Casey Burns Folk Flute in Boxwood

BigLeaf · Post by **BigLeaf** » Tue May 13, 2008 1:18 am

Anyone try a boxwood folk flute? Burns kind of understates the difference in tone compared to the original mopane: "Tonally, both woods compare very well with each other. Boxwood is a little quicker in its response, slightly lighter in weight and very lively tonally compared with Mopane."

Everyone says that boxwood has a buttery, warm sound and the sound of mopane is harder, which I think I like more, but I haven't played the boxwood folk flute. I've seen one Burns boxwood standard flute, and it was a bit warped and not very old. Does a 3-section flute warp less? Is that why the boxwood folk flute is in 3 sections?

The boxwood folk flute looks beautiful. At $375, though, it's not the bargain that the original mopane folk flute was.

BigLeaf · Post by **BigLeaf** » Tue May 13, 2008 1:38 am

On the folk flute page, it says Burns is still taking orders for the folk flute in mopane if you email him with a request for mopane.

Sam_T · Post by **Sam_T** » Tue May 13, 2008 2:55 am

Sent you a pm

jim stone · Post by **jim stone** » Tue May 13, 2008 7:55 am

I wrote to Grey Larsen a couple of months ago, asking
him about the boxwood folk flute, but he hadn't yet
seen one himself.

Does anybody have one? Casey says that, cosmetics aside,
the boxwood ff plays like his more expensive standard.
Same reamers, same construction inside. If so
it's an extraordinary deal.

I don't think the added section is to minimize warping.
Not sure it would and many of casey's more expensive
boxwood flutes don't have it. Certainly facilitates
storage and rolling sections so as to suit ones hands.

I have a boxwood standard C Casey made for me
several years ago. Wonderful sounding flute, no
warping.

It would be nice to get a report on the new FF.

Doug_Tipple · Post by **Doug_Tipple** » Tue May 13, 2008 12:15 pm

jim stone wrote:
I don't think the added section is to minimize warping.
Not sure it would and many of casey's more expensive
boxwood flutes don't have it. Certainly facilitates
storage and rolling sections so as to suit ones hands.

If I remember correctly, when Casey introduced his new 3-piece design for his folk flute in boxwood, he mentioned that one of the factors influencing his decision had to do with the availablity and price of boxwood. Longer pieces of instrument-grade boxwood were considerably more expensive than shorter pieces. I also think that he plans to use boxwood from nearby forests.

Jon C. · Post by **Jon C.** » Tue May 13, 2008 10:57 pm

Doug_Tipple wrote:
jim stone wrote:
I don't think the added section is to minimize warping.
Not sure it would and many of casey's more expensive
boxwood flutes don't have it. Certainly facilitates
storage and rolling sections so as to suit ones hands.
If I remember correctly, when Casey introduced his new 3-piece design for his folk flute in boxwood, he mentioned that one of the factors influencing his decision had to do with the availablity and price of boxwood. Longer pieces of instrument-grade boxwood were considerably more expensive than shorter pieces. I also think that he plans to use boxwood from nearby forests.

I think he is only using real boxwood, this would be European boxwood, he has a large supply, that he told me he has saved up. The local stuff is not real boxwood, it is just called Boxwood. There is a good source of the real stuff from Turkey.

Doug_Tipple · Post by **Doug_Tipple** » Wed May 14, 2008 7:09 am

Jon C. wrote:
Doug_Tipple wrote:
jim stone wrote:
I don't think the added section is to minimize warping.
Not sure it would and many of casey's more expensive
boxwood flutes don't have it. Certainly facilitates
storage and rolling sections so as to suit ones hands.
If I remember correctly, when Casey introduced his new 3-piece design for his folk flute in boxwood, he mentioned that one of the factors influencing his decision had to do with the availablity and price of boxwood. Longer pieces of instrument-grade boxwood were considerably more expensive than shorter pieces. I also think that he plans to use boxwood from nearby forests.
I think he is only using real boxwood, this would be European boxwood, he has a large supply, that he told me he has saved up. The local stuff is not real boxwood, it is just called Boxwood. There is a good source of the real stuff from Turkey.

