Eb/D# hole (B4)

Irish Flute
1

just curious… has anybody tried drilling a fourth hole for the bottom hand to facilitate a cleaner, stronger Eb/D#? If so, how did it work for you? how did it sound? how did you go about it?

do any flutes come with a B4 hole?

thanx in advance,

be well,

jim

2

Certainly thought about it, and I think we might have discussed it here some years back. Indeed, there are two possible ways to make use of that lazy R4:

  • have it cover an Eb, as you’re imagining. That would give you an Eb and probably a better E, due to the additional venting. The hole would have to be small though, as you couldn’t reach the ideal location of an Eb hole (which is where the key puts it).
  • add an F (natural) hole (covered by R3, with E covered now by R4). This would bring a number of benefits - F# would be sharper, F would exist, E could be lower and bigger, the right hand stretch would be reduced. You’d need to learn a slightly new fingering.

In both of these, there would be some argument for using RH pipers grip. Alternatively, you’d need a strong offset on the R4 hole.

This is a subject that our poly pipe flute makers could try out fairly efficiently (not so wasteful of timber if it proves a total flop!).

Terry

3

thank you, Terry. curiosity just got the better of me…

i had imagined that adding a fourth hole would definitely require a recalculation of all the lower holes (B1 excepted.) my thoughts were that there would be other side benefits if you will… not the least of which would be those you mentioned.

anyway.. thank you again for your quick response… i think i’ll go and noodle on this for a bit longer… maybe play with some math and rough out some tubes from the given results to see how it lends itself.

be well,

jim