Native American Bamboo Flute Making

With this table in mind look at your bamboo how thick is it on the outside.

Native american bamboo flute making.

Remove the tape and using sandpaper make the holes smooth. Below is a picture of an ancient territories native american style flute that i have cut in half lengthwise. You can carve intricate designs on the wooden surface to give your flute a more native american feel. Top to bottom 1 7 16 inches.

This page provides some plans for making native american flutes. Walter ben hunt s plans. Bore diameter and length is available in this article. Select and harvest the bamboo.

Make and put in the mouthpiece. Partly due to the simplicity of the plant itself bamboo instruments are extremely easy to make and make well at that. Over time various cultures have developed a variety of bamboo flutes pipes whistles and general noisemakers. They were published by walter ben hunt 1888 1970 in and later in.

The natural hollow culm of this giant grass makes it perfect for making woodwind instruments. Store prepare and cure the bamboo. A 3 4 inch bore is used on native american style flutes in the key of b and c side to side at maximum width 1 9 16 inches. Work with the bore shaping sanding sealing and oiling.

Marking out the positions for the finger holes. You should recall the table with measurements for each key bore diameter and width of the sound chambers. Below you will find several items both helpful to making your own native american flutes as well as great example flutes to use as a starter into the understanding of how they are made. Plans for making native american flutes.

Simple bamboo recorder side blown flute shakuhachi flute native american flute or bamboo sax. It is tied on with elastic cord usually red or black with beads attached. Bore 6 more holes on the other plane of the flute. When making a bamboo flute in native american style the first thing to do is to define the key we want.