Native American Flutes - Real cool woodwinds

[tjontheroad]

This Christmas, I gave a friend one of these Native American Flutes. I was pretty amazed how cool
it sounded and well made it was 8-) I almost ordered one for myself and I may still.
There are plenty of interesting designs and craftsmen to choose from. This one I bought is from Richard Maynard (sorry for the big pic).

http://cedarflutes.com/images/Native_American_Flute.JPG

I was looking through a number of online sites like these;
http://www.oregonflutestore.com/
http://www.gcflutes.com/
http://cedarflutes.com/

While some are fairly expensive, there are also ones reasonably priced.
Anyone playing or have a collection of these hand made treasures? I'm intrigued :)

Gandalfe: Edited to remove picture that skewed thread presentation.

[Rackety Sax]

Now that's what I call a creative gift idea TJ. I wish I were on your Christmas list!

[tjontheroad]

Now that's what I call a creative gift idea TJ. I wish I were on your Christmas list!

My buddy already has a couple of these. I can't take credit for the idea. It was a no brainer getting him one especially after I heard him play it for the first time. He sounded great.

[bpimentel]

Agreed, these are really fun instruments. Very easy to play, and capable of all kinds of great sounds.

I have a short intro to Lakota-style Native American flutes (like the one TJ was generous enough to give) on my website here (http://www.geocities.com/bpimentel/articles/nativeamericanflute.htm). Also try the Chiff and Fipple forum (http://www.chiffandfipple.com/naf/).

My favorite flutes are made by Butch Hall (http://www.butchhallflutes.com/). Very simple, clean design, beautifully hand crafted, and sound amazing. And quite inexpensive--I just bought an F# minor in cedar for less than $100 (USD). Butch and his wife are very nice to do business with. I don't have any affiliation with them except as a happy customer.

Bret

edited slightly because I apparently misread the original post.

[dshook]

Also interesting, in a similar vein, I have been messing around with homemade shakuhachi, this link has some great info and some great general acoustical knowledge:

http://www.navaching.com/shaku/shakuindex.html

[tjontheroad]

Cool forum Bret

[jrvinson45]

My wife gifted me with a native american flute pitched in the key of F a year ago Christmas, and I love it. The minute I picked it up I blew a couple of be bop licks and my wife said although it sounded really cool that I probably was going to incur the wrath of the ghosts of the Indian nation... still, they are a LOT of fun.:)

[Gene]

I'm thinking about getting one don't know which key I should get, but it has to be loud as far as it can be in it;s design so I have less problems mixing with other instuments thru a mic.I've only tried them briefly in Victoria and was not impressed they seemed dull and stuffy not able to project compared to a recorder especially the longer the tube, I would of thought the longer ones would be louder and more clear.I don't think most of the sites I visited had any samples where they played with other instruments besides a drum.This may be new territory trying to blend a flute with guitar , bass and drums and piano.I've heard a little on 103.1fm but it was hard to tell if it was a native flute or synth.So if you could recommend one let me know.Maybe it's how you mic it live and EQing it any suggestions?

[BKRMON]

This may be new territory trying to blend a flute with guitar , bass and drums and piano.

Probably different genre, but the Marshall Tucker Band & Jethro Tull did it minus the piano. ;)

[LampLight]

I got a High Spirits Flute two years ago on a trip to Colorado. I love it. The flute is a single bored out piece of wood, not two glued halves like some flutes. (The glue in some cheap flutes can loosed over time.) The High Spirits flute comes with a movable rawhide cover for the sixth hole. If you leave it covered, you get a nice, easy to play, Native-American sounding scale. (I believe minor pentatonic is the correct name.) If you remove the cover, you can get more tones.

Watch out for the High Spirits web site though. They still appear not to have a privacy policy.

[Pure Magic]

These things sound great but the cheapest one is like $99. The one shown up top goes for like $200. That is way too expensive. These things are light too and don't fell sturdy to me. I would rather buy a second hand flute. :(

[LampLight]

Yes, they are pricey. Other things being equal, the cedar and birch models are lighter than the walnut, which is what I have. Each wood is supposed to have its own tone character, also there is certainly variation from one copy of the same model to the next.

[tjontheroad]

If you could see and hear the flute pictured above, I don't think you'd think it was too expensive. It's very well made and sounds cool.

Some of these can run over a thousand dollars for the very large elaborate and exotic wood types.

[AlvinY]

I also play the NAF. I have a cedar A flute from High Spirits. It's nice, though a little high. Another NAF I have is a plastic NAF combo flute (An Amon Olorin PF Flute) - it has two keys, G and F#. I think G or F# are nice keys to start out at.

One artist I really enjoy listening too is Scott August - check his site out @ cedarmesa.com

Unfortunately NAFs don't have the range or scales that I want, hence I'm learning the concert flute atm.

Gene: In my experience to get really good sound for recording NAFs you'll want to engage some reverb.

Cheers!

Alvin

[LampLight]

If I had to pick one artist, it would be R. Carlos Nakai. If I had to pick one of his albums, it would be Canyon Trilogy.

[LampLight]

If you could see and hear the flute pictured above, I don't think you'd think it was too expensive. It's very well made and sounds cool.

Some of these can run over a thousand dollars for the very large elaborate and exotic wood types.
I just checked out some of the tiger maple flutes at http://cedarflutes.com/. They are indeed beautiful to the ear and eye both. One thing - and this is going to sound a lot like some sax gear discussions: I'm not sure how much better the expensive models (e.g., the $650 Bubinga) sound than the less expensive ones, such as the cedar model in TJ's original photograph. At any rate it's hard to tell over the net. The skill of the player is paramount, as always.

[Pure Magic]

If you could see and hear the flute pictured above, I don't think you'd think it was too expensive. It's very well made and sounds cool.
I did play one on a trip up to Canada. I played Tequila on it. They are ok but not for me. If you can't play "Wine Light" and it sounds good, I don't want it. Good luck with yours though. I will continue to save up for my ref 54 Tenor.

[hakukani]

My wife and I stopped at a shop in BC and I couldn't resist trying one out. Much deeper sound than alto recorder. When I finished playing I had a crowd around me, and the lady handed me a double flute (drone+flute), saying I obviously knew what I was doing. I didn't buy one, but other folks listening did.

I really liked the double flute. I still might pick one up over the internet.

[LampLight]

My wife and I stopped at a shop in BC and I couldn't resist trying one out. Much deeper sound than alto recorder. When I finished playing I had a crowd around me, and the lady handed me a double flute (drone+flute), saying I obviously knew what I was doing. I didn't buy one, but other folks listening did.

I really liked the double flute. I still might pick one up over the internet.
I had the same experience in a gift shop in the Garden of the Gods, in Colorado Springs. Only I wound up buying a double in F#. I do love the double, but if I had it do do over, I'm not sure I would prefer a double. The singles are more portable. Also, if I may stray just a bit: I'm told the F# is a very common key in Native American music, but I haven't been able to confirm that. Can anyone here help out on this point? Secondly, regardless of what key is common, the next NA flute I buy is likely to be a single in A, because it will fit in my carry-on luggage.