I need a Quena, and Fast

World/Folk Flutes & Winds
1

Hey, I’ve a gig coming up in 5 weeks, and I need some C-capable pipes. The C flutes or whistles I’ve been considering are out of my price range and would also take too long to make right now. I’ve been listening to more quena recently and I’ve fallen in love with that expressive tone. It can’t be matched! Anyway, I’ve realized that a Low C quenacho and G quena are just what I need. That’s the sound I want; they are comparatively cheap; and I think they might be able to get here in time. I also need about a week’s buffer zone to adapt my flute embouchure into a quena embouchure. Similar, but a bit different, and more challenging, I’ve heard.

Any suggestions on places to buy or makers who can deliver a good, concert-tuned, professional quena in comfortably less than 4 weeks? And I think it should be possible to get them for comfortably under $100 each, right?

Let me know! Thanks.

-Brendan

2

You can make a quena fairly easily out of PVC - there are plans “out there” somewhere - if I can make one, anyone can! I will caution you that it has a learning curve - it’s quite different from flute and very critical regarding the “sweet spot”. If you don’t hit the spot on a flute, you still make a decent sound. If you miss it on the quena, all you get is air noise.

3

Thanks for the heads up. I’ve experienced this. My friend has a very cheap quena, very small, something higher than G. It could have been a C or D. A little thing with a very little notch, and I could not get a sound! I might buy used, a sale was brought to my attention, and that way I can buy the flute sooner and spend some more time learning it. I’ve decided not to build my own right yet. Maybe in the future when I need some different, less common keys, and I know how to make a sound on it in the first place! Kind of hard to make and tune and you can’t toot it. :slight_smile:

4

I need a Quena, and Fast

There’s nothing quite so urgent as a five-alarm Quena emergency.

5

Hey, just bumping this to ask what you all know about unmundodebambu.com and his quenas. He seems to know a lot, and I found his videos on youtube. Great sounding stuff. Looks like he’s figured out the art and science of making brilliant sounding, perfectly in tune quenas and quenachos. Anyone know his prices and build times for his various levels of quenas? He has a student level, professional level, and high quality level. How much does the addition of the tuning slide cost? I emailed him, but he hasn’t gotten back to me yet, and I’m eager to know. I’ve seen his stuff referenced on this board before, apparently a few people here own his quenas and have worked with him, so I figure someone will know.

6

I just received a price list from him. For a G quena he charges (US dollars including shipping!) $55, $65, and $85 respectively for the thin, thick and tunable versions of his “high quality” quenas, and roughly between $100 and $200 for various of his “best available” quenas. All of those look incredible, with hardwood inserts for the embouchure etc. I haven’t actually played/heard one yet though.

Jon

7

Those prices are fantastic. I would definitely like to get some of his work in the near future, if he would email me back! Maybe I messed up the email address. Could you send me the one you used?

8

I have a quena from Un Mundo de Bambu. My quena oozes attention to detail and craftmanship. Very nice instrument and a pleasure dealing with Angel.

Here is the e-mail address I used: bambuar[at]yahoo.com.ar, full name: Angel Sampedro del Río.

9

I have been trying to buy a quality quena off the Internet for quite a few years and my results have been disappointing. The one I bought from Mundo de Bambu was supposed to be a top-of-the-line quena. It had beautiful inlay, and a very comfortable mouthpiece, but the bambu was curved. The quena was flat, about an F sharp. The octave match was very poor, the first octave being generally flat to the second. I tried to enlarge the holes to bring it up to standard pitch but that did nothing to help the octave match. The final verdict? Virtually unplayable. A terrible disappointment.

The next one I bought was an Itumiray Pro. It was a beautiful piece of Bolivian bambu, but again, it played flat, again about an F sharp. I tried to tune it to standard pitch but the holes got to big to cover with my fingers. When I complained to the manufacturer he insisted that I was blowing it wrong. But there was no way to blow the instrument up to pitch.

It is very common for these instruments to be flat and not tunable to standard pitch without making the holes too big to cover.

My advice to anyone who wants a playable instrument is to learn how to work bambu and make your own. You can start with PCV quenas to learn the basics, then move up to bambu. The yellow bambu used for making lawn torches is satisfactory. Black bambu is sweeter in tone. Drill the nodes of the bambu out with a spade bit so the bore is uniform. Notch it with a file. Then burn the initial holes with a hot nail and enlarge them with a Dremel. Dip the quena in nitrocellulose lacquer or wax- free shellac (Zinnzer Sealcoat Sanding Sealer) before you start tuning. Otherwise it will crack during the tuning process. Remember that the quena will rise in pitch as it warms up. So play it, then enlarge the holes, play it and enlarge the holes until it’s in tune.

Good luck with them. I do think it’s a mistake to try to rush anything with a quena. It often takes me many months to get a quena in ideal tune. Certainly somebody out there must be selling good quenas, but I haven’t found them yet.

