Playing and Pitch
All flute design requires compromise. With flutes, bore to length ratio and hole placement must compromise with the changes of temperature and moisture, caused by the evnviroment and by the player. Also, the flute must accomodate the player, physically, for ease of holding, fingering, and blowing the notes.
The player uses skill and versatility to cope with these changes in conditions. Design takes into account the player's ability to compensate for, and overcome these compromises.
Naturally it helps for a designer of flutes to be a player as well. It also helps to be a multi-instrumentalist, artist, and wood guru, with a little science thrown in.
I started out making panflutes on the principle that 'simplest is best.' I made a set of reed pipes, all the same diameter, and varying in length to vary the pitch. I made humdreds of sets of these pipes, fine-tuning with waxin the bore to raise pitch, and wax around the rim to lower it.
The player can also lower the pitch slightly by putting more upper lip over the panflute, blowing more directly into it. This quietens the note, however. Native American players adjust pitch for specific hot or cold days by dropping stones in the panflute.
I got the idea to bore different length holes in the same piece of wood -- the very picture of panflute simplicity. But, technically each hole should have a different diameter bore according to its length. This would make the tone from note to note very uniform. Over a compass of an octaves and a half , pipes of the same width bore are easy enough to play.
