Chiff and Fipple Forums

Benade's description is the best ever; my hat's off to Hammy for reposting it. I depart very little from the description. Loudness can be deceiving, especially for the beginner, especially for a player who comes from the Böhmflöte. I've seen many cases where such a player will have a degree of early...

Thanks for finding that for me. I wonder where he got it. I though of it myself back in 2003, but that doesn't mean I was the first. The numbers make the conversions very easy.

If you're playing a piano, or other keyboard, and you're using equal temperament, then there's only one black key between D and E: there's only one place to get to. If you're in the key of Eb, it will be written on the first line of the staff (with 3 flats in the key signature) and we'll call it Eb ...

Right. Three flats, key of Eb. For the key of E, one of the scale-steps is D#, and that's four sharps. Of all the printed music I've seen, the key of Eb is much more common than the key of E, and there are horns built in the key of Eb. However, piano (and organ) tuners just refer to all the "bl...

Fifes are approximately 27 cents sharp, as used in today's American drumcorps. They're not meant to play in the 1st octave, although the notes seem to be like those on an Irish flute. Some Bb drumcorps fifes can do a better than others on the 1st octave and the tuning of the scale. On the fife, 2nd ...

Year ago, I thought I saw a trad flute with brass head (and glued-on lip plate). I thought it was made by Eugene Lamb.

Right, Keith. One day, I was talking to Dad about his HiD instrument, and his use of the term "fife". We were players of Bb fifes in the drumcorps, in the 2nd and 3rd octaves (not the 1st), belting-out the tunes above the drums and crowd noise. He chose "fife" because it was a 6-...

Steve, I note you've said the slides are frozen. And they're pushed all the way in. This is not the usual playing position: A piccolo with a metal tuning slide is meant to be adjust a little sharper or a little flatter. To do so, the basic scale is designed with the slide pulled out, maybe 3/8"...

The retreat would be open to all. Of course, I wouldn't have time to teach the very basics of using tools.
I'm afraid Mr. Covid has a lot to say about this right now.

I find it a bit odd that we have had online forums such as Flute Tech and Flutemakers, but now a long thread on C&F. Years ago, Landell told me that a person who becomes a flutemaker will also become a tool maker. The two are inseparable. If a person wants to make flutes, and wants to test sever...

I think 12.5mm headbore is good. If it goes down to D (not C), try making the body 7.7" long, with a taper of 0.008 in/in.

I'm asking about three options for the end of a flute: "Short D-Foot" "Long D-Foot:" If you held your fingers over the "dummy holes" ("speaker holes" without keys), you'd reach low C. "C-Foot:" Keys down to low C. Any preference regarding playability...

Theobald Boehm himself said that boxwood is more suitable as a material for building hygrometers than flutes. I can easily believe a simple flute that still plays when taking the form of a banana, but when combined with the seal of the pad seats and the keys in their slots, this sounds like a gamble...

I think those F-P pieces have already been committed to a direction that I don't want to take.
I hope to follow-thru with a finished flute in a few months.

Ah ! I have the feeling that not many were sold, hence my question. He never said how many. Unfinished Firth-Ponds were left behind in the shop, last I knew.

I'm gearing-up to make a keyed flute of my own.