» What's In Your Flute Collection? Options

[ChrisK]

I've spent the good part of the last year trading and selling most of my NAFs in order to acquire new rim-blown flutes. Here is the result. From the left:

C# Magen Avot in poplar, Mike Turner
C Lost Tuning, Geoffrey Ellis
Bb Mojave 6 in padauk, Mike Turner
G Xiao in dyed curly maple, Geoffrey Ellis
B Anasazi in ?, Geoffrey Ellis
E Xiao in dyed poplar, Geoffrey Ellis
1.8 Shakuhachi in fire-darkened Spanish cedar, Colyn Peterson
G# Anasazi in cedar, Michael Graham Allen
A bansuri in bamboo
A NAF in walnut, Pat Haran
E NAF in maple, Kuzin Bruce
Tweaked 432 Bass C NAF, High Spirits
High C NAF in bamboo, NZT Designs

Attached File(s)

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[Ed Pias]

I've spent the good part of the last year trading and selling most of my NAFs in order to acquire new rim-blown flutes. Here is the result. From the left:

C# Magen Avot in poplar, Mike Turner
C Lost Tuning, Geoffrey Ellis
Bb Mojave 6 in padauk, Mike Turner
G Xiao in dyed curly maple, Geoffrey Ellis
B Anasazi in ?, Geoffrey Ellis
E Xiao in dyed poplar, Geoffrey Ellis
1.8 Shakuhachi in fire-darkened Spanish cedar, Colyn Peterson
G# Anasazi in cedar, Michael Graham Allen
A bansuri in bamboo
A NAF in walnut, Pat Haran
E NAF in maple, Kuzin Bruce
Tweaked 432 Bass C NAF, High Spirits
High C NAF in bamboo, NZT Designs

I'm curious if you tweaked your bass C and how you did it, or did you ask for it to be made that way....

[ChrisK]

I'm curious if you tweaked your bass C and how you did it, or did you ask for it to be made that way....

I think I mentioned this in another post: I wanted to make the High Spirits something it wasn't: a Woodlands style flute. So I sanded and cut and properly f**ked the whole thing up. I was trying to take away the reedy, windy sound and make it clearer. But the flute had other ideas. So for a year it was in various stages of unplayability. Finally, by pure accident, I "fixed" it. I ended up reducing the size of the TSH (with epoxy), and somehow hit just the right channel depth of the flue with my sandpaper. I played it for a while and liked what I heard. Then I checked the tuning and it was at exactly 432. I really love the flute and am glad I saved it as it was my first flute, a gift from my wife. But I would not recommend doing what I did. It is one thing to fix a bad sounding flute. It is quite another to try to change a flute into something it was never meant to be. I won't do that again.

[DaveNY]

I happen to have pictures of all my quenas and quenacho's and will have to add my NAF's and other flutes another time. I also thought I'd give a little detail on the different makers. One of my fustrations getting into the quena was the lack of information to be found in English. Spend alot of time with google translator obtaining information. You'll also notice not a heck of alot of non-south american people sharing their art on youtube. I hope to do my part in filling that void with more time and energy.

Along the journey of playing NAFs and other world flutes, I somehow got totally distracted with the quena and quenacho. I spent most of my life playing jazz trumpet until I underwent a major life transition and what you might call a mystical experience. At some point, I realized I couldn't just ignore my musical past and wanted to find a world flute that would allow me a bit more harmonic expression. I felt the quena had the most untapped potential to play more western music. It's also a little more comfortable for me than a transverse flute although with practice I'm getting better. There are a couple of fellows from Peru who have taken the quena outside it's Andean paradigm and playing jazz and western popular music. I enjoy the Andean music in small doses and not enough to inspire me to play it as a primary focus.

For a flute that's just a tube with 7 holes and a notch each of them have a totally different character. The playability varies and sometimes tuning. So 1/2 of my quest was finding the perfect quena, bore size and ergonomics that I liked best. Not to mention figuring out how to play the darn things. When you are new at an instrument it's difficult to know what is the limitation of an instrument and the player. So early on, I wanted to try different instruments and in someways that can be a hinderance because of different embochures but in otherways it helped me. The small bore instruments allowed me to play the higher register quickly and understand the correct embochure and air flow dynamics that I could transfer to bigger flutes.


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1-5 Your run of the mill South American mass produced jobies. The first three Ramos being my favories. Ramos D quenacho, Ramos F quena and Ramos G quena with bone mouth piece and Jarcarda wood.

4 and 5. Tito Peru and Amaru. Again inexpensive, and don't get as much love as my others. They are not bad
but not special. The Amaru has a flat blowing surface that feels strange against my embochure.

