Tenor Flute

[Daniel Kern]

So I made a tenor flute but I am having an issue with play ability. I don't know anyone to ask so I am hoping that ya'll will be able to help.

I am thinking that it has to do with the embouchure hole. The embouchure hole is about 1/4" deep and is carved like this.

Another detail that may or may not have something to do with it is that most of the tone holes are a bit deeper than 1/4" but 2 of them are very shallow. This is because when I made the bore the bit veered off to the side.

I am able to get a few notes in a higher register but not any in the lower register in which it was made to be played.

I am thinking that I may have carved out too much from the side of the embouchure hole which catches the wind. If this is the case then it may be possible that I need to put some epoxy on this side to fill it back in and then carve it out again to the proper shape.

[Peter Cowell]

Hello Daniel, are you still struggling with the flute? Yes I think you have carved out too much of the embouchure. You haven't said what the flute is made of, wood I assume. If so you could make a lip plate and correct the embouchure that way, in effect making a new one. As to the tone holes , I would drill out the two thin ones , plug them and re drill. Maybe the answer would be to make a new flute altogether. I hope this helps.

[Jim McConkey]

I agree. This is a flute, not a whistle, so the tapered side of the embouchure hole is not needed or wanted. The embouchure hole needs to be a clean and sharp pipe perpendicular to the main bore. Adding an external plate probably will not help, you need to actually fix the embouchure hole.

Peter, filling the thin holes won't work in his case because he said his drill veered while boring. There is simply not enough wood there to begin with. The depths of the finger holes (which is normally about constant) also affect the tuning of the individual notes, but it can be compensated for if you start by drilling the finger holes undersized initially and then expanding them as you tune. It may be too late in Daniel's case to do this.

Daniel, also look into D-bits for drilling the main bore. They tend to self-center and not wander as much as regular drills.

[Clay Schaeffer]

For the embouchure and tone holes I would do something similar to what Peter has proposed - drill out the miss cut areas and plug them. You could plug them with a harder and contrasting material so they might appear as a "bushing" and intentionally done.

[Frank Dryer III]

Tenor Flute? How it sounds like? I'll ask my nefews