want to buy a bamboo or wood flute not made for giants

November 5, 2019 10:02 PM

I have owned a lovely bamboo flute in the key of G for years and years. I'm having a super hard time finding another one.

The idea flute would be:

- a simple cylinder of wood or bamboo with holes in it
- well-tuned in a common, easy key (G, D, C)
- a type that asks you to blow across it (transverse)
- small enough for my small girly hands to work
- not very expensive (but no firm price is set - if it's not too expensive, I could buy multiple flutes in different keys)

I ordered a flute off Amazon, but it turned out to be suuuuper long - I can't really cover all the holes at once - and tuned to the key of C#. So, it sounds gorgeous but I can't even play an octave, and if I could, I couldn't play with anyone really.

It was also $17! I was hoping for $20-$30, but it's OK if that's totally unrealistic (Here it is. It's much prettier than the photo, too).

I tried the Old Town School of Folk Music here in Chicago, but they only have Native American flutes that you blow end-on.

I loved my little G Bamboo flute because it was, I don't know, 14"-16" long? And easy to transport. It had some tuning oddities, but it was fine for how I used it.

posted by amtho to Shopping (3 answers total)

Lark in the Morning has a variety of bamboo flutes.
posted by corey flood at 10:44 PM on November 5, 2019

The soprano/midrange flutes from Sunreed? The student quality runs in the $30-$45 range and they list one in G that's 16".
posted by nothing as something as one at 2:58 AM on November 6, 2019

I have a Crystal Flute, made by Hall Crystal Flutes. His flutes are nicely made, and a bit more expensive than bamboo. They are not as fragile as you might fear because they are made of a material that is as close quartz as it is to glass, like a Pyrex measuring cup.
posted by SemiSalt at 12:55 PM on November 6, 2019 [1 favorite]