I’ve been making a few bamboo flutes and they all suffer from the same problem: the top two notes of the 2nd octave are nigh impossible to play, requiring an extremely tight lip embouchure to get barely a squeak.
I can make good sounds on the full 2nd octave of my polymer low D conical bore flute so it is likely not my embouchure technique that’s the problem.
My latest bamboo flute is in F with a length of 450mm from center of embouchure hole to tip. OD is 24.5mm at the cork end and 23.5mm at the tip with a 2.4mm wall thickness. Embouchure hole size is 12mm x 11mm rounded rectangle.
I have sanded the bore and made sure the embouchure hole is smooth with a subtle undercut on the blowing side.
I’ve made sure there’s no leak on the cork end by putting blowing into it.
What could be wrong? Bore to length ratio? Wall thickness? Lack of taper / conicity that’s causing my issues at the top 2 notes of the 2nd octave?
Do note that it’s not intonation that’s the issue here. In some bamboo flutes I managed to solve it with my own make of a Tipple-Fajardo wedge but whether it has the wedge or not I get the same issue of unplayable top 2 notes of the 2nd octave.
Thank you to anyone who can point me in the right direction.
I’ve read that the chimney height on a flute will affect flute response in the extremes of high/low notes. But I was under the impression
that a higher chimney meant being more prone to getting stronger bass response and making the higher notes more
difficult. Perhaps this factor doesn’t apply to a bamboo flute with no extra chimney added. If not, this post can be printed and used for
bird cage liner.
Regarding the bore size vs what key it’s set at, there will be a point where the bore, as matched to a key, simply stop giving you
ability to create tones. I’m also wondering if the use of a bore taper in the headjoint area, for about 4 to 5 inches, might help solve
the problem.
Hi sagadabeans. Is it possible that the came bore diameter is just too big for a flute in F? If my maths is right, your bore diameter would be around 19mm, which is the maximum bore diameter of a D flute. Minimum diameters down in the foot area are typically around 11mm.
I see F flutes max diameters around 16.5mm, dropping to around 11mm at the minimum point in the bore.
Maybe save that bamboo for longer flutes, and try some smaller canes for flutes in F?
Hi Terry, thanks for the kind guidance. I’ll try to experiment with a smaller bore for the same length keeping all the other parameters the same and see what happens. Thank you.
Hi Rober, when you say a taper in the headjoint area, do you mean starting more narrow at the end and gradually getting wider for 4 to 5 inches before it narrows again towards the other end?
I have a bamboo quena in G with a 22mm bore and those highest two notes do play with good technique, but the wide bore does make it tougher. (I much prefer a 16 to 18 mm bore for a quena in G.) The bore of that bamboo quena has clearly been coated with something though. When I make wooden quenas, those high notes only sound properly after coating the bore, and I’ve used yacht varnish and epoxy for that, but the more conventional approach is obviously to use something like linseed oil (which I’ve seen makers of bamboo quenas use). If you’ve just stopped at sanding the bore, there’'ll be a lot more quality there waiting to be revealed by coating it.
Terry is right–that bore is way too big for a flute in F. I make flutes in F (both wood and bamboo) and you are probably going to want a bore that is around 17mm or less. The 17 diameter works well if you have a taper in the bore (at the head). If I were making a cylindrical bore F I’d go smaller–maybe 16mm.
The larger bore only works on a quena because your chin/lips are the “stopper”. With an end blown flute, sealing the opening with your mouth is the equivalent of taking a transverse flute and pushing the stopper so far toward the embouchure hole that it occludes half of it. With transverse flutes we adjust the stopper a little (moving it toward the embouchure) to sharpen that second octave slightly, so this effect is exaggerated on end-blown flutes. And the large finger holes on quena help in that regard as well. At one point I made some quena with a tapered bore, and it was too much–the second octave was quite sharp! But a G quena will perform better in the second octave with a smaller bore. I use a 17mm bore on my wooden quena in G.