6,7,8 These are new additions to my collection from a musician/Flutemaker from Peru-Checho.



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He is an amazing player and the only person that I've seen playing Bebop on the quena. His video's are on youtube I need some more practice. The other guy Kenna Extreme also an amazing player however, I had some trouble with our exchange. The language barrier adding to the difficulties. I contacted both of them because I needed to know what instruments they were playing Both make their own instruments I succesfully got Checho to make me three instruments. And I just recieved them. Now I know the ease in which he gets around the instrument and plays three octaves has alot to do with his mastery of the instrument. And his double and triple tonguing is clean. Here is a feature that Peruvian television did on his playing and flutemaking http://youtu.be/iFLfP_Ffb2Y. A very intense and focused young man. Highly inspirational.

Pictures are of Quenacho D, Quena F and G. He mistakenly sent me a D quenacho and not an Eb like I ordered. An Honest mistake that he is rectifying. The D Quenacho is a monster but sounds beautiful. The only way I can play it comfortably is with the piper grip and sealing off the thumb hole with a piece of tape. The only thing that does is make it so I don't have access to the open octave and have to play it with all fingers closed which I don't do so much on my other flutes because of the octave stretch which you get on all these flutes which drove me absolutely crazy until one of the makers explained it to me and read the research on how a stretched octave actually sounds better to the ear. But something must be wrong with my ears because I liked the tuned octave.

9-10 Jeff Whittier custom made g quena and E quenacho purchased from Monty Levenson's website. They have a U shaped mouthpiece, unlaquered and a very organic earthy sound. More difficult on the higher register but well tuned.

11 Milton Zappata G quena. This is an interesting story. Tony Hinnigan, the UK flutemaker and who has played on the sound track of a great many movies recommended that I contact Milton Zappata. I believe he is 86 years old and lives in Paris. This is the most expensive of all my quena's because of the exchange rate and the cost of an international bank check. On top of that, he doesn't like to leave the house and go to the post office so as a rule he doesn't sell his quena's unless you visit him in Paris. That wasn't going to happen. So I had a friend who speaks French call him and act as my translator. He only speaks French and Spanish. She convinced him that the fate of the Western world was at stake and he agreed to send me one. Oh my God, it took a couple of long conversations and confusion that I wanted a G quena. He calls it a LA quena because they play in a minor key. I asked the translator just to have him play the tonic note on the phone so we could finish up. So he ended up showing off his quena chops and not playing one long tone. Anyway, it was an interesting transaction that required alot of patience. But a very very nice gentleman. apparantly I have a place to stay if I ever go to Paris. His fingering his different and requires 1/2 holing the thumb hole to play the 7th and octave perfectly in tune and all closed holes is an octave stretch by a full 1/2 step. Tony Hinnigan calls it the Cadillac (or Mercedes) of Quena's on his video's on his website. Hmmmm, I think the alternate fingering takes it otu of the running for me but it is certainly an extremely sweet sounding and extremely playable quena. Relatively small bore. the bamboo from Japan is beautiful.

12. Erik the Flutemaker Quena. Gotta give this guy alot of credit. His personality and youtube video's must make him the business's guy in the flute business. Anyway, the quena is a pretty darn good sounding quena although a bit basic and after playing others for a while a bit small for my taste. He acknowledges that this is not his forte but as far as I am concerned a respectable instrument and not a bad first quena for somebody. Very basic notch.

13-19 These are IMHO the stars of my colletion.  P1010592.JPG ( 482.14K ) Number of downloads: 30


They are from Angel from Un Mundo De Bambu in Buenas Aires Argentina. I have included another photo of just the my Un Mundo flutes including my G Moseno. I intend to a fuller review of Angel, the small things he does differently with every aspect of the flute and the differences in some of the sounds I can get due to the different bore sizes and sometimes shape. Just as soon as I can get some sound samples finished. Picking the right bore size for your experience is important. It's taken me awhile and obviously quite a few quena's to find out what works for me best. But also with more experience and practice, I can play a broader range of instruments.

I've added a separate picture for my new additions, a custom made F with Mexican redwood and a custom made D quenacho. It is very Xiao like in it's quality. He custom made the quenacho for my hand size and also put the holes to the side for increased comfort!!

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#19 is indeed a custom made transverse flute with a custom mouthpiece. The fingering is the same as a quena because of the presence of a thumb hole. Angel also being extremely helpful with understanding some technical aspects of the instrument and was able to help me adjust my embochure to play these darn things in tune. I was about to jump off a building (not really) until he helped me.

