My first Native American drone flute. Not traditional construction in any way. Eastern red cedar, maple for the mouth piece, light walnut for center block.
Learned tons from it. As my first drone flute it is far from perfect. It is essentially two flutes you play as one. I made it in the note of E.
Things that are off:
The top note on the playing flute is E flat. So when the two flutes harmonize they sound a little off. To make it sharper I would need to make the finger hole bigger but it is already fairly large so leaving it as is. Also I made the mouth holes to far apart. Really needs to be way closer to play comfortably.
Using a lion bust for the totem. third coat of poly just applied. Block is 2.5" x 3" x .5". Not exactly sure what lumber is the block. Pulled it out of my scrap bin. The carving is in oak.
You can. The problem with them being so far apart is you have to shape your mouth a little wider which for me feels uncomfortable.
With this type of flute you don’t put your mouth around the flute, you press your mouth into it.
I widened the holes so they are closer. Looks terrible but a little bit easier to play.
This was a bit more challenging build for me. I have zero music theory background or knowledge so just flying blind trying things and hoping they work.
I’m excited to see something about making Native American style flutes here. I have a partly made drone flute in my shop. It’s a D4mi. It’s my prototype. If it is successful I’ll start the next with fancier wood.
I’m wondering how hard it will be to play the top finger holes with the left hand. Even with 2 bores placed close together it looks like it might be awkward.
Do you plan to add any additional notes on the drone bore? Like the minor 3rd or 4th & 5th. The bottom 3 holes. I’ve seen some drones with the bottom 3 holes on the drone bore but the unused notes plugged with a cork or rubber stopper so you can pick the note you want for a particular song.
Hi. Would love to see how your flute is coming out.
This was my first drone flute so no further plans for this one. Making it in E was not my best choice. I should have gone with F#. To my ear it sounds better.
I am partially deaf so not saying much. lol
I’ve also seen where you use two different notes for the harmonics.
Not sure if I will be making another one soon. They are definitely more work than making a normal flute and tuning has to be more precise.
