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The Corroboree
Amazonian

Native American Flute

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I recently downloaded some flute music which i found calming. I took so much of a liking to it, that i decided that i was going to make my own flute. So here are some pictures of my first attempt at flute making. It is a Native American style flute. A Kiowa Love flute. It is in the key of 'G' . I haven't perfected the sound it produces but am pretty happy with the result. It is made from Bamboo and the totem is carved from Cypress. I enjoyed making this and am hoping to improve on the next one. When i learn to play it, i will upload a sound file(?).

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I didn't think the end result was going to look like a bear ( as intended) because as i was carving, it was looking like a pig,LOL

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It looks awesome. Could you post a guide how you built it? I love wood working and building musical instruments.

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Gorgeous bear!

Lovely work, very cool.

If only tin whistles could be so pretty i'd be more inclined to play mine more often!

Edit to say:

omg just saw who posted this...

Amazonian you're awesome! :worship:

Edited by meeka

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Abandoned

Edited by dworx

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I second the request for whatever guide or outline you used. I've pondered on trying to make one but all instructions I've found were either incomplete or overly technical to the point of it being ludicrous.

If yours plays as good as it looks you made an awesome flute!

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Thanks for the positive feed back guys.

@ gnostic and Auxin , I spent more hours looking at web sites on "how to" then i did on making the Flute. There were so many variations of instructions, i didn't know which way to turn. And yeah, some instructions were so technical, talking about frequenciesand stuff, too much for me to fathom..When i was looking at images on line, of the 'true sound hole' ( the section under the totem), i still could not get a good enough idea of how to do it. The idea is that the wind gets split and produces the sound, just like in a recorder. So, in the end i brought a flute( the prototype) and just copied that by eye. As far as i have learned, the length of the flute determines the key of the flute, so the longer the flute, the deeper the pitch and the shorter the flute ,the higher the pitch.

The "traditional" Native American flute was constructed using measurements based on the body — the length of the flute would be the distance from inside of the elbow to tip of the index finger. The length of the top air chamber, as well as the distance between the whistle and first hole, would be one fist-width. The distance between individual holes would be one thumb-width, and the distance from the last hole to the end would generally be one fist-width.

So, i don't have a guide that i went by, but it wasn't too hard to construct, except trying to master the true sound hole. Just get some cheap bamboo and have a crack at it . Bunnings sell outdoor torches that are made from a length of bamboo. You could pick up a few cheap and have a stab at it. Go for a piece about an inch in diameter and a bore of roughly 22mm. Length 565mm, with a node still in tact at least 400mm along.( the node is where the true sound hole is made.).

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wow, very good. does it play ok? The bear looks great. Once you get going, it can be pretty addictive huh? Well done ;)

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Hey ubza, fellow woodworker. You know what, it actually plays OK. Its me that doesn't play well. Enjoying having a go though. Family members here are not enjoying it as much as i am.:lol:

Keen to start the next project.

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Family members here are not enjoying it as much as i am.:lol:

 

Just tell them they're lucky you didn't decide to build a violin.

Awesome work btw :)

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i was building a tiny violin a few years but lost interest. I only built front face of the body and that was about 10cm long.

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Nice work! Native American flutes have a really nice sound!

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Awesome work, you've inspired me to have a go with some bamboo from a patch growing

near here. It's classed as a weed so no one will mind me getting some more.

I already got some for stakes in the vegie patch, such a versatile plant.

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