Procedure

 

     As I mentioned previously, flute making is not my profession.  It is sort of a labor of love.  Each flute has a different story to me.  There is not much money made making a flute if you actually calculated the hours of time spent making one. As you will see in my flute photos, I use a variety of wood from soft to hard, aromatic cedar to exotics. However, anything is possible with custom flutes, just ask.

Primarily my flutes have the flue in the flute with a square bottom fetish.  My fetishes include a wolf head, walking bear, basic bird, traditional bird, fancy bird and horse head.

 

     I use top quality dried lumber, deerskin or top grain leather for lashings, deer antlers for beads, and feathers for decorating.  I use the best glue available, waterproof for moisture. Each and every flute is sealed by dipping in 2 coats of thinned shellac and denatured alcohol mixture, then 3 times in a thicker mixture to seal inside and outside. Next 320 or 400-grit sandpaper between finished or synthetic steel wool is used.

 

I offer flutes in the key of G, G#, F, F#, A and D. The bores of my flutes are 1/2”, 3/4”, 7/8”, or 1 1/4”. All of my flutes are handmade by me with a router and spoke shaves so they will not be perfectly round as on a lathe. I will use a lathe only when specified or extremely hard wood or exotics are used.  I prefer the primitive look and I feel this is the reason why I enjoy making sunflower and branch flutes. Modern equipment speeds up the process and sometimes brings better results. However, my handmade flutes each have a different sound and look.

 

     All flutes are tuned in a pentatonic scale using an electronic Korg chromatic tuner.  Care is taken in the tuning process to produce a concert-tuned flute.  However, different regions of the world may change the tune due to humidity and such.  Before any flutes leave my care, they are played. I check for imperfection in sound. Quality of sound and feel of flutes are important to me.  If I am not happy, the flute goes into the scrap box.  I am very picky and will only deliver a quality flute. The sounds from my flutes will please your ears and soul.

 

 

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