20,21. These are from TheQuenaMaker aka theflutemaker who also makes wooden whistles, Tyronne Head. Rosewood and Cherry. I can't really make any comments on the quality of the instrument at this point because they play so differently than all the other quena's and I can't figure out what it is. The notch configuration, the bore size, small tone holes combination of all the above? I'm fairly convinced it's not the wood. See Un Mundo De Bambu's article on different woods he has with an engineer. Very similar conclusion that Geoffrey makes in another thread about the different sounds of different woods probably being a personal perception bias. The science is pretty convincing. I have not spent considerable time playing them because of the adjustment I have to make with my embochure and I still am developing my embochure so I don't want to spent too much time with them right now. I will come back to them.

This post has been edited by DaveNY: Apr 23 2012, 04:34 AM

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[DaveNY]

My bad. I realized this is dedicated to North American Native American Flutes and not other native flutes. Sorry about that. Will whip my trusty camera out and get with the program soon.

[Hawk]

My bad. I realized this is dedicated to North American Native American Flutes and not other native flutes. Sorry about that. Will whip my trusty camera out and get with the program soon.

Dave I think your post is fine (didn't read it though)~
The topic is about what is in peoples flute collection. Doesn't specify NAS flutes. Of course I could be wreong about this so I'll check with a moderator if I can find one

[Coatlique]

My bad. I realized this is dedicated to North American Native American Flutes and not other native flutes. Sorry about that. Will whip my trusty camera out and get with the program soon.

Dave, I thought it was a great overview of quenas - it confirmed my suspicion there's a lot of variation out there! I have a couple of inexpensive quenas that I have difficulty playing because the holes are too big for my fingers. Your post was helpful and informative. Thank you!

[Titmouse]

My bad. I realized this is dedicated to North American Native American Flutes and not other native flutes. Sorry about that. Will whip my trusty camera out and get with the program soon.

Dave,

Thanks for the wonderful quena/quenacho review.

I have a pretty little G by Dionisio Quilla. I don't know how it matches up but after reading about your wonderful collection I'll give another go.

Art


This post has been edited by Titmouse: Apr 23 2012, 10:48 PM

[DaveNY]

I suspect like any flute that much of it is very personal what makes a good flute. I'm still trying to figure out what elements I like best. Obviously, I like variety and choice depending on how I feel. Some days I want to play a smaller bore flute for more control. Overall, I have begun to like quenas with a larger notch and bore size for greater expression, bending of notes and sound. My 20mm Un Mundo tunable flute, (the one with the gold ring) has a gorgeous, round, buttery sound. HOwever, it has taken alot of effort and practice to play it in tune but well worth it. The smaller bore quena's are much easier to keep in tune and play high register. The one I have with the smallest holes is the chromatic quena from Angel where the holes are very small so they all fit. The reason I probably haven't resonated with Tyronne Heads quena's because the bore is small, notch is small and finger holes are small so it feels very restricted to me.


Large tone holes do seem to be something the Peruvian players enjoy. I've spoken to a couple street musicians in NYC who want their instrument loud. And the larger tone holes make it easier to play chromatically. However, you don't want the tone holes so big that your fingers fall into the tube and don't cover the holes. Angel takes the time to work every hole. Each hole is slightly recessed for maximum comfort and agility and lacquered. It's attention to these small details that I really enjoy. In addition, they are very artistic and appealing to the eye.

I think ones preference will also depend on the type of music one wants to play. The Andean flute is indeed a native flute connected to the great Inca Empire with very similar ceremonial traditions as the Northern Plains Native Americans. They origianlly used a Condor bone flute. In the 60's, Andean music began being a fusion music with rock and latin elements. So they probably wanted loud instruments over subtlety. And the one thing you find in latin american and caribbean cultures is a penchant for playing everything in the high register. The cuban flute players are always playing in 2nd and 3rd octave and they have to be heard over the percussion.

Checho's instruments feature big tone holes, big bore and very thick bamboo. Despite those factors, he has no trouble playing in the upper register and even with a microphone he has to play over a large drummer, horn section, and rhythm section.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNTYBBrLPLA...;feature=relmfu This is one native instrument where there is no escaping practice, embochure development, diligence and patience. And LOTS OF IT!!!

There is also no reason you can't play Xiao music with a quena/quenacho. My un mondu D quenacho is perfect for it with a slight bit more breath tone than you get from a Xiao.

[knighthawk]

I now have a RV F# to add to the collection.I now have three F#.Not sure I need three F#.
One can never have too many flutes. I've finally stopped counting flutes,sort of.

