The Magical Flute VI: The Overall Design By Lew Paxton Price The older Native North American flutes made of bamboo had a bamboo node at the foot with a hole in it. This hole could be of whatever size that would make the flute sound better. It was a hole for fine-tuning the flute during its manufacture. When the tribes without access to bamboo began to make their flutes, they used Elderberry, which had a pithy core that could be easily removed. Elderberry has no nodes, so the tuning hole was placed in the barrel wall. The hole in the barrel wall was an alternative path for air to enter and leave the flute—rather than the single path, as with the hole in the bamboo node—however, the effect was the same. When the hole was small, the key of the flute was lower. As the hole was gradually enlarged, the key of the flute slowly rose. When more tuning holes were added later, the same effect was present and the method was the same—except the flutemaker attempted to keep all the holes the same size that meant gradually enlarging all of them together at each step. Today, you can have tuning holes if you wish. They may be called sound holes or Direction holes, and there may be one, four, or six. Usually, a single tuning hole is called a sound hole and four or six are called Direction holes. The lowest note on the flute is called the fundamental. This is the note made by the flute when one closes all the holes and blows softly into it. Since the energy of a note is proportional to its frequency, the fundamental tends to be softer than the other notes because it is lower. This note will also overblow or at least sharp when one blows hard, and it will do so more easily than will the other notes of the flute. So it is important to try to make the fundamental as loud as possible to both the flutist and the audience, if any. I have found that the use of sound holes can make the sound more distant to the flutist, but not to the audience. Since I make most of my flutes for the player's enjoyment, I prefer to make them without sound holes. However, you may decide that you want them. Another way to overcome the softer sound of the fundamental is to make the walls of the barrel thin, between and of an inch thick, so that they resonate more to the flute's lower notes. Listeners (other than the flute player) will not hear a difference in volume due to having a sound hole, but they will hear a difference when the walls are properly designed; and the difference they hear will tend to even out the volume of the flute's entire scale rather than just increasing the apparent volume of the fundamental. Four tuning or sound holes signify the four Directions used by some tribes in ritual (North, South, East and West). Six tuning holes signify the six Directions used by other tribes (the Directions Up and Down bring the total to six). On some flutes the holes are lined up on top and on others they are distributed evenly about the barrel (top, bottom and sides). Some flutemakers now make their sound holes in artistic shapes instead of simple round holes. Generally, it is not necessary to have any tuning hole as the length of the flute can be lessened to achieve the same thing. And many of the old flutemakers preferred a shorter flute with no tuning holes. So the tuning (sound) holes are there for artistic purposes rather than necessity. When one or more of them are present, the flute can be made as long as one wishes it to be and this affects the proportions of the flute. Some proportions look better to the eye than others do. The holes also lend to the appearance simply by being there. When there are no tuning holes, the flute can be made shorter. This is handy when you want to carry the flute through dense brush. The smaller flute is also easier to pack and to deal with. A longer, fancier flute might be more impressive for ceremonial use. The choice is yours. The outside diameter of the flute barrel depends upon the inside diameter and the wall thickness. The inside diameter should be between inch and 1 inch. It may be larger, but I doubt that this will give you what you want, as the appearance of the flute will be less pleasing and the weight excessive. It may be smaller, and this will lead to less volume and more range for the flute—and the flute will require more skill to play because there will be an ever present danger of overblowing. This is why it is desirable to limit the flute's range to about an octave. The wall thickness should be between and inch. Again, this may be larger, but the flute will be less pleasing in appearance and too bulky. The foregoing dimensions are predicated upon a flute that is in a key between F# and A, as previously discussed. The bore need not be round. You may have a router with only an inch shank, which might limit you to using a half round bit that is a maximum of inch in diameter. You might want a bore that is at least an inch in diameter. You can alter the shape of the bore slightly, make it a more oval or more square shaped, while using the same inch bit. A bore that is an inch wide and full inch deep gives you about the equivalent of an inch round bore. The outside of the barrel may still be round if the bore is not, or it may conform to the same shape as the bore, or it may have a