Rising Moon Flutes are finely crafted Native American Style flutes, built in the woodlands tradition, offering a warm, mellow, pleasing sound. Each flute is individually crafted and tuned using modern standards, but in keeping with native tradition. Single flutes are made from a solid piece of wood, bored out for a precise, solid instrument. The visual beauty of the wood, combined with the haunting sound of the flute, and the subtle feel of the vibrating wood combine to offer a multisensory experience.
With its unique sound, and easy to play quality, the Native American Flute is suited for the professional as well as novice players. All Rising Moon flutes are tuned to the minor pentatonic scale, but with cross fingering, can play the chromatic scale. These flutes are ideal for improvising your own songs, and with the six finger holes, can play western style songs. The native flute will provide hours of enjoyment with its relaxing, meditative sound.
With a broad selection of woods and flute styles, and with each flute providing its own unique voice and personality, a special flute waits for you.
Thank you for considering Rising Moon Flutes!
Note: I am not a member of a federally recognized Native American tribe. As such, I cannot claim my flutes are ‘Native American Made’. The term ‘Native American Flute’, as used on this site, refers to the name of the instrument.
Crafting My single flutes are made using a boring method not employed by many flute makers. This crafting method, although requiring expensive boring equipment, creates a solid, precise, durable, acoustically superior, and aesthetically beautiful flute. I am judicious and uncompromising in the selection of the finest foreign and domestic woods – woods with "character" and “color”. The painstaking construction process is followed by an equally painstaking finish of multicoats of a hand-rubbed oil finish. All of my flutes are crafted by me alone, and as such, I guaranteed them against all material and workmanship problems. With proper care, these instruments will last for generations.
A flute starts with kiln-dried lumber, cut into 2x2 turning squares of length depending on the target flute key. The turning square is mounted in a lathe chuck, then bored out using air-cooled, deep boring, gun drill bits mounted on the lathe’s tail stock.
The bored flute blank is then turned down on the lathe to an exact wall thickness. The first pass of sanding takes place at this point. Next a flat ‘nest’ is routed for the flute’s sound mechanism. A sound hole, slow air chamber exit hole, and a flue attaching the two, is burned and filed into the nest area.
After the basic flute has been completed, the flute needs to be ‘voiced’ and cut to length for the fundamental note (as if all finger holes were covered). This process involves a bit of patience as the sound hole, flue depth, and flute length are incrementally adjusted for a pure fundamental note. The voicing and tuning process is done at a temperature between 70 and 75 degrees.
Once the flute can play a good fundamental, the six finger holes are located, then burned in. Each hole is tuned to its required note, gradually enlarging as the desired note is approached. Additionally, the cross fingered notes are checked and tuned by undercutting the finger holes. After all the holes are tuned, rechecked, and tweaked as necessary, the flute is set aside to cool. The next day the holes are rechecked to make sure the flute is in tune with itself.
Final sanding is done both inside and outside of the flute, cleaned, then inspected. The flute is now ready for its protective coat of finish. The flute is submerged into a tank of natural oil finish and allowed to soak. This ensures that the flute is completely sealed. Multiple coats of finish is applied to the flute’s exterior depending on how glossy a look is desired. After several days of drying, a final coat of natural wax is applied.
Before shipping, the flute is inspected again, tuning re-checked, then placed into its protective bag. It’s now ready for someone to give it a voice!