Yes, I need to try making some transverse flutes to learn more about the differences. Should be fun, though I’ve got a problem at the moment with one ear malfunctioning, making it hear everything a semitone lower than the other ear, and it’s like listening to a crackly radio - something’s wrong in the bit with the three bones connecting the eardrum to the cochlea. Difficult to do anything involving music for now.
For many years that ear was generating strange clicking noises if I only put sound in at that side instead of putting it into both ears. For the last few years though, it started generating a very low pitched hum of the kind a lot of people complain about while others hear nothing - for a long time I thought it might be infrasound from a distant wind turbine, but I eventually managed to prove to myself that it was a fake sound generated internally. I sometimes also heard my heartbeat in that ear, so I thought it might have been caused by a blood-clotting disorder that I’d developed - perhaps it had caused new blood vessels to grow in the wrong place to bypass a route that had become blocked. At other times it generated the sound of rain or a stream. Then about half a year ago, I found that whistling one particular note generated an irritating resonance in that ear which amplified it and turned it harsh. It got worse from there with a decline in sound quality of all music and the lowering of perceived pitch. A couple of months ago all I could hear from that ear for a few days was a slight scratching sound, so it was essentially profoundly deaf, but it’s recovered since then to perhaps 50% of normal volume.
The doctors here are useless - I even had to fix the clotting disorder myself by researching the symptoms and finding them in a scientific paper from the Cleveland Institute which confirmed my suspicion that it was caused by rogue gut bacteria - it explained how they were generating a chemical called TMA which was then turning into TMAO which directly drives clotting. I had had a series of fifty small blood clots hit my lungs which the doctor wrote off as panic attacks - the first one was the biggest, and it was nearly lethal, severely restricting oxygen transport for a full seven minutes. The NHS here is a brick wall that you can’t get through, but it was particularly bad at that time because it was during Covid lockdown. I then followed the advice of the Cleveland Institute and took resveratrol to suppress TMA production, and that cleared it up. If I forget to take it with a meal, I soon know all about it and have to stay up all night and take nattokinase to break down the clots as fast as they form. I haven’t bothered to see the doctor about my ear as I’d get more useful advice from a witch.
I found out something interesting about hearing though while one ear was practically completely deaf. If I blocked the good ear and played sound from my phone at the other side of my head, I would hear nothing, but if I then moved the speaker right up to the bad ear (but not touching it), the good ear would hear it very faintly, but clearly - the sound was getting all the way through my head by following the air in the tubes that connect the internal air spaces behind the eardrums to the nose and mouth. So, you can’t play a sound in through one ear without some of that sound leaking through your head to the other ear. Touching the phone to my head to the side of the deaf ear also transmitted sound to the good ear, but through the bone rather than the air passages.
If they do, you can start by making an appointment or call in for a free hearing screen. It’s pretty rudimentary, but it works.
If they pick up significant hearing loss they’ll usually invite you to a more in-depth test; if that confirms it, they’ll probably suggest you see your GP* for a referral. You can then go to the surgery armed with evidence of hearing loss to show the GP, which my sister discovered was a lot more persuasive than her own descriptions!
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To be fair they’d also recommend the in-ear aids they sell on a private basis, but they’re pricey enough that it’s easy to say no on cost grounds.
Taper in the headjoint - Yes, being a little narrower in the bore near the window and widening to basically the regular bore at about 4 or 5 inches, but I presumed the bore would remain the same beyond that point until reaching the far end of the tube. So only one area of widening.
Also, I’m wondering if the design of the flute tone hole, the blowing hole, has to be of a certain sharpness or width to help reach the highest notes. That far edge where the air hits, I would think it would help if that edge was as sharp and uniform as possible. That is the flute “blade”, the parallel to a whistle blade, which when uniform and sharp helps clarity.
I agree with RoberTunes and that any flute plays better with some chimney. I have made several flutes using Doug Tipple instructions! Some with chimney some without! The extra thickness at the blow hole is not just for a lip plate. It also gives some chimney. I find it easier to play with some chimney. As for the sharpness or a bit dull blow edge a personal preference. I get better response with a bit of dull edge. I also prefer an oval shape blow hole. Doug Tipple plays with straight 3/8” round hole. There again is personal preference!
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