shape of its own. This means that the wall thickness may vary from one point to another. This is all right. The bore may vary a bit in diameter or shape. You may be crafting your flute the old way, from a branch that is not quite round, using tools that do not easily allow precision. If you were crafting a flute with a multi-octave range, you would need a precise bore throughout its length. But this is a single octave flute, so you may have some imperfections in the bore without paying a penalty for them. The foot of the flute may be carved into a bird's head or something else if you wish. This was never done on the very early flutes, but has been added since for artistic purposes. The advantage of it is in the image it shows you. The disadvantage is that it detracts from the woodgrain (if you have chosen a nice piece of wood). Sometimes it is like gilding the lily. The same is true of painting, woodburning, or other decoration. You must choose between the simple and the elaborate so that the flute looks appealing. The flute may be lengthened or shortened by adjusting the low-speed chamber—the chamber from which air flows into the focusing channel. The minimum length for this chamber is about 3 inches. There is no maximum length. The length of wood for the hole into which one is to blow, should be between and 1 inches, depending upon the taper you wish to build into the flute head. Gradually tapering the head means a longer length for the blowhole. An abrupt taper means a shorter blowhole. The diameter of the blowhole should be between inch and inch. The larger dimension of inch will guarantee that you have smooth airflow delivered to the splitting edge; but some designs with longer channels or other compensating factors will allow a smaller diameter to work just as well. It is best to pick the diameter you like and then enlarge it as necessary. The low-speed chamber need not have the same diameter or shape as the bore. However, it should not be less than inch in diameter because it must be a place where the air slows down, and too small a diameter will not allow this. Think of the airflow as a river that goes faster where the river is narrow and shallow, and slower where the river is wide and deep. If you are using a recessed nest it is sometimes wise to have a thicker wall on the low-speed chamber and on the part of the barrel near the sound hole. This means that the inside diameter here must be less than that of the rest of the flute. The overall length of the flute should be no more than 24 inches if you were to make the flute without any tuning hole or other item that would lengthen its foot end. If you use a tuning hole (or Direction holes), the flute may be as long as you wish, but should be under 22 inches between the tuning hole and the blowhole. If you ignore this rule, your flute will require such long arms to play that you will feel like a tired contortionist after playing it only a short time. To summarize, you must now choose whether to use a tuning hole or holes. If so, you must choose how many. You must choose the bore shape and diameter, the wall thickness or thicknesses, the shape and diameter of the outside of the barrel, the length of the low-speed chamber, the length and diameter of the blowhole, whether to have a carving at the foot, and the overall length of the flute. According to an article by Dr. Richard W. Payne, one of the most prevalent of the old traditions was to make the flute the same length as the player's arm. The sound chamber was the length measured from the inner crease of the elbow to the outstretched tips of the fingers. The first tone hole was a palm's width plus two finger widths from the airsplitting edge toward the foot of the flute. Additional tone holes were placed along the sound chamber at thumbwidth intervals for a total of five or six. Direction holes were added near the foot of the flute. The result was near to the major diatonic scale in the key of F# when one blew hard into the flute. This is typical of body measure traditions for many of the flute tunings, and they are close to being correct if one compensates by gradually enlarging the holes during the crafting of the flute and by controlling the airflow when playing the flute. The length of an arm can vary from at least 24 to 30 inches, the distance between the elbow crease and the fingertips can vary from at least 15 to 17 inches, the hand width plus two finger widths is usually about 5 to 5 inches, and the thumbwidth is usually about an inch. To lessen the difficulties you will have when creating your own flute, I am going to use plain old measurements off a ruler to describe how to make your own. So when crafting a mode 1, mode 4, mode 1&4 combination, or mode 5 pentatonic flute, the dimensions given in the chart should be used for best results. You may notice that the dimensions are very close to being easy thumbwidth natural dimensions for the key of F#. As a bonus for people with long arms and fingers, I am also giving the dimensions for a flute in the key of F. It would be best to study the charts of the dimensions and complete your design, but do not actually craft your flute until you have received further instruction which will make it easier for you. 1993 by Lew Paxton Price | 
