this is a silly idea to turn a simple pvc into a tunable one.
-cut this 3/4 pipe in 2 pieces
-take 2 pvc joints(3/4) and attach them in each piece of the pipe
-take 2 pvc reduction joints(3/4 to 1/2)and put them into the 3/4 joints.(Previously you will have to sand a little bit the inner side one of the reduction joints in order to take the stopper out).
-take a little piece of 1/2 pipe ,glue to the upper side(The one in wich the reduction joint hasn´t been modified) and see that it slides free along the lower joint.If not, sand alittle bit more but not too much or it will be excesive and the air will escape
That,s it.Please,comments,improvements welcome.
greetings from Asturias.Spain
I’ve made a fair number of PVC flutes (for myself only), so I’ll pass on my experience.
You are definitely right that you can cut the PVC in two to allow for some tunability. Myself, I simply cut the pipe in two, used a 3/4 inch connector joint, and stuck the two pieces of pipe on either end of the connector. This allows for small sharpening and flattening of the pitch (about .25 cents or so), and from pictures on Tony Dixon’s website http://www.tonydixonmusic.co.uk/gallery.html#8 it looks like he does the same thing on his 2 piece PVC flutes. Things to remember:
The connector takes up extra space so you’ll have to slightly shorten the middle of your flute somewhat to compensate.
Any roughness or ridges on the inside of the connector will change your tone, so sand them smooth.
Your idea is more involved than mine. My only concern would be how does the decrease in bore size change the tone? It’s worth trying, but be sure and sand smooth the internal edges of the smaller pipe so it’s as smooth as possible.
Another possible idea would be to look for a section of copper pipe that fits snuggly into the inside of the flute and glue that in as a tuning slide. This might work better since the copper pipe is thinner and wouldn’t decrease the bore diameter too much.
Keep us posted, and if I’m not clear in anything above, let me know. More importantly, have fun!
thanks indeed jayhawk.
The project is only a new born baby.I myself have also made some pvc flutes in different pitches and designs(even a low b flat,nature gave me big hands:-)But this one is still without the tone holes!!.The basic pitch is ok in both octaves and in any position of the slider.BUT I´m still afraid of how this drastic change of pitch(almost a tone) will affect to the tuning of the whole range of notes;I mean it may be tuned in some position but maybe not in some other…
Anyway I´ll try.this is the kind of idea you get in the middle of the night and you say “that´s it” and you say so to your sleeping lovely girlfriend beside you and your sleeping lovely cat at the other side,and then you receive some kind of damnned.. you,re nuts or kind of “meow” go away to sleep in the bath.
Genau - The tuning slide shouldn’t change the relative tuning of individual notes at all. If your tone holes are right and in tune with each other, moving the tuning slide in or out sharpens or flattens all the notes equally. If I’ve misunderstood your concern, my apologies.
I know what you mean about ideas. That’s the great thing about PVC flutes (or bamboo for that matter) - it costs so little to experiment and play around!
nice.
Tomorrow I´ll try the tone holes and see what happens.
I´m also trying kind of ultra low flute with two 90º angled pvc pieces but i feel unable to make the basic lowest tone.
Do you know if there is a limit in the lenght of the pipe to obtain adecent sound??
thanks a lot for your interest.peace