WIP: One-handed Traverso

Irish Flute
1

Hello all,

I’m a music lover who has lurked on here for some time, and I wanted to finally add something of my own to the discussion.

I happen to be missing a right arm and have been experimenting with making wind instruments that are accessible to me. While I’d consider myself a capable maker and DIY-er, this forum has proved to be an invaluable resource for learning more about the flute, so thank you all foremost for that. I’d like to solicit feedback on a prototype instrument that is nearing a playable state.

20251201_113246
20251201_1132461920×1440 154 KB

You’ll have to forgive some crudeness in its manufacture; I haven’t had regular access to a proper shop since graduating university, and this was roughly cobbled together in my basement with hand tools, a drill press and drill, a rotary tool, and a pedaled springpole lathe!

The working principle is simple: Instead of covering holes 1-3 with the left hand and holes 4-6 with the right, hole 1 is managed by the thumb, holes 2 and 3 by the first and third joints of the index finger, respectively, hole 4 by the middle finger, hole 5 by the ring finger, and hole 6 by first joint of the little finger, with allowance for an Eb key to be controlled by the tip of the little finger, a la the baroque one-key flute. This arrangement comes from prior work on a one-handed tin whistle, though the flute employs keys for all but holes 4 and 5 to enable the same amount of reach.

I have yet to make and install the little finger keywork, but thought the work-in-progress complete enough to get across the general idea, and to ask for feedback.

Some issues:

Holding the instrument. As all available fingers are occupied, the instrument must be supported some other way. On the whistle, this is simple; the instrument is secure enough held at one end by the lips and supported at the other by a knee (with the end cut off at an angle to allow air to escape easily). The larger flute is not so easy. The best solution I have found so far is the curlicue of brass mounted to the side in the photograph, which is supported by the base of the thumb while still allowing for some movement. A last resort would be some sort of floor stand, but that may prove to be an impedance on mobility and performance flexibility, and I’d like to avoid it if possible.

Strength of the lower octave. I can only test notes down to low E at the moment, but even that note struggles somewhat. I believe the main culprit to be leaky pads, since I’m currently using handmade ones of felt and pigskin, not to mention the finish around the toneholes leaving something to be desired. I’m not certain though, and with concerns over bore smoothness and my very novice embouchure, I’m unsure how to best troubleshoot this.

And then there’s the whole tuning and finishing of the instrument, which I have little to no idea how to do. If any of you have thoughts, tips, critiques, etc., they’d be greatly appreciated!

Apologies for the lack of images; I tried to add more, but it seems I am limited to one for now!

1 Like
Completed One-Handed Flute
2

Wow! That sounds like such a challenging project! Your efforts so far are very impressive.

In terms of the strength of the lower notes, leaks can easily cause that problem. The way I would try to track that issue down is by blocking all of the keyed holes with something like blu tac to rule out, or identify, leaking key pads.

If you still have a weak or oscillating bell note, then the issue is probably your bore taper, and in particular, having the bore be too big in its upper part below the head (about half way along the overall length of the flute). I got some good insight into this problem by inadvertently inserting my reamers a bit too deep in the body of a flute. This can totally kill the bottom note, even though all the others remain good. Slightly less aggressive reaming and the bell note comes back strong. Basically, it is all about balancing the harmonics. If the bore taper isn’t right the harmonics will not align properly, and you can see this using a tuner.

Stabilizing the flute seems like the biggest challenge. Have you ever considered trying to design some kind of head-worn support, where the weight of the flute can be hung from your head, perhaps using some kind of strap-based system, and the embouchure held close enough to the lips that the remaining fine adjustments can be done by lip movement. Just a thought. It might be a stupid idea.

I am also reminded of a talk I watched recently where Jean Michel Veillon talked about how he got his distinctive tone for playing the higher notes in Breton tunes. He said that rather than using the left hand tone holes for second octave notes, he often, instead, used the next higher harmonic of the right hand tone holes, which allowed him to play d, e, f#, g, a, b, c (using the short F key), c#, and d” all just using the fingers of one hand. What this tells me is how important it is to tune those harmonics if you want this to be a key feature of your playing and instrument design.

1 Like
3

I think I have some kneaded rubber somewhere; I’ll get to checking for leaks.

I do hope it’s not a bore issue! There’s not much I can do to alter the bore of the current prototype. It’s a replica of an 18th-century instrument which narrows somewhat quickly downstream of the first tenon, so hopefully I’m in the clear there.

I’ll have to play around with the head mounting idea. Previous unexplored concepts include a modified harmonica holder and a biteguard-like support on the headjoint.

Regarding playing the second half of the second octave as overtones, I’m somewhat familiar with them from using them on the whistle. Some preliminary experimentation suggests they might also be playable on the prototype flute, but my intonation is poor at the moment. Perhaps once I get some more practice in. For the most part, I’m using standard baroque fingerings, and they seem to work fine into the upper register.

Thank you for the feedback!

4

Regarding the leaky pads, I have recently had some good results identifying leaks with an improvised leak light using a piece of stick, an LED strip and 12V power source if you have those. Or you could just buy a leak light tool if you prefer not to do some soldering or don’t have the parts.

1 Like
5

Good idea—I think I have just the thing. And half of this project has been brazing; a bit of soldering will be a nice break in comparison!

7

You can read more about Captain Gordon here:

Gordon’s flutes and how they relate to Boehm’s

He was Swiss and was a Captain in the Swiss Guards. And, as far as I know, had two arms (see below).

