Angle Drilling Tone Holes

[MikeS]

I came across this very optimistically priced traverso on ebay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/German-Baroque- ... 4d00d3cccd

Check out the R1 (F#) and, to a lesser extent, the L1 (B) hole. I've seen this sort of angled drilling on bassoons and serpents, but never on a flute. Does anyone care to speculate on whether this was done intentionally or to correct some really egregious tuning problems when it was play tested? The R1 hole could, I suppose, be the result of shortening the design to play at A=440. This might put the correct position of the hole too far into the thickened part of the joint reinforcement. Anyway, I'm curious to hear what more informed, or just more imaginative, minds make of this.

[Denny]

I'd think that it was to reduce the r1-r2 stretch.
It moves the hole closer to the joint.

[woodfluter]

Angle drilling of toneholes is pretty common on recorders, mostly the larger-sized ones.
It's done to reduce finger stretch.
I haven't seen it done with flutes. There is probably a good reason.
Might have to do with tonehole size.
I could speculate but flutemakers would give better answers.

[highwood]

it moves the effective hole position and makes the hole height greater, thus:
it reduces the stretch
it makes a larger hole effectively smaller
it provides an excuse to charge more
it makes it harder to copy
it gives you something to talk about with other players
it provokes discussions on forums
...

[doublebucklemonk]

I have a 1 key Eb piccolo (circa 1900) that I bought in the Czech Republic. It has a few angled holes. Most notably the R3 is angled to move the finger closer to R2. I think the actual reason is to move the hole away from the key post.

[Jon C.]

My original Meyers flute has the R3 hole angle drilled, thus shortening the stretch...

[Jay]

quote: "My John Gallagher Rudall flute has smaller tone holes, and six keys. The reach is very easy. In fact, he angled the tone holes to make them even more closely spaced. I think my hands have about a 7-inch spread. It gets a very full tone into the third octave. I believe it's modeled after an 1820s or 30s smaller-holed Rudall. I can't handle larger holed flutes because my fingers fall into the holes....

Jeanie"

Which you can read HERE about 2/3 down the page. There was a picture of Jeanie's Gallagher with the angled holes on C&F somewhere. They were not angled as much as they are on this boxwood ebay flute we're discussing, but noticibly angled. Can't find the picture at present...maybe in the flute pictures sticky.

Jay

[waltsweet]

Especially on a tapered-bore flute, drilling the toneholes at an angle changes the octave relationship. Sometimes this change can be corrective action, while at other times it just introduces new trouble. Undercutting above (toward the blowhole) will compress the octave (and conversely). Recorder-makers apply these principles carefully. Because of the side-effects, it shouldn't be thought of as a simple way to shorten the reach. The effect is different with a Boehm bore or with other instruments.

Walt Sweet
http://www.wdsweetflutes.com

[Gabriel]

Odd.

I have a Moeck traverso just like that, from the same series and time, only blackwood instead of boxwood, and the holes are perfectly straight.

Having said that, the "historical instruments" department at Moeck was run by two senior craftsmen who recently (2008) retired, and the department was shut down after that as demand wasn't high enough. Unlike the recorder department, they did all the work entirely by hand (which reflected in the high price of those instruments, not only traversos, but also rauschpfeifen, schalmeien, krummhörner and all sorts of other double and single reeds). And I could imagine that they did custom work in the past, so maybe someone had them drill the holes in an angle the holes for better playability...

Regarding what Walt said, I don't know if drilling a tone hole at an angle has an influence on octave relationship...after all the hole's just longer, not tapered (which is was undercutting does), so it surely has an influence on tuning, as higher tone hole chimney = longer way for air to escape, but on octave relationship? I'm not sure, but I haven't tried it either.

[highwood]

I don't know if drilling a tone hole at an angle has an influence on octave relationship...after all the hole's just longer, not tapered (which is was undercutting does)

why not just believe Walt

drilling the toneholes at an angle changes the octave relationship.

I understand not believing me when I say he is right - I'm just me and you don't know me - but he is right. There is even a mathematic model that allows one to calculate it thats been around for at least 80 years.

If you really want to believe make a couple (or a dozen or more) instruments and test it out.

[Gabriel]

I made about 35 so far, currently working on #36-40. Fortunately there was no need for angle drilling tone holes until now.

I'd love to see that mathemathic model, though. I have been changing/optimizing things by trial and error so far, and a mathematical model for calculating flutes with multitapered bores would be a great help for not only me, but all flute makers out there. I know the Otto Steinkopf method, but it doesn't work for flutes with more than one taper rate.

[Tunborough]

If you can handle the mathematics, the most effective model I've found is that of Antoine Lefebvre:

• Antoine Lefebvre, "Computational Acoustic Methods for the Design of Woodwind Instruments", Ph.D. Thesis, McGill University, 2011.

• Antoine Lefebvre, Gary P. Scavone, "Refinements to the Model of a Single Woodwind Instrument Tonehole", Proc. 20th ISMA, 2010.

He covers cylindrical and conical bore sections, open and closed toneholes, with and without keypads. I wouldn't say he handles the embouchure hole or head-end as well, though. For whistles, I've found his approach very effective, even for cross-fingerings--especially for cross-fingerings, which simpler models can't tackle.

[oldflutefan]

I've just bought a new flute (full details in a later post when there's time. Bouncing off the walls with excitement)

It's a 'Rudall' type model, in mopane, and was made for small-handed people. Unkeyed as yet till September.

The intonation is perfect, 440, mean-ish temperament, and the tone and volume are consistent across the octaves. And surprisingly loud, for the smallness of the holes, even with a 7 month embouchure......
I got it, not because my hands are small, but because it suits my (apparently quite-good-but-weird) embouchure, and beacuse I fell in love with the amazing, complex tone. It's very varied, and responsive.

The holes are heavily angled, some towards the head end, some towards the foot. The undercutting is fierce.

Oh- it didn't cost any more than the other flutes.

The maker has been creating baroque oboes and bassoons for chamber groups for ten years; this may have some bearing on his readiness to angle flute holes?