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.