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“Legends of the Fall” on PVC Flute
One of my new paint jobs I tried out recently on my PVC pipe flutes. It’s black with a blue marbled finish over it and gold Celtic knotwork surrounding the holes on the front. I’ve actually already officially sold it but I haven’t had a chance to give it to my friend yet! The song I’m testing out on it is a short excerpt from one of the themes to the film “Legends of the Fall.”
Video Rating: 3 / 5
@ronsmusic76 You can definitely make smaller flutes/fifes with higher pitch. You’re right about needing to maintain the finger hole ratios and all. I’ve used 1/2″ sch40 as well as 1/2″ thin-wall for these flutes. I find that I can keep them a bit longer (helps with finger hole layout) without sacrificing intonation in the higher octaves. Mind, the third octave is still a bit finicky, but with crossed fingerings, it still works!
Automotive stores sell paint that is made for plastics. Some even change colors!
Afraid I’ve only done fairly low flutes, mostly due to my sticking to the larger bore PVC (3/4″). You can make higher but you’ll need to scale the diameter and wall thickness down accordingly so your upper octaves will stay tuned. The highest I’ve seen others do is high D or E (penny whistle style) but I don’t see why you couldn’t go all the way to F.
I want to get back into flute making, because I’d like to have them available in most of the different keys (except maybe F#, Db and Ab). I’m curious as to what is the highest piccolo you can make out of PVC that isn’t next to impossible to play? I have a C piccolo, but other folks seem to have success with D piccolos as well. Maybe try going all the way up to F?
Most corks from wine bottles work perfectly in the 3/4″ Sched.40 PVC pipe that I use. You can cut them into little disks and get 2 or 3 flutes out of one cork easily.
what do you use about stopping up the one end of the flute?
I think drill before paint. It’s so easy to mess up a hole during drilling and ruin the whole flute that you might as well avoid wasting a good paint job on a bad sounding flute! The painting shouldn’t be thick enough generally to alter a hole’s pitch, but if it is for some reason you can always correct with a little careful exacto carving.
Would you recommend painting it before you actually make the flute, and just boring the holes through the paint, or making the flute and then painting it?
I use the cheapest spray paint possible usually, depending on what color I want. But there’s a couple things I do that might make a difference in durability: Sand with fine grit sandpaper first, preferably wet so you don’t inhale the PVC powder. It will still feel smooth but this will help prime it a little. Use glossy (not flat) spray paint in your chosen color. Then spray several coats of clear spray paint on top to give it a tough outer coating-this probably helps most!
I’ve tried to paint PVC pipe before just by spray-painting it black to make it look a little less tacky, but it scratches off awfully easy. What sort of paint do you use?
Thanks! Yes, I make my own PVC flutes and paint them. This isn’t mechanically one of my best flutes but it’s one of my favorite paint jobs so far. Definitely going to make more like this in the future.
Very nice sir! I really enjoy the paint job. Did you make that flute yourself?
Very nice !!!
You are talented.