How is a flute built?

Answer 1

The word 'flute' comes from the Latin word 'flare' which means to flow. Most student flutes are made of silver-plated metal such as yellow brass, which is 70% copper and 30% zinc. Silver-plating gives the flute a more mellow sound. Most professionals play on solid silver flutes (silver content 92.5%) although some, like James Galway, play on flutes made of other metals.

Flute-makers have to do a five year apprenticeship. The hardest part to get right is the head-joint. If this is wrong the flute will never sound good. The head-joint is conical. The lip plate is shaped and the embouchure hole cut by hand to the right size with the blowing edge at the correct angle for the breath to vibrate the column of air in the body of the flute. The top end is stopped by a crown. This holds the cork inside the tube by means of a screw. Moving this cork minutely changes the length of the column of air and therefore the relative pitch of every note played.

A Flute is 67cm long (C Foot joint) and weighs 400-600g. The constant bore of the body and foot joint is 19mm.

The rest of the flute is made from two pieces of tube with a constant bore. It takes more than 150 pillars, rods, keys, rollers and springs to make a flute.

Three pieces are taken from a length of metal tube. The holes are cut and the metal around each hole is pulled up to form a chimney. A strap of metal is soldered onto the body, and another is added to the footjoint. Next, metal pillars are welded onto these.

Meanwhile, all the keys are being cut and shaped. Once this is done, they can be sorted into groups and soldered by hand. Next a piece of metal called the riser is fitted to the headjoint. The Lip Plate is placed on top of this and all three are soldered together. Then the embouchure hole is cut.

All the different parts are now ready to be polished. Now it's plated. The flutes are placed in racks in special baths and coated with silver. Pads are fitted and felts and corks are added in places to stop keys from rubbing against each other.

Finally the tuning cork and the crown are added. The flute is then tuned and electronically checked before being dispatched to the retailers.

Answer 2

There are different types of flutes, and they all require some crafting. Metal ones can be tough to fabricate, and bamboo ones might be the easiest to make. In any case, use the link below to see a list of some short video clips on how they're made. Most of the different ones (metal, bamboo, wood, etc.) are covered in one clip or another.

Answer 3

The Flute is constructed by holdong the body (middle peice) in one hand then twist the head joint into place. Then twist in the foot joint into place. The keys on the body should line up with the rod on the foot joint.

Answer 4

Flutes are made, by taking soft, flexible wood then slowly and carefully bending it. The same goes with clarinets, except clarinets are made of plastic. Then afterwards they mold it together with flames, and take robots or expert craftsmen/women to carve those perfects holes. Then they are polished till they gleam.

Answer 5

sound of a flute is made by blowing the instrument.by blowing you can hear the sound

Answer 6

I'm not sure but i think its built from stainless steels.