[Howard Leon]

My most recent flute is a Woodsounds Double Low C Custom

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[Silver Crow]

beautiful Howard.

This post has been edited by Silver Crow: Apr 30 2012, 09:54 PM

[A Murder of Crow...]

What a beautiful flute!

[Howard Leon]

Thank you, it is the second design that I have finally finished up. I still have another one to work on as well.

[siouxmoux]

Here a photo of my new Flute from Guillermo Martinez flute In Key of D, Where I bought from the 2012 Stanford Powwow. And along side of recent flute I Inherited from my late Mom (Peg) an Stephen DeRuby In key of A.


Trying out my new New Guillermo Martinez flute In Key of D

http://youtu.be/Ot2oPX3gORE

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[Titmouse]

Those of you who have followed my flute journey may remember that I turned my "library" into a "conservatory" and set up some showcases. I have a glass tower with flutes displayed vertically (thank you Marsha for the great vertical flute stands). My book collection has been stable for the past few years while my flute collection has grown. I had originally converted 2 bookshelves to flute showcases with the flutes on disply horizontally. I recently converted 4 more bookshelves. I am using Ikea LED lights in all showcases. Unfortunately (or fortunately) Ikea changed the color temperature of their Deoder LED light sets so the lighting in my new showcases does not match the older ones.

Picture 22s shows the entire bookcase/flute showcase.

For those who are interested:

Picture 6as
Top Shelf:
Leonard Lonecrow mid C mixed wood aromatic cedar, walnut, poplar
Quiet Bear F# buckeye burl, jatoba?
Ancient Territories (John Stilwell) F# curly maple bubinga and a bunch of other woods
Ancient Territories high C Cherry and a bunch of other woods

Bottom Shelf is all Heartsong Flutes (J.P. Gomez):
F# Drone in lacewood and wenge?
F# aspen
D# redwood, walnut and leopardwood
G cedar

Picture 01d
Top Shelf:
Pat Haran Alaskan Yellow Ceder and aroumatic cedar?
Woodland Voices Flutes (Colyn Petersen) mid D walnut and holly
Earthtone Flutes (Geoffrey Ellis) Mojave 6 B bocote
Earthtone Flutes F# red dyed old growth curly Douglas fir

Bottom Shelf:
Greg Jones F# (Sand Crane) Alaskan Yellow Cedar
Singing Tree (Miguel Medina) F maple
Ugly Boy Flutes (Bob Child) E Verdi Tuned (Loon) holly and ebony
Turtlemound Flutes (John Ellis) mid D (Stellar's Jay) sassafras and bocote

Picture 03as
Top Shelf:
Woodsounds Flutes (Brent Haines) F juniper and some kind of burl
Woodsounds Flutes Eb black palm
Ed Kort F# zebrawood
Tree Of Life Designs (Ed Dougherty) Bb flame box elder and some kind of burl

Bottom Shelf:
Singing Tree E paduak and ebony
Green Grass Flutes (Geri Littlejohn) F spalted beach, walnut, osage orange and paduak
Wind Dancer Flutes (Roger McGee) F# Cedar
Green Grass Flutes A walnut, osage orange and some other woods

Next I need to update my database. I'll post the entire updated collection when I get that done.

Art


This post has been edited by Titmouse: May 14 2013, 10:19 PM

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[A Murder of Crow...]

All I can say is WOW!!! I'm so jealous!!! Wonderful collection and a beautiful and relaxing room to play in. What flute addict could ask more?

[siouxmoux]

Well, here is my friend Mary at the recent Bay Clan Flute Circle with her two new Flutes. First one is from Napa Valley Flutes made by Brian Revheim that she won at the silence action at the mark holland concert. Her second NAFs is from guillermo martinez in Key A, where she bought at the Stanford Powwow. She is well on her way in starting her new NAF Addiction.

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[siouxmoux]

Here are the new stash of Native Flutes and Stack of new Native Flutes Cds I have bought from this Years Yosemite Flute Festival

Thumb Wind/Bird/Eagle whistle and Tezcat clay whistle from Nash

Key of D# Mahogany/ Walnut NAF from Burning Wood Flutes

Key of D ceramic NAF flute from Meadowlark Flutes

Key of A hybrid Warble PVC Flute from Tim Blueflint - Shades of Rez

Stack of new 15+ Native Flutes Cds and one How to DVD From brent haines

This post has been edited by siouxmoux: Sep 26 2012, 06:47 PM

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[Just Jim]

New picture of my collection:

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This is my newest addition, a beautiful bamboo mid-G from Ray Wood of Island flutes:

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