I have a low D bamboo flute I just received. The lower octave is pretty much in tune and has a lovely sound. The second octave is way flat. Can this be corrected? If so, how?
Bought this through an Ebay auction and there is no information about who made it.
I’m pretty sure that’s just the nature of a bamboo flute since it’s essentially cylindrical and not conical (and there is no reverse head joint taper like on a Boehm flute). Roll out and lip up are about the best tips I can give you!
I was recently offered a couple TallGrassWinds bamboo flutes, so I snapped them up.
They are a big change from my keyless wooden flutes!!!
They are nice in their own way, but my ear really hears the difference. I agree with Jayhawk, you have to play around with them ~ actually, I hear real flatness in the lower octave, especially the D, unless I adjust my emboucher and the way I have the flute angled. Then anything above 2nd octave G is weird. Again, adjust, adjust. I think after awhile you would just automatically compensate for this, but honestly, for now it’s kind of a pain. YMMV, of course.
Mary
p.s. This is nothing against Steve Cox’s flutes!!! They are beautiful, obviously well made, and come in a very nice hemp bag. He can’t help it if I can’t make them sound beautiful AT THIS POINT IN TIME (!) ~ give me a couple months…
Thanks for the feedback, on and off the forum. I may mess with it a while longer but will probably just sell it and stick with my Casey Burns and Seery. I don’t have to adjust near as much with them.
Any one want a bamboo flute? I’ve got $28.30 in it with shipping and insurance.
If you are interested contact me off the forum either with a PM or at me email jdurdin(at)heartland.net substituting @ for (at)
As a last resort, try pushing the cork plug (providing it is movable and you can reach it with a dowel or something similar) towards the embouchure hole just a tiny bit at a time. If you have access to an electronic tuner, that would help. Often the ear isn’t the best judge of these things.
A very small adjustment can make quite a difference in tuning between octaves, so go gently.
I had difficulty when making a few bamboo flutes to match the octaves as you have noted. In fact, I was an entire half step flat on the second octave. I tried cork and all that, but it only worked mildly.
I’m going to try again over winter break–I hope it works.
1.Is there a node anywhere on the body of the flute?If there is,and you can file of any jagged edges on the inside,that might help.
2.Is the head end of the flute narrower than the foot end?If it is,there’s not much you can do.
In my opinion, it has to do with location of the embouchure hole. Makers of fine instruments know this stuff, but some others, like Serenity Flutes, pay no attention to individual dimensions of bamboo and put the hole wherever it looks good. This makes for out of tune instruments.
Tallgrass Winds, Rhiannon, Olwell (not in that order) make very nice and in-tune bamboo flutes. Yes, cylindrical flutes are different from conical flutes, but face it: some are better than others.