
I took a look at one of the ends to see how thick were the walls. Take this into account, and you should figure out how wide the inside diameter is.įor example, I had this piece of bamboo that was 27 mm wide on the outside. With this table in mind, look at your bamboo – how thick is it on the outside? The walls may be anything between 3 to 5 mm. Bore diameter and length is available in this article.You should recall the table with measurements for each key, bore diameter and width of the sound chambers. When making a bamboo flute in Native American style, the first thing to do is to define the key we want. As you can see, I placed the flute’s nest above it. Inside, in healthy bamboo there is a wall. That middle “thicker” part is the outside of the node. It is made above the inner wall – the node – which you can recognize by the thicker area outside, like on the photo below.Īn example of a nest in a bamboo Native American flute. Here’s an example of a flute nest in a piece of bamboo. If you have river cane, though, it’s really very similar to work with. It’s quite popular among flutemakers in the USA, but since bamboo is more popular around the world, for the rest of this book, I will focus on bamboo. River Cane is a bamboo-like plant that grows in North America and it can be used to make flutes, as well. Sometimes, depending on the species and age of the bamboo, they may not be solid anymore, and there might be holes in them, but in most cases, they are intact – which makes building two different chambers in your flute much easier. But there are also walls within it that separate chambers – these clearly visible walls are called “nodes” by some people. Young and thin bamboo is not hollow, but the older and the bigger it gets, it becomes hollow. Did you know you can eat bamboo and turn it into a whole building in a style of modern architecture? :) Anyway, bamboo comes in various sizes and colors, depending on the species of the bamboo.īamboo Native American Flute – This is actually the very first flute I have ever built :).Īnother advantage, beside availability, is the fact that bamboo is usually hollow on the inside – once it matures enough, that is.
Cherokee flute music crack#
Any wood with holes in it may crack and split as it dries, so whenever you use bamboo, lumber or branches, make sure to dry them first.īamboo is a very strong plant, and it makes great flutes, among many things.
Cherokee flute music update#
Update – Thank you, Steve! Always use bamboo that is already very, very dry.Tell them you want to build flutes and be nice – you may get nices pieces in return :). Just as the on-line store to send you pieces without cracks and with intact inside nodes/walls. If you can’t find it, it might be possible to order it on-line. Start With the Bambooīamboo is easy to obtain – it should be available in your local garden store, as it is used for creating simple fences or as a support for other plants. Keep in mind that tutorials about building a nest or tuning the flute have been published on FluteCraft in the past and they are linked in this article, but I will not double these things here, since the techniques are still the same. In this article, I share some ideas about using bamboo for building Native American flutes. While the bamboo wood is a bit hard to work with, it’s hollow on the inside and it contains separating “notes”, or walls, that make it easy to build many types of ethnic flutes, including Native American flute. Obtaining a piece of bamboo is the simplest way to start your adventure with making flutes.
