Wooden ring flute...

brewerpaul · Post by **brewerpaul** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 4:59 am

The mysterious ring flute reappears in a new guise:

http://cgi.ebay.com/RARE-One-of-a-kind- ... dZViewItem

Actually, the Ring Flute is about to get less mysterious. I've been in contact with it's maker who seems to be a really nice fellow, and I have one of the flutes coming my way. I'll report on it fully when I receive it and have a chance to play it for a while.

Whistling Willie · Post by **Whistling Willie** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 5:54 am

$499

Tyler · Post by **Tyler** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 6:47 am

Whistling Willie wrote:$499

For that much money, I'm perfectly content to let it remain a mystery!

fearfaoin · Post by **fearfaoin** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 7:34 am

I don't know.... how in the world would you make this out of wood?
You can't bore it out like a straight flute... maybe make it in halves
glue them together? Just seems dubious.

P.S., Paul, have you ever used tinyurl.com? It keeps you from having
to post incredibly long URLs that keep the forum from word-wrapping :roll:

brewerpaul · Post by **brewerpaul** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 8:36 am

Tyler Morris wrote:
Whistling Willie wrote:$499
For that much money, I'm perfectly content to let it remain a mystery!

The regular model in ABS plastic is $39, which is something that folks here might consider if the thing plays well. See: www.ringflute.com

Tyler · Post by **Tyler** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 8:38 am

brewerpaul wrote:
Tyler Morris wrote:
Whistling Willie wrote:$499
For that much money, I'm perfectly content to let it remain a mystery!
The regular model in ABS plastic is $39, which is something that folks here might consider if the thing plays well. See: www.ringflute.com

Do we know anyone that has one that we could ask? 39 bucks is a bit more reasonable, even if only for the novelty of the thing...

I.D.10-t · Post by **I.D.10-t** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 8:45 am

brewerpaul wrote:Actually, the Ring Flute is about to get less mysterious.
I've been in contact with it's maker who seems to be a really nice fellow, and
I have one of the flutes coming my way. I'll report on it fully when I receive
it and have a chance to play it for a while.

Do you play a normal flute?

Tyler · Post by **Tyler** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 8:55 am

Something that is that cheap might be worth looking into and learning, though, I.D., even if one was not flute-inclined.

scheky · Post by **scheky** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 9:16 am

fearfaoin wrote:I don't know.... how in the world would you make this out of wood?
You can't bore it out like a straight flute... maybe make it in halves
glue them together? Just seems dubious.

P.S., Paul, have you ever used tinyurl.com? It keeps you from having
to post incredibly long URLs that keep the forum from word-wrapping :roll:

If I recall, Native American Flutes are made in this fashion. As long as the craftsmen are very careful, it could be a sound way to do it.

Of course, one has to wonder what the wood they use is for it. To get it shaped just perfectly into a ring is beyond what I know of woods. Then again, there are sound reasons why my wife won't let me near the power tools in the house.

Tyler · Post by **Tyler** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 9:31 am

scheky wrote:

Of course, one has to wonder what the wood they use is for it. To get it shaped just perfectly into a ring is beyond what I know of woods. Then again, there are sound reasons why my wife won't let me near the power tools in the house.

It wouldn't be hard, but an experienced woodworker would have to do it. It definately would not be an amature endeavour.
My father does professional woodworking, so I'll ask him what he might use to build such an item...
The wood could probably be anything at all, it would just depend on what kind of a sound you wanted, much like NAFs and mandolin building; the hard woods resonate bass pitches and the softer woods resonate higher ones. In mandolin building I use a combination of the two.

brewerpaul · Post by **brewerpaul** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 9:39 am

Tyler Morris wrote:[Do we know anyone that has one that we could ask? 39 bucks is a bit more reasonable, even if only for the novelty of the thing...

Check my original post: I have one on it's way to me as we speak and will report here when I've had a chance to play with it a bit.

Yes, I do play regular flute (Irish, orchestral), so the embouchure should not be a problem.

I'm thinking that for the wooden ones, you'd use a router to route the bore in halves, then glue the halves. A good friend of mine makes superb NA style flutes that way.

I.D.10-t · Post by **I.D.10-t** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 9:59 am

Eliyahna has one. One or two comments here
about people that have played it. I’ll wait for brewerpaul’s review though.

Rod Sprague · Post by **Rod Sprague** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 6:32 pm

I was disappointed to see the ring flute was simply a standard flute bent back on its self and not connected back on its self internally. I would be curious how one would make a flute that was toroidal internally. It would be interesting how one would go about figuring out where to put the finger holes! I have some ideas I could try out, so some day I might unveil the toroidal pennywhistle!

Rod

Walden · Post by **Walden** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 9:32 pm

Ring-shaped whistles, on the ocarina principle, made of
terra cotta, in South America, are usually offered on
eBay for very little. I doubt they are in tune.

Chiff and Fipple Forums

Wooden ring flute...

Wooden ring flute...

Re: Wooden ring flute...

Ring