I concentrate on making flutes that are a little more durable than most of the other Flute Makers. When I finally got my first Native American Style flute.....I was afraid to take it out on a hike or backpacking. I was really worried about breaking or crushing it. I loved the sound of them and really wanted to be able to enjoy playing them where ever I may go in the outdoors, so I started investig
ating options. The first one I tried was a design made from PVC....it sounded pretty good....and it was really ugly! It solved my problem temporarily, but the looks continued to bother me. I had a book about making wooden Native American Style flutes called "The Flute Shop", by R. I just didn't have any woodworking tools. I was sharing my frustrations with a friend, who had just changed his career, and he helped to solve my tool problems! He was no longer using a router and table and said that I could "store" them at my place.....and make sure that they worked! I went downt to the neighborhood lumber store and found some clear cedar to try. I was able to make 3 nice sounding (but "clunky" looking) flutes on my first attempt! They looked MUCH better than those PVC flutes! I've now made over 200 flutes....some I've kept, some I've "gifted" to others, and many I've sold. They are now looking and sounding very nice.....not "clunky" looking like the first 3. My main focus is to make a nice sounding, nice looking, yet durable flute that a beginner could afford. It is hard to spend $200.00 or more on something that you may not know that you will enjoy. I also want to provide a nice flute that will take some bumps and bruises and still keep playing. I now feel comfortable taking the flutes that I make out on hikes, camping, kayaking, or backpacking, and know that they are much more likely to survive the trip.
