Thread: Any Recorder or Flute makers on the list?

Gidday Sebastiaan,

I'd be guessing that recorder makers are a bit thin on the ground!

Having said that it's interesting the way various instrument makers have been flushed out over the past year or so since this forum was created .

It'd be great if you'd post pics of your work/projects from time to time. That'd flush out the interest! (and keep the rest of us entertained and educated).

Cheers,

P

Just an amateur player here, but I'd be interested to see the techniques involved in making one. I have a couple of nice wooden ones (descant and tenor), that I think were german made.

I'd be interested to see how you made your PVC and aluminium flutes too.

Perhaps it would also be worth researching the manufacture of japanese shakuhachi?

We had a local guy Don Cartwright along to a Guild meeting 2-3 years ago who makes reproduction recorders(for want of a better name) and oboes. He brought along a musician from the Tasmanian Symphony orchestra to play a couple for us......just magic. He also did a feature spot for us at the last "Timber & Working with Wood Show". I think he has produced at least 50-60 of them. He said he could spend up to 2 weeks making the tapered reamer for these .......... and if he does not get the shape right (sound of the finished item is off) , he throws it away and starts again.

He said he had tried many different timbers and found the best local timber to use was tasmanian native olive, grows on the East Coast in very limited quantities and not readily available.

Do a google for contact information.

Hi guys

Thanks for the responses, the archives dont have many woodwind posts so my question appears appropriate.

Zen, what kind of recorders do you play? the net has lots of plans for tin whistles, I will post some photos of mine when I get that part of the forum sorted out. Suffice to say that Ive spent a lot of time sorting out windway design which is the critical part of the design.

This page is particularly useful http://guido.gonzato.googlepages.com/whistle.html as is www.mimf.com

As for Shakuhachi, Ive never been able to get the embrochure right and produce as much as a note so Ive given up in disgust. There are numerous pages on the subject http://www.mujitsu.com/howtomakeshakuhachi.pdf and http://www.navaching.com/shaku/shakuindex.html will get you going.

Getting the bamboo is another challenge. The root stock is a bugger to work with, its best worked when wet but needs to be dry to play. Ive made numerous transverse flutes with bamboo, the material almost asks to become a flute. Tuning can be a real handful as the bore has to be dead flat for the maths to work but making them is quick, dirty and quite rewarding.

The main challenges with recorders are the reverse conical bore and the windway. Getting a timber that is workable is also difficult. Traditionally recorders are made of boxwood or fruitwoods. These are both a bit diffficult in Aus at the moment.

Sebastiaan

Thanks Kev,

Our posts both landed at the same time. I will follow your lead up. Which guild?

Sebastiaan

Originally Posted by Sebastiaan56

Thanks Kev,

Our posts both landed at the same time. I will follow your lead up. Which guild?

Sebastiaan

Google Don's name, he was a guest speaker at one of our meetings (Woodcraft Guild Tasmania).

Originally Posted by Sebastiaan56

Zen, what kind of recorders do you play?

Thanks for those links Sebastiaan. I certainly wasn't aware of many of the subtleties of recorder making. I knew the bore was tapered, but not that the taper varied along the length. That would make manufacture very interesting.

Attached are pics of my two recorders. A Moeck Rottenburg descant and a Rössler tenor. Both quite nice looking woods, but I'm not sure of the species. The descant seems to be fitted with ivory-like decorations on the head- and foot-joints.

Hi Zen,

Looks a lot like mine except mine are in boxwood which is a lot more blonde. I think yours may be in rosewood. I really need to work out how to get photos onto this board.

If you are into eye candy here are a few links, www.vonhuene.com/Default.aspx?tabid=65
http://www.mcgee-flutes.com/making.html and of course Nick Landers page www.recorderhomepage.net/instruments.html There are plans available but the bore is the issue.

Interestingly Shakuhachi appear to be all about the bore as well. Shak makers use drops of beeswax to tune individual toneholes, quite an art.

Sorry for the late reply to this thread but I have only just joined the forum. I do a lot of recorder playing and have wooden recorders from bass up to soprano (or descant as it is sometime called) plus a plastic sopranino.

I have visited Don Cartwright, who has been mentioned. Otherwise, the two good makers that I know of are Joanne Saunders and Michael Grinter, both of whom I believe worked with Fred Morgan, an Australian who was regarded as one of the world's best makers. There is another person in Brisbane who is reputed to have made recorders but I have not seen any of them.

Apart from getting the bore correct, the art of recorder making depends on the shape of the windway, which is critical to getting a good sound and being in tune, and also on the exact size and position of the holes. Both of these are adjusted after the recorder is basically made.

The wood used for my recorders is box (that is European box, buxus sempervirens), ebony, maple, rosewood. I understand that Don Cartwright has also used some Australian timbers.

Thanks for the response Tony,

I will google the names you have suggested as I really have hit a brick wall in regards to cutting windways and fipples. I actually need someone who is willing to teach me. There is an art to this.

That said I think Ive worked out how to make a transverse flute with the kit I have. Will post on Monday,

Sebastiaan