Hey all-
Wondering what the effects are of playing around with the embouchure hole as far as the flute being in tune?
I played a friends flute at session last night, that took a really demanding embouchure, and I wondered what would be the effect of undercutting/enlarging or otherwise toying around with the embouchure size and shape would be to make it slightly friendlier.
Anyone done anything like this? (Just curiousity, I don’t intend to start hacking at his flute… 
)
Aodhan
For one thing, enlarging the hole will make the tuning to go up (sharp). “Voicing” (cutting the blowhole) is the most important part of building a flute. A lot of it is black magic.
Learning to adjust mouthholes must be the perfect way to wreck flutes ,next to leaving them in my lounge .Much better , perhaps ,to adjust your mouth .
Indeed, unless one has the tools and skills to do tone hole bushings and the like.
Loren
Thank you for being snide. I simply asked out of curiousity. I know exactly where my fledgling skills reside with the flute, and how much I still don’t know yet.
All you had to say was that it would most likely wreck the flute, and maybe why.
Aodhan
You have to learn somewhere, right? You may not wreck it after all. Go slow. The “flutemakers” group at Yahoo is probably a better forum for this question.
g
Hey, glaub…silkie get there ok?
It’s not my flute, I was just curious. I’ve seen some of the semi thrashed “antiques” on ebay though, and I’ve wondered about getting one and toying with it. Just thought it might be kind of fun 
Aodhan
Nothing wrong with that!
Yes, Stone’s here, thanks! I really like that whistle.
g
Andrew isn’t being snide; he’s just being Andrew.
Not to be taken personally.
I wish I knew more about cutting embouchure holes.
It’s maybe the single most important feature
in a flute, and I haven’ the foggies what’s
going on. Best
Good old Jim! You would make a wonderful mental nurse sorting out the paranoia and touchiness which creeps into some of these contributions we read.
I have bought quite a few flutes on eBay and elsewhere which have been ruined to the point where bushing was required . If Ivory is used it isn’t cheap .I bet that all these little disasters started with somebody just making a little "improvement " and then another .I watch Mr Wilkes make these adjustments and it is very delicate .A little touch here and there ,and another blow .The results will be dependant on his skill at consistent blowing , his practiced ear and twenty years of doing it, ( and no doubt sometimes going too far ) .
Anyway good luck to anyone daft enough to do it ( I am afraid that I am quite daft enough ) and I hope you live near someone equipped to do a bushing job.
I am afraid Aodhan that if we stick to "what we only have to say"everyone will get even more bored than they are now .
And it’s my birthday today so you shouln’t be nasty to me !!! So there .
Well, Happy Birthday, then!
Kevin Krell
Well thank you Kevin .
A Wilkes for Christmas,(from myself !)and an H.Fentum ( also from myself ) which came this morning for my birthday ! Too much .I must work out how to get another birthday ( like the Queen ?) as there are Rudalls to be bought !
Happy Birthday Andrew - I hope all is well. Congrats on your flutes The Wilkes I have is an amazing instrument, I’m still discovering things about it and still being surprised by the sounds it’s capable of. I’m still learning my way around this instrument. I’m really pleased with it
If enlarging the hole helps the flute become sharper, is equally true for both round and square embouchure. What about squaring out a round embouchure to help give it volume?
Oh, man, this talk about playing with embouchure holes scares me. To safely do this, you first need to be a developed player, to be able to play-test what is happening to the flute with each tiny change. In addition, expert wood-working skills and knowledge of flute physics would also be a good thing.
I know a professional player that makes tiny adaptations to piccolo embouchure holes, using fine sandpaper. He says each swipe of the sandpaper changes things dramatically. It’s quite possible to wreck an embouchure beyond repair, even if you’re an expert flutemaker. I’m not brave enough to try it.
Dana
No chance of my attempting such a thing, of course.
But I don’t have ANY idea of what people are
doing, you know. I think I should spend some
time with a flutesmyth.
Happy day after, Andrew.
Heh…I wasn’t being nasty to you today, I was being nasty to you YESterday!
Happy birthday!!
If I were to do this, I’d get one of the $30 pakistani flutes from Ebay and mess around with that. I’d never toy with an antique type flute unless it was already messed up pretty seriously.
Another stupid question, by bushing, I’m assuming you mean some kind of insert to make the tone hold smaller after you’ve enlarged it beyond all repair?
Aodhan
With those Pakistani flutes, there is much more wrong with them than mere embouchure holes.
A great way to practice cutting/shaping embouchoure holes is to get a stock of PVC tubing and some corks. Cut pieces long enough to make a decently low tone and experiment. When you think you’ve got something decent, go online to the flutomat thing and figure out some tone hole placement. It’s fun stuff.
That’s how I started. Then I moved to bamboo. Then wood, but not enough yet. I’m still young.
Jessie is right about the Pakistani flutes (unless you luck out and get a realy good one - by which I don’t mean immediately playable but one that has salvage potential). After working with PVC and then bamboo like Jessie, I thought I could handle a Pakistani flute and get one into working order, but I would have needed to rebore the whole darn thing. It was a disasterous failure, but it was fun…
Bamboo BTW is so much more fun to work with than PVC. I mean, the stuff in inherently born to be made into flutes by amateurs like me, and bamboo looks much nicer than most PVC flutes IMHO.
Eric
I agree, Eric, but for starting out, PVC is easier to get and you don’t have to feel terrible if you ruin a piece.