Timinez

10

I ordered one of these and received it a few weeks back. It looks very nice, but I have a hard time getting much sound out of it. The trouble is, there’s no way to know if this is because I don’t know what I’m doing or the instrument itself is bad. I can play the bottom few notes pretty well, but after that it’s very difficult, and even when I get a note, it doesn’t sound very clean. I’ve played transverse flute, so I know something about directing a focused stream of air.

I notice two things about this quena that seem potentially problematic. First, based on photos and DIY instructions on the web, the notch seems a couple of millimeters wider than the norm. This may be why I seem to have to blow my brains out to get any notes on this thing.

The other thing is: The near end of the quena is cut at 90 degrees to the axis of the instrument. Now, I’ve noticed that a lot of them that I see in pictures seem to be this way. But when I’m playing, I find that to get the right angle, I have to push the lower edge of the quena into my chin pretty hard. It feels like the top of the quena should be cut at a slight angle–just a few degrees. After getting the Novica, I kept looking, and the only place where I saw explicit mention of this angle was Mundo de Bambu. So I ordered one from him, before the latest message in this thread appeared. I haven’t received it yet.

The “Edduci” quena ([urlhttp://www.educci.de/]here[/url], also looks good, and I’ve heard from one person who owns one and gives it a good review. Unfortunately, the least expensive model currently available is 120 euro, plus 30 euro for shipping to the US, and that’s more than I’m willing to spend at the moment. I don’t know if I’ll even like playing one of these things. The Educci quenas seem to have an elongated “ramp”, compared to other quenas that I’ve seen pictures of.

Ubizmo

11

I get a great sound out of the PVC ones that I make and I cut the top at 90 degrees (I use a very low-tech PVC pipe cutter!). I can get a full 2 octaves… I will say that I play Irish music on it (is that sacrilegious?). What I would suggest you do is make one yourself and see if you get a good sound and then adjust the commercially-made one if necessary. All you need is some PVC, a saw (or a pipe cutter), a drill, and a dremel. You don’t even need to worry about pitch if you’re just testing your embouchure.

I should also mention that the quena seems to have VERY specific air column requirements. If you’re “off” even a little, you get no sound at all - except wind, of course. Have you tried other quenas?

BTW, I am by FAR a non-expert with the thing - I just happen to like super-simple instruments.

Feel free to PM if you want specifics.

Pat

12

PM coming. I think I’ll try this. I’m not especially handy at this sort of thing, but I think the quena is about the simplest instrument to cut my teeth (or my chin) on.

Ubizmo

13

Hey, just revisited this thread for the first time in a while.

I’ve never given any updates.

As far as people looking for a good quena on the web: go to bolivianstuff.com or tiendaslatinas.com and get a quena made by Acha. I got one from bolivianstuff, and it arrived to me in tune. If you get one from tiendaslatinas, you can order it in more aged bamboo, making the tuning more stable. It’s a great instrument, I love it. It is hard to play. Hard, hard, hard. It took me a few days to get a consistent sound, and it has taken me weeks and months to be able to get the high second and third octave notes to play… without passing out. And that’s coming from a position of having played transverse flute for a while. There is a learning curve for the quena, it is one of the hardest flutes to play, but not impossible. If you are giving up too much air, you need to work on your embouchure. If you are flat, you need to work on your angle and embouchure. At least this much is true of the Acha. I’ve definitely heard of quenas that are simply flat, and that’s all there is to it.

Anyway, I am very happy with my Acha quena now. When I first got it, I had some problems with it being a little flat (no more than 10 to 20 cents), but I’ve developed my embouchure and breathing so that the tone and tuning are optimal, and when you find this place, you will also not be giving up too much air. Strangely, I oiled it recently and this seemed to sharpen it up just a bit, not too much though. Also, There is a way to play those high notes with grace. The embouchure is much tighter, more focused, and nit-picky than on a transverse flute.

So, my recommendation on an affordable quena that will work (really, really work) is the Acha. I picked up on it from Tony Hinnigan, it’s the only other quena/quenacho make that he uses most regularly, next to his Zapata quenas. If you want a Zapata, like I do, then that is a tricky thing. He lives in Paris, you cannot find his contact info anywhere on the internet, he speaks only Spanish and French, and his instruments cost several hundred euro… think 2 or 3 hundred… which is really, really, really expensive for a quena. He does not deal with the internet at all. Be prepared to be sending a money-gram. However, Tony says they are the best, and I believe him. Heard the Zapata back to back with the Acha. The difference is astounding. That’s saying a lot, because I like how my Acha quena sounds more than any other flute I own: Goldie (Overton) Low F, K-Pro (essentially Overton, for those who don’t know the story) Low D, Low D bamboo flute by Erik (great sound!), a few susato lows, as well as other flutes I’ve tried out here and there. The sound of the quena is awesome, like nothing else. I think the fact that Tony uses Acha’s most frequently next to Zapata’s says a lot for the Acha. The Acha works, it’s more in tune than anything else you’re going to bag for a good price from a big internet store (as far as I know), and it sounds like a quena. That’s saying a lot right there, because I’ve never heard a quena that I thought sounded bad. No matter how cheap or out of tune (as long as it’s in tune with itself), those things just always seem to have such an awesome tone. The Acha is also cheap. It will cost you from $50-$150 depending on what you get. I dealt with bolivianstuff.com and it was great. The shipping was outrageously cheap, and it got to me in less than two weeks. If you think you would want the more stable aged bamboo, go to tiendaslatinas.com. I haven’t dealt with them, but they’re reputable.

