Looking for someone who has experience in making custom PVC flutes. I’m looking to make a notch-blown flute that has fingering similar to the (baroque) recorder. In any key. I am prepared to pay the price to make this worth your while. Thanks, please PM me.
First off, I’m sorry to butt in but I’m curious. Oh, and I’m not a PVC flute maker. But I do play both whistle and recorder at a level I’m proud of, as well as flute to a much lesser degree (though I’m improving).
I’m curious because there are many of us who play both whistles and recorders (baroque most likely) that wonder what is to be gained since the fingering transition is not exactly a quantum leap and becomes a pretty much autonomic exercise in fairly short order. I’m not aware of any tonal advantage to the fingering. Most of the advantage to be gained, if one can call it that, would be from the embouchure flexibility of the flute.
Please educate me.
Good luck in your quest,
ecohawk
meoweth,
Making PVC instruments is great fun. The PVC is cheap, and easily shaped.
See: http://www.shakuhachi.com/CM-Edfors-WIPVC.html
You can probably get a copy using inter-library loan. That’s what I did.
Be careful though. Wear a filter mask to keep the dust out of your lungs. From what I’ve read, it stays in your lungs and doesn’t decompose.
vive la maker !
As someone who has tried (briefly) to emulate “baroque-recorder-style” fingering on a parallel-bored PVC whistle, I’d guess that the tapered bore of the recorder has some bearing on the matter and consequently may be very difficult to emulate using a piece of PVC tube. I too would dearly love to learn otherwise 
How “similar” are we talking here? Do you want it fully chromatic, or would you be happy with diatonic in C, with the fork-fingered F, and maybe a couple of cross-fingered sharps? Without the double holes on the bottom two notes? Two octaves only?
I’m working on some whistle design software. With some more info, and a bit of work, I could plug this in and see what comes out.
I’m looking for fully chromatic with the double holes on the last 2 fingers, 2 octave range would be fine. The advantage of recorder fingering in my opinion is that you need less fingers to play on average, as well as not having to half-hole. Because of the mathematics used to calculate varied hole sizes that the recorder fingering uses, its the optimal solution* for playing chromatic western music. I understand recorder is slightly tapered bore and the flute I’m looking for is a cylinder, not sure how much influence that will be. Please PM me if you want me to send you a payment so we can get this started. I’m really interested in your flute design software.
*Optimal as in keyless or before the Boehm key system
PM sent.
No payment expected. I’ll be doing this on the side, and may not be able to deliver results as promptly as you’d expect if you were paying for them.
The design software is not ready for prime time. The current user interface isn’t friendly to anyone not acquainted with the inner workings, and the algorithms are still evolving.
I have a new request. I would like a PVC Xiao or Quena-style mouthpiece for a recorder, I will supply the wooden recorder. Please PM Me if you think you can do it. Im willing to pay the price to make it worth your while.
I’d like a pony.
Hello, my friends.
Yes, it is possible to make “hybrid” instruments in any style - no matter if it is cylindical or has a conical bore. If you followed my youtube video-blog in the past ten years, you saw all this - a made it allready in all styles and different sizes…hmmmm one day I throwed it the trash…nobody was interested.
But now, look:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUwW1_ETSgcI
I saw your blog in this forum and made a QUENARECORDER yesterday night … no problem … you can make it by yourself easily!?
If you want to have a cylindric version ? - No problem - Look at Foky Grubers “Silberton” recorder and his patent, which is 50 years old…this one is available at “HOPF” …I allready sold the last of his cylindrical Altorecorders, that I bought from Mrs. Gruber.
In his patent you can learn, how to solve the Intonation-problems of a cylindric bore-recorder … by the way, many (some?) whistlemakkers know about this problems and how to solve the problems. But this are no secrets at all, if you study all the old ethnic windinstruments from all the continents, you learn how flutes are made:
cavals, meys, sopilkas, frulas, etc…bansuris, fluta gralla and so on.
Martin Educciman has my full attention and appreciation and admiration.
Sir you have nailed it!
With concert flute as well as recorder.
I gave up trying.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1d-vgSFsOe0
Mack Hoover
Good work educciman! None of my hybrid attempts have been half that successful.
And then there are some who don’t seem to need extra holes.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORonX-_5BtI