crossbreading... PVC flutistle... pics inside.

Whistle
1

So, I wanted a flute, but I have no money right now (got laid off :frowning:. don’t worry though, I’m a student, it’s just a summer Job, it’s not a tragity, just no money).

My step Dad had some 3/4" PCV lying around… and he said I could have it. Oh baby, flute building madness.

Anyway, I’m working on that… blah blah blah… and there is this Short peice of pipe just sitting there. A little more than a foot, maybe sixteen inches. not long enough to make a D flute. I considered making a G flute out of it, but I got this crazy idea…

I started thinking about that Japanies flute that is end blown, but it doesn’t really have a fipple…

several hours latter, after a whole lot of filling and expirmenting with blades, and learing about how quickly a dremmel goes through PVC, lossing a couple of inches off the tube; I can get a sound out of the thing. It’s an F#. I have a tube in F#.

I put two holes in it so far. I’m gonna tune it to F# harmonic Minor (and hope I can get the cross-fingering for the E natural. Yes people, there is something called E# if your in F# harmonic minor, it just happens to sound exactly the same as F natural)

It’s more or less a whistle that just uses your lip for the fipple. I can only get notes out of it sometimes. It’s gonna take a little practice

Here’s what it looks like so far:

and a close up to of the emboucher

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I feel like Dr. Frankinfurter, and I think I like it. It’s just a Jump to the left. (semi-inside joke. Someone here better get it).[/img]

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Also sort of looks like an Andean quena, no?

3

Maybe. I don’t know what that is…

wait just a minute…

(you don’t actually have to wait. I’m going to go get something, but because this won’t be posted until I come back, it will seem as if it took no time at all to you).

…

Ok, I’m back, put down your playboy.

Strange enough, I remebered that My mom has a CD of Andean flute music. I looked at the pictures inside. Yes. It is just like that. Theirs is in A, and mine is in F# minor, so it’s even the same key. Theirs has a hole on the back though. Mine has no such thing.

I just put in the CD. It’s very annoying. There are a lot of people yelling in spanish in the background. That is dumb. The flute playing is great, the accopanyment style is irritating however.

But yeah, same basic tone production idea thing.

4

A few more words for you to Google:

Chinese xiao flute

Japanese Shakuhachi

Ney (Turkey, Egypt…)

My teacher makes pvc tube shakuhachis. He uses them when he visits schools so all the students can have their own flute.

Mukade

5

Looks like you’ve done a good job on the Utaguchi (bit you blow over). I’ve made a few of these, well five or six, only one had a decent utaguchi. Keep practicing it does get alot easier to blow these things.

6

Heh… funny thing is, It took me a lot of tries to get the right… uh… you-ta-guchy… Emboucher. It was probably an Eb or so when I started. Hehe…

Dremmels don’t quite work here… hehe… he… it was bad.

but the tone is quite lovely now, when I can get it to come out.

7

Google “PVC Shakuhachi” and" PVC Quena" and you’ll find excellent plans for making both of these notched endblown flutes. I’ve made both and was very surprised and impressed with the results, long before I was a whistlemaker.
Please use caution when working PVC-- wear a dust mask (or even a bandana tied across your mouth and nose, western bad-guy style), when doing any sanding or Dremeling. That dust will get in your lungs and stay there forever. If you use wet/dry sandpaper, you can wet the PVC and paper and sand that way to keep dust down and get a really nice surface.

As you’ve discovered, tinkering with instruments is a blast. I’m afraid you’ve started down the slippery slope… :stuck_out_tongue: