plumber's pipe flute

 

Plastic plumbing pipe is nearly ideal for making simple flutes. There's no easier material to work with. Sanded clean & smooth, it's attractive, requiring no finish. It's waterproof, crack-proof & nearly unbreakable. It's fine acoustically, if you use the right dimensions. And the pipe's regularity allows a perfect flute every time, once you develop a pattern. The plastic we're talking about is PVC (polyvinyl chloride), used for cold water supply & its close cousin CPVC (chloro-polyvinyl chloride), for hot water. DO NOT use ABS pipe for flutes. Since it is meant only for drainage, there are no restrictions on the toxicity of the chemicals added to it. Also avoid gray PVC electrical conduit, both because of possible toxicity & because of its greater wall thickness, which will affect octave tuning. Plastic pipe can be cut just like wood, though it dulls your tools more quickly. For drilling, use a very slow speed to minimize "grabbing" when the bit reaches the interior. Or avoid the grabbing entirely with "zero-rake" drill bits. You can order these specially or modify regular twist drill bits by grinding. Find instructions in books on tools & sharpening. Don't use flat bits -- the size of the holes they make is not accurate. After drilling, stick a long wood dowel into the tube to break loose the plastic "shavings" hanging inside. Smooth all hole edges & end edges with a narrow, very sharp knife blade or an apple peeler. If there's too much hiss later when you play the flute, this may mean the mouth hole edge is too sharp. Sand the tube at a sink, keeping the tube wet & using wet-and-dry sandpaper. This lets you rinse off your sandpaper as it clogs & it also stops the dust from flying. (You don't want this dust in your lungs. It never decomposes! If you "dry" sand, at least use a dust mask.) A heavy-duty scouring pad will also work, with some patience. Clean the inside with a bottle brush & water. A good trick is to use a pipe end cap as a combination stopper & lip plate. Install it before you drill the mouth hole, bonding it with plastic pipe cement. Apply cement to the pipe surface, rather than inside the cap, to avoid excess cement inside the flute. A flute made in this fashion should remain playable for thousands of years! For pipe 1 inch or wider, there's a different arrangement that lets you move the mouth hole farther from the closed end for better octave tuning. At the top end of the pipe, place a slip coupling -- a standard pipe fitting used to join two lengths of pipe. Then seal the other end of the coupling with a spigot plug. Again, always apply pipe cement so it's pushed out of the joint, not in.

A lip plate is not a must, but it does improve the acoustics. If you don't want to combine it with a stopper, you can make a separate one. Flutemaker Rick Miller suggests using a slip coupling with the internal ridge filed out. The flute tube can be passed through the coupling, or the coupling can be cut in half & one part glued to the tube. The same kind of coupling, he says, can be used to create a tuning slide between the mouth hole & first finger hole. A separate, movable stopper can be made from straight-sided (untapered) cork. Possible sources for new cork are hardware stores, music stores & brewery supply outlets. Try the Yellow Pages of your phone directory. If you can't find the right size or shape, you can trim or sand down a larger cork -- preferably on a lathe, to keep it even. To cut cork by hand, use a fresh razor blade. The cork must be airtight. In fact, it should start out extra tight, since it will shrink with age. To insert a tight cork, lubricate it with cork grease or plain water. Other materials can be used for a stopper as well, as long as you can make it airtight. If you glue a stopper in place, be sure to use waterproof glue. Plumbing pipe flutes pick up dirt easily -- an especial problem with white pipe. But you can easily clean them with a scouring pad, or with baking soda or bathroom cleanser on a damp sponge. Mild fumes migrate out of plastic pipe for long after it leaves the factory, especially when heated by tools. If you make a lot of flutes over a long period, breathing these fumes could harm you -- so work only with good ventilation. Pipe cement is much worse still, so you might want to use it outdoors. And don't play a flute with a cemented fitting until the cement has completely dried. You can help this along by leaving the piece in direct sunlight or by a heating vent. Following is the plan for a flute I designed in the summer of 1988. I call it the "Plumber's Pipe." It's in the key of G & plays two full octaves. Of course, you might have to modify the design, depending on the materials available to you. (For basic principles of designing & tuning flutes, see my booklet Simple Flutes) The flute is made from 3/4 inch CPVC pipe, plus a standard end cap. The actual exact dimensions of the pipe are 7/8 inch outside diameter, 11/16 inch inside diameter, 3/32 inch wall thickness. The tube length with the end cap off is 15-9/16 inches. The wall thickness of the end cap too is 3/32 inch, for a total mouth hole depth of 3/16 inch. The chart shows the size of each hole & the distance from its center to the top of the flute tube -- again, measured w/ the flute cap off. You can use the distance measurements to make a pattern on a piece of paper, ruler, or dowel, which you can then place against your flute pieces. Two holes are slightly offset as shown, for easier fingering. There is no copyright or patent on this design. Feel free to make as many as you like & to sell them too!

If you like this excerpt, don't miss the book Simple Flutes How to Play or Make a Flute of Bamboo, Wood, Clay, Metal, Plastic, or Anything Else by Mark Shepard

Related Info • hear the plumber's pipe flute • plumber's pipe testimonials • download the player's manual

Article courtesy of & Copyright 2005 Mark Shepard, All Rights Reserved
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