Another thing: in my communications with Tiendaslatinas.com, they highly recommended the quenas made by Alandres over those by Acha. Now, I’ve heard quite a few reputable people that Alandres quenas arrive in the states (or in the UK) sounding flat. Why this happens to the Alandres and not the Acha, I don’t know. They are both made about 10,000 feet in the air. Maybe this has changed, because Tiendaslatinas.com really pushes the Alandres, and they were saying they get better reviews back from customers on the Alandres quenas.

Another thing to look into is the Raices Group. They are a musical group and they also make (or buy and tweak to excellence?) quenas, and they are based in NYC. I’m going to have drive up and visit them next time I’m in that part of the US, because I tried to email them, and that didn’t go well… their email and website are down. On the site, you can see a picture of the quena and a tantalizing, “more info,” button. But that button never works. They are, however, still in existence and have a very good reputation. I’ve heard one of their quenas and it was one of the best I’ve heard. A bit steeper in price. Probably $100 or more. But it’s worth it to get an instrument tuned and voiced in the states, closer to our climate and elevation, and possibly even play before you pay. So, when I want to level up from my Acha, that’s where I think I’ll go. However, I’m very happy with the Acha in G, and I want to find out if Raices has quenas available in other keys before I try doubling up on G. However, it’s probably beneficial to double or triple up with bamboo quenas, being as different ones will have slightly different sounds and will probably be in their best tuning at different temperatures and different times of the year. Have a summer quena and a winter quena. I’ve heard this suggested before.

That was a lot of rambling, and maybe some good info too, but I just had a lot of thought to get out of my head.

What’s more, I just got a quena in E from unmundodebambu. This site has been mentioned a few times already. I will have to update you all in a few days. I need to make sure the thing has adjusted back to room temperature (it has been sitting in sweltering hot mail trucks and warehouses for several days now, and it has been in the high nineties and low hundreds with high humidity in TN) and talk to the maker before I make a final pronouncement on it. Beautiful to look at, great tone, and the first octave is nicely in tune… but. That’s where a few days waiting and playing comes in.

14

Just finished these for a friend of mine…

Quenacho in B
Quenacho in C
Quenacho in D
Quena in E
Quena in F
Quena in G
Quena in A

15

I’m making slow by steady progress learning to play the quena. Indeed, I’m finding that the first one I bought, the Novica, is sounding better, although I prefer the MundoDeBambu. That may be because the latter is a “thin” model, and easier to play while I’m still training my embouchure. I still play to file a millimeter or so off the lower part of the top end (if that makes any sense) of the Novica, to make it fit my chin better. Now that I examine it, I notice there is a slight slope there; just not enough. It has a much bigger sound, but until I’m better at this, it’s the road to hyperventilation.

Ubizmo

16

Hey Ted, those quenas look great. I most like the looks of the E, based on the proportionally longer, narrower embouchure that it has (my preference). I’d love to hear some recordings of them! Or you could do a youtube video demonstrating the different keys. That would be profoundly helpful. Its summer and I only live 7 hours south of you, I would consider a quena-trying quest to Chicago, but I’d like to hear/see them demonstrated beforehand. Post a video or something on here and you’ll be sure to grab some interest. I, for one, have been wanting hear some of your stuff.

17

Hey, there, all the above quena are already gone, but when I get some new ones made I’ll post some videos of the various keys I make. I am out of bambu right now and awaiting a bundle from a friend of mine, so it may be a month or so. Probably the smartest thing to do is I can make a quena with you sitting next to me. In other words I can cut the embouchure, and then we can figure out what hole placement works. For tuning I can have you play it, and I can tune it. Quena is very personal and they are very sensitive to the velocity at which you play them. I am very stong winded so I mainly build large holed, wider bore quena, that for a weaker player would come across as flat. Anyways drop me a line in a few weeks I’ll let you know where I’m at with my bambu situation.

18

Ah, custom quena making. Sweet. I have an Acha, and it is pretty wide, large holes. Don’t know if you are familiar with that make but I can play it in tune, or sharp if I want. If you are familiar with his quenas, that will give an idea. Do keep me posted on the materials situation; thanks.

19

wow… the quena urge appears to be highly contagious…

I do need one too, now :puppyeyes: