Chiff and Fipple Forums

Dear Flute Friends,

I'm very curious: How many players out there own a Firth-Pond made by Ralph Sweet?

Walt Sweet

I took a piece of 6mm plywood (lauan, pronounced "luan") and cut it approximately 16" x 32". At one end, I glued a 1x1x16 block with pegs of various size. The plate slips under the front legs of my chair, extending to my right (so the rack extends front to back). The weight keeps...

I just made a piccolo head; the metal liner extended as a tuning slide. I made the hole thru the head oversize to allow for shrinkage. Instead of epoxy, I used Gorilla glue, which has good adhesion to metal, and it's flexible. To cure, I used a heavy rod to push the liner toward the blowhole side (i...

I just applied my best interpretation of Benade's instructions, with outstanding results

At the same time that a pond becomes a lake.
Maybe the musical role has some bearing? Piccolos are often used for flourishes (runs, trills, arpeggios), whereas the flute is sometimes given a melodic passage in focus.
Sorry, otherwise I'm no help.

Well, Prof. Benade is throwing a lot of good terms around, but I still don't think the method is completely described. I, of course, am interpreting based on my experience. The references to choice of plane would help, but I'm not sure he was a machinist. When he says straight line, my understanding...

Right, underspecified. Very annoying to someone who just wants to do what others have done! Here's the excerpt that talks about the undercut at ±60°. Transitions between Undercut Angles . . . . . . First and foremost we consider azimuths lying in the region one blows against, running counterclockwis...

For a given tonehole diameter, a thick wall (tall tonehole) will give a lower note. Thinning the wall makes the note sharp. A thick wall will give rise to more harmonics, and more tonal headroom (the faculty of manipulating the tone for artistic effect). In contrast, a thin wall gives a "thin s...

I just read FoMRHI's Comm 2070, where Arthur Benade advises on Cutting of the flute’s embouchure. This is real info, otherwise very rare. Boehm says 7° undercut, but almost nothing else. Jonathon Landell knows his stuff, and can train you in one of his flutemaking courses. To the machinist: holding ...

Just received sad news that Dad died this morning. Ralph G. Sweet, Jr., 1929.5.17 to 2019.6.20 .

The trad flute, with tapered bore, gives rise to more harmonics. This type blends better, but doesn't cut thru as well as the other.

A critical parameter is the bore diameter at the flow stations (the "displacement antinodes"); in other words, at the blowhole, and half a wavelength down the bore. On a trad flute, once you get away from the lowest notes, these two stations are rather large, but on a Boehmflute, you alway...

It's one thing to preserve the traditional sound, or the traditional playability, or the traditional feel, or the suitability for repertoire. I'm not one who cares one whit for some of the other restrictions such as outer profile, choice of material, legitimacy of keywork, alternate fingering, or ma...

Dear friends, I'm looking for 2 specific fifes in Bb: #1 an original made by Chris Abell #2 a fife I saw 50 years ago, last time at the Fairfield Muster. I'd know it if I saw it. This is as near as I recall: Straight brass ferrules, perhaps 1" long. Wall probably 0.029", not thinwall tubin...

Dear Friends, I just had some emails lost thru my website. Sorry. It sounds like the customer will forgive me. I'm removing the contact function on my website in favor of waltsweet (at) hotmail (dot) com 00 1 860 798 7568 My cellphone 34 Bigelow Ave, Enfield CT 06082. That’s 42° N, 72.6° W for all y...