[Doug_Tipple]

Hi Doug. Do you agree with what I said to Tweeto?

I am not sure what you mean by a non-barrelic embouchure plate. I am guessing that a non-barrelic plate is one that is mounted on a riser, like on modern silver flutes. However, the embouchure plate on the neo-bansuri appears to be a simple plate attached to the surface of the flute with no riser. Otherwise I agree with what you said.

In my comments I was merely noting that it was understandable that the addition of the embouchure plate to the bansuri produced the "improvements" that were mentioned on the webpage, as I have noticed the same thing with pvc flutes.

[talasiga]

the first European embouchure plates were a barrel or tube fitted over the head tube to add chimney depth. I think Boehm was the first to have embouchure plates as we know them on Boehm flutes, these do not go all the way around the head.


personally speaking I would not have embouchure plate on any large bansuri. My C# key bansuri is loud enough compared with my Wicklow D and my Bamboo C with lip plate and with Boehm flutes I have played with. It is rich enough in overtones and steady and womanly in the low octave as it is. The little bit of sibilance you get with these flutes is part of the beauty.