Looks like I need to rework how I hold the flute. My wrists and the back of my hands are getting too strained
I know there has been posts about this, i’m just spouting off.
My hands have a reach of only 20cm which isn’t very much. I lovg e playing D flute but my left wrist is aching a lot. So today i made a G flute to gibe my hands a rest. The flute turned out well but I much prefer the lower sound of the D.
Oh well, I guess it’s time to start experimenting with hole layout again.
Take it easy. Some trouble is standard at the first.
Piper’s grip may help. Also if the flutes are cylindrical
the stretch is likely to be greater than on
a conical flute.
No shame whatsoever in playing higher pitched
flutes, by the way. Underappreciated, IMO.
If you play an A flute you have the key of D too.
The G flute is pretty fun, I just happen to like the lower sound of the D. But for the sake of keeping my left wrist problem free I will be practicing on the G. I am also doing a lot more stretching of my wrist to keep things flexible.
The problem I have is that in reaching the holes on my left hand the wrist ends up being bent back too much. I have tried shifting my thumb further up the flute to straighten my wrist but then I feel a strain on the back of my hand. What a baby, eh? 
Anyway, short doses on the D but practice on the G. That will help 'till I can get a conical flute. Going to make an F today to see how that is.
There will be much more informed advice than mine but FWIW:
Ya, I am working on making everthing more comfortable. I figured I would build back up to the D.
To that end I made an F flute today. I am surprised how much I like it. This seems to be a very nice range for the PVC . I get a very nice strong sound from it with great feel through my fingers. I might just stick with it for a while.
I have to figure out how to make my flutes sectional so i can play with adjustment. I don’t have a lathe so I can’t machine one. Any ideas?
Hi
Have a look at Guido’s whistle site http://guido.gonzato.googlepages.com/whistle.html
He has an idea there for making tunable whistles.
There was also a disussion on the whistle forum about it.I think in one of the GG whisle review threads.
You could also have a chat with Guido I’m sure he wouldn’t mind 
Hope this helps.
Yup. It depends on the precise plastic of the tube you are using, but my experience of UPVC conduit tube is that it can be softened by heating and expanded over a suitable mandrel to keep its expanded form until it cools/hardens, and can then be shrunk back onto another piece of the tube by gentle reheating to give a good tight fitting tuning slide. I wrote up how I did it in this thread… Good luck!
F flutes are always very nice, BTW, cylindrical or conoid - it just seems to be a happy size for flute sounds and human hands! Experimentation with your hold is, I agree with the others, the way to sort out your hand pains. If you like I could send you a step-by-step guide to establishing your personal optimum version of the “standard” hold which others have found helpful - pm me with an e-address and I can send it as an attachment. The principles it explains can be applied to other styles of hold too.
Ah, excellent! I will give these both a try.
The only thing I am not crazy about with resizing the pipe is that the joint looks MASSIVE because of the thickness of the pipe. Oh well, at least it will be tunable.
Actually, what I was hoping to do is find a thin metal tube (perhaps copper?) that fits nicely inside the PVC and somehow secure a section there to use at the tuner. It would keep the clean lines of the PVC then. The tough part is finding this perfect fitting pipe. 
jem, PM sent to get the info on holding the flute. Thanks a bunch.
Well, I tried heating the pipe so that I could slip a copper 3/4 inch coupling in to use as my slide, but it didn’t quite work. I think it wasn’t hot enough. When I pushed the piece in it wrapped the pipe. Oh well, now I know.
I just used a hair blower, which is obviously not hot enough. No hot air gun. I don’t think I want to chance a flame of any kind simply because it is an intense heat. Maybe I will try the acetone route.
Anyway, my thinking is that by slipping the copper coupling inside there would be a bulge but not nearly as much as using the PVC itself.
If you have a metal coupling that is near enough the right size, you could heat that and melt it into the to-be male side of your joint so it was permanently fixed, then expand the female side more gently and shrink it back so as not to be too tight for tuning/separation? Dunno if that is feasible, just a thought. Could be rather tricky to get just the right heat and then direct the hot metal accurately into the plastic without shrivelling it or worse… No, on balance I’d go for expanding and shrinking back the plastic on both parts and gluing the coupling into the male side. Just musing aloud here… Hot air guns aren’t expensive these days, though, but I mostly agree about not using a naked flame. You might manage it by turning and turning the part of the tube to be heated over a gas ring - I think I did that before I realised the hot air gun would be a better way.