There are a lot of differences between his flutes and Boehm’s, and while it is true that he met Boehm in 1831, they both showed each other their respective designs, and later Gordon explicitly mentioned having incorporated some of Boehm’s features in his own designs.

Based on what I have read on the matter, I’m under the impression that the relationship between Gordon and Boehm was actually quite good. Boehm even gave Gordon access to his workshop at one stage so that he could more easily pursue his experiments, having no facilities of his own. But unfortunately, Gordon lost his sanity and died not long after.

It seems that the controversy was mostly fueled later, in Britain, by the likes of Rockstro (after both Gordon and Boehm were dead), and Carte, who was involved in trying to commercialize variants on Boehm’s designs of his own, while simultaneously holding on to Boehm’s thorough English language explanation of his design, and defense of it against allegations that it was copied from Gordon, and preventing it from being published in English. Boehm’s defense had already been published years earlier in other countries/languages, but it seems to have suited Carte’s commercial goals to keep the water’s muddied for as long as possible.

At least that is the impression I get. I hope this doesn’t make me a Boehm apologist!

I’m sure there are well studied flute historians who have better insight into that whole saga.

Well, sorry for the detour from the topic of the original post!

You can find a picture of the one-handed flute, that pancelticpiper referred to, at the link below. But note that it was not Gordon who was one-handed. It was Chevalier Rebsomen who was the one-handed flute player. The article below gives the impression that Gordon got the inspiration for his design from Rebsomen’s flute.

Rebsomen’s one handed flute

One thing that is for sure is that everyone copies everyone else’s designs in flute making, and its rare for the credit to ever be given to the true originators!

8

Thanks for the corrections! The article I read obviously mixed up Gordon with Rebsomen.

I’ll delete my post there.

9

Fascinating! I do wish the Chevalier’s lithograph was more revealing, though it seems he’s also opted for a B key controlled by the thumb. Not sure what to make of the thumb key heading down to the foot though. Eleven keys! If only I could have spoken with him…

The keywork on my prototype is nowhere near as complex, seeking only to manipulate the standard six holes plus an Eb. It’s at a place where I can tape off the last hole and play some tunes!

20251206_095016
20251206_0950161920×2560 463 KB

The leaking is improved with a bit of tweaking, though I suspect the instrument also simply has an easy second octave, exacerbating things a bit. When fully closed, the bell note sounds fine, so that’s a relief.

As far as holding the instrument goes, I’d still much prefer something that could be carried to session without requiring a table or floor clamp like the Chevalier’s. For now, I’ve been resting the head joint on a folded towel placed on my shoulder, and that seems to elevate it well enough.

10

You can learn more about Chevalier Rebsomen and his flute in this excellent article by Jan Lancaster in Pan - the flute magazine. Go to page 25 for the start of the article:

The Extraordinary Chevalier Rebsomen

Edit: I’d just like to add that even if you are not interested in one-handed flutes, that story of Rebsomen is worth reading. It is absolutely amazing, and would rival any fictional creation.

The flutes themselves are described in detail, and with detailed photographs, in a separate article by Peter Spohr on page 35.

11

Many thanks! I was struck by the note on the manner of his instrument’s construction, for while I pedaled my lathe with the right foot, he necessarily used the left foot on his. It’s heartening to know that someone has successfully worked on this puzzle before with the same tools I have available.

I will have to see if I can make a proper recording on the new instrument for you all to critique!

12

If you read the article linked above by Peter Spohr on Rebsomen’s flutes, you see that it mentions the use of a waist belt and a bent iron rod as an alternative to the table mounted rod used in the picture.

The flute made by Hill (late Monzani) for Chevalier Rebsomen and to his own design is absolutely gorgeous. I like the following statement from the author:

… looking more carefully at the flute and trying to play on it, it soon becomes clear that this system was devised with great ingenuity and that it might be difficult to improve it.

Clearly, this would be a good design to compare to.

And circling right back to pancelticpiper’s comments about other flute makers taking ideas from the Rebsomen flute (via Gordon to Boehm) it is interesting to see a range of other features on this Monzani Rebsomen flute that also have been claimed as revolutionary design changes by other later makers. For example, the enlarged tone holes attributed to Nicholson already appear on this flute. I wonder if he too heard Rebsomen play and was impressed by the tone? Or perhaps vice versa, but these Rebsomen flutes are very early.

13

Indeed, though I have not the means of fabricating one, and my current solution works well enough for now. The belt is definitely filed away in ideas for later, though!

I had not seen that section on my first read, so thank you for bringing it to my attention! It is unfortunately a bit beyond the scope of my current project, which seeks only to match the capabilities of the traverso. I have made some sketches for a more classical chromatically keyed one handed flute, and I will certainly reference the design if I decide to pursue that. The key chart and photos are particularly inspiring.

I have made a first attempt on my instrument (Google Drive). You’ll have to forgive the amateurism (especially wrt breath control); this is after only my first few hours of practice on any fippleless flute, and I still have to tune the instrument, but I think it’s sufficient to confirm proof of concept for my approach to a one-handed instrument.

14

Well done! That sounded much better than I expected, based on what you said. I suspect it could take quite a bit of getting used to, coordination wise, in order to play an instrument like this at speed. But that is already a great proof of concept!

As for trying to recreate that Monzani made Rebsomen flute, that would be a very tall order. That flute was a work of art, and surpassed anything else I have seen from that era, in complexity and sophistication. It is inspiring to see that he was able to design, make and play a fully chromatic instrument to such a high degree that the top flutists of his time were impressed.

1 Like