Mark Shepard's pvc flute

Irish Flute
1

My son was asked to make a musical instrument as a science project, and we decided to try to construct a flute using Mark Shepard’s plans:

http://www.markshep.com/flute/Pipe.html

It probably took less time to lay out and make the instrument than it did to go over to the local Home Depot and find the parts, and the result is a neat looking and playable flute in G. It still needs some finish work (smoothing out the tone holes), but it’s well enough in tune to play on its own, even though I was missing a few of the right drill bits and so fudged the measurements a little.

If you’ve got an hour or so to spare, this is a good way to get an instrument for use around the house for not much out of pocket. Anyone tried his bass flute plans?

2

I used his plans to make a few about a year ago. All play well in-tune with themselves, even if a bit off from A-440. This may have been due to my own carelessness/inexperience. They’re good easy, fun flutes. The G is particularly nice.

3

Mark Shepard’s book Simple Flutes was one of the first books I discovered years ago when I decided to look into making flutes and whistles. It’s a pleasant book to help you start making flutes.

If you enjoyed the plumber’s pipe, you might want to try making a flute with Doug Tipple’s layout.

http://dougsflutes.googlepages.com/makingasimpleirishflute

I tip my hat to Doug for providing these measurements on his website.

Feadoggie