OK, Jon, you made me go back and look up Casey's thread where he introduced his new 3-piece folk flute. On his third posting on this thread he mentions what species of boxwood he plans to use. He mentions countries from around the world but also mentions local sources in the Pacific Northwest, including a Seattle parking lot and his neighbor's trees.
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php ... highlight=

Casey Burns · Post by **Casey Burns** » Wed May 14, 2008 6:37 pm

All the boxwood I am using for these comes from European sources (France and Turkey mostly).

dow · Post by **dow** » Fri May 16, 2008 8:08 am

Casey Burns wrote:All the boxwood I am using for these comes from European sources (France and Turkey mostly).

Warning: Thread hijack (well sort of)

Casey, have you come across any domestic woods that you think are suitable for flutemaking?

chas · Post by **chas** » Fri May 16, 2008 6:53 pm

dow wrote:
Casey Burns wrote:All the boxwood I am using for these comes from European sources (France and Turkey mostly).
Warning: Thread hijack (well sort of)

Casey, have you come across any domestic woods that you think are suitable for flutemaking?

I'm not Casey and don't speak for him. I've been having a blast turning dogwood. I've made some whistles from it, but no flutes yet (no flutes of any wood). No idea how it stands up; Loren indicated that his dogwood flute got raised grain after being played. Maybe it can be treated somehow; the grain is incredibly tight and even.

I'm also intrigued by orange osage, although I haven't laid a hand on any. They make fence posts and such out of it, so it would likely have good resistance to condensation.

Jayhawk · Post by **Jayhawk** » Fri May 16, 2008 7:59 pm

I hail from the land of osage orange fenceposts - they'll last a century or more in the ground with 100+ degree heat with high humidity, -10 winters, and lots of rain.

Osage orange is hard, heavy, stable, but also cracks...my guess is that it would work a lot like cocus.

I'd love to see a flute made out of it.

Eric

eilam · Post by **eilam** » Fri May 16, 2008 8:21 pm

i love Osage Orange.
i think years ago i gave Jon.C a peace for a flute?
i've never had the time to make musical instruments from it, but it's so much denser then other woods that are used for instruments, and like said, it resists moisture.........
it comes to a beautiful golden/brown color when aged and holds a great glass like polish........

black acacia too, is a very slow growing tree, not much movement in the drying process.......very dense and beautiful (Terry uses Gidgee which is from the same family.....also Hawaiian Koa comes from the same family, but it's much lighter)

jim stone · Post by **jim stone** » Fri May 16, 2008 8:26 pm

Does anybody have a new CB Folk Flute?

Anybody.....?

Casey Burns · Post by **Casey Burns** » Sat May 17, 2008 12:20 pm

There are plenty of domestic woods suitable for flute making. In the west there are two superb woods: Mountain Mahogany and Desert Ironwood. Other woods that work okay include dogwood, fruitwoods such as Almond, Olive and Pistachio.

It would be nice to use these woods but the problem has always been finding these in dimensional forms (usually 1.5" squares) and quantities I can use in the flute shop without having to go out, cut and mill it myself. It speeds things up if I can get wood that was cut 5 or more years ago so that I don't have to wait that long or longer to use it! It also helps if I can start out with something that simply needs to be cut to length, rather than initially milled from a log.

By the way, did anyone notice that they were handing out cooked Mopane Worms on "Deal or No Deal" this last week? Two trivia facts: my "avatar" to the left is a Mopane worm, a caterpillar that feeds on Mopane leaves and is itself eaten as a staple. Howie Mandel and I were born on the same day.

mahanpots · Post by **mahanpots** » Sat May 17, 2008 3:49 pm

How about Persimmon wood. I've got a huge tree in my woods, about a foot-and-a-half or two in diameter near the base. I'm not wanting to cut it down, but you never know with this crazy weather we've been having lately.

I know they used to make the heads on drivers (golf) out of persimmon.

Michael