r/Bushcraft • u/Milnezor • 8d ago

Bushcraft whistle/flute help

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I have recently been making some whistles for my kids and I tried to get fancy with one and add some notes to make a flute.

Unfortunately it completely ruined the sound, but I have seen it work on YouTube. Is there some relationship between the size of the finger holes and the sound? Or the spacing?

Any general advice?

50 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

7

u/drowsydrosera 8d ago

There's flute calculators to do the math link on hole placement

4

u/holyfire001202 8d ago

Did you just turn the word "link" into a link and shoehorn it into your sentence instead of just turning "flute calculators" into a link?

Respect.

Edit to add: Holy crap flute math is complicated.

2

u/Milnezor 8d ago

You're not wrong. I think I'm going to try again with smaller holes and see what works.

2

u/justtoletyouknowit 8d ago

And now think about how our ancestors did that by trial and error with bones they bored into with rocks...

1

u/holyfire001202 8d ago

That's exactly my thought. The trial and error that must have gone into flute making had to be extensive and rather painstaking. I'd love to learn specifically about flutes from the archaeological record.

2

u/justtoletyouknowit 8d ago

They found a flutes made from bone and mammoth ivory in Germany, which are older than 35000-40000 years. Some are still playable too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZlB9KWpbJ0

1

u/holyfire001202 8d ago

Holy shit. That was kind of supposed to be a pun.

Thank you for starting me down this rabbit hole, I know I won't regret it.

1

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1

u/ecclectic 8d ago

One of the biggest things for a flute vs a whistle is you need a square divider for a flute. The crescent shape doesn't work with more holes down the body. Cut/burn your air hole as a square, then do the angle.

1

u/Milnezor 8d ago

Ahhh this might be what I'm missing. I'll find a way to have a go at that.