Hi all! Very happy to find some fellow flute makers!
I just started out constructing bamboo transverse flutes and its going pretty well. Loving the process. I have a luthier background in guitar building. A very tedious job haha.
Anyway, i made a flute from bamboo, actually gave it some color with some dye, then varnished the outside succesfully.
My question is:
How about laquering the inside?
Like, aside that technically i am narrowing the tube and change the tone, are there any other things to point out?
Does the laquer itself change the tone dramatically?
Is it easier to take care of a flute thats sealed off against the elements?
Things like that 
Lot of other questions im trying to figure out by experimenting and reading.
Thanks in advance! Happy to be here.
Best regards,
Bruce
I would say that with bamboo, you might do well with some type of oil. I make bamboo flutes and I have finished some of the bores with multiple coats of button shellac. This is experimental, and so far it works great. But I’m considering switching to a natural linseed oil and pine pitch finish. With bamboo, it tends to sound and respond well in it’s “raw” state, providing the bore is cleaned and polished. The oil would just provided a nice moisture seal, because I don’t know that the inner surface of the bamboo really needs more than that. My shellac experiments were to see if it would enhance moisture protection and make for a better response when playing. I think it works, but I don’t necessarily think it works any better than oiling and polishing.
Lacquer on the outside is nice, as well. I favor shellac because it’s all natural and has a similar effect (visually). But I’m also experimenting with combining shellac and oil on the outside, trying to find what looks, feels and handles the best.
Hi Geoffrey!
Fantastic! Thanks for the respons
In case of oiling the inside, i ordered some 100% walnut oil. I forgot where i read this and if it was instrument related, but its great for bamboo. Obviously havent tried it yet. Will let you know for sure. I guess it should smell nice also. Not that i choose smell over great tone ofcourse, but it might as well haha.
The outside i started out with varnish. BAD choice!
It never really gets hard and tends to be sticky while playing. I use a parket floor laquer now. Its hard as hell because its for wooden floors, it looks glassy/mirror finish, and its pretty thin/liquid like. Along with some sanding and buffing (car polish) i get really nice results.
The inside you have a good point!
My inside is not smooth enough as of yet.
Flute sounds great, but when i use the lower octave, i get a strange high pitch whistle tone along with it SOMETIMES. Im trying to figure out if thats to do with my embrochure or the fact the inside is not smooth enough.
Any experience with such oddity?
Cheers mate!
BTW, amazing flutes i see on your website!
Great job!!! Is that some oil paint water dipping i spot there? Did this with a guitar once. Looks great!
Hi Bruce,
Glad you visited my site . It sounds like what you saw was ebonite (natural hard rubber). It has that “liquid” look.
If you wrap some medium steel wool around a length of dowel or steel rod, you can chuck it in a drill and polish the bore. Just make sure you don’t lose your steel wool in the bore by having it come loose! You may never get it out again. I take duct tape and reverse wrap it (sticky side out) on a length of 3/16" aluminum rod. Then I wrap layers of steel wool (you can use something like 0 grade coarseness for this) around the rod and the sticky tape secures it nicely. You add on until the rod had enough girth that your steel wool can contact the walls of the flute inside (but don’t force it if you get too much steel wool on there). This should clean things up quite well.
If you are only getting a whistling sound sometimes it might be your embouchure. You might also have a crack in the flute that is very small (unlikely, since this usually kills the tone consistently). But while a rough bore might make for a less responsive flute, I don’t imagine it would cause intermittent whistling sounds.