As mentioned before, our monthly prize drawings have been in Limbo as a result of a pending fix on PayPal’s website.  They tell me that the fix is immanent, but they’ve been telling me that for a month .

So what this means is that December and January are being added to the already back-logged drawing.   What this also means is a mighty prize drawing that will have no less than eight separate winners!

The December prizes consist of a shakuhachi flute made by Colyn Petersen of Shin-sei Shakuhachi and donated by Flute Portal member Bryce Goebel.    This flute is made from Eastern Red Cedar and is a 1.8 size in the key of D.

The other December prize has been donated by Visionhawk Music and is one of their custom flute bags!  Pendleton Wool Flute Bag.  8″ diameter, 34″ long.  4 inside pockets.  Made of beautiful, durable Pendleton Wool.  Holds 8-12 flutes.  Carry comfortably with the extra wide shoulder strap.  Made by Visionhawk Music.  Retail price $135.00

The January prizes have been donated by Erec of Cutting Edge Flutes.  Erec has donated an amazing collection of four of his ground-breaking 3-D printed flutes! Here they are:

And of course, the October and November prizes from Earth Tone Flutes will also be added to the pile!  They are the Curly Maple NAF in the key of A and the Curly Maple Anasazi flute (for right-handed player) in the key of C.

Only subscribers are eligible for the prize drawing.  Not a subscriber?  To learn how to become one, click HERE.

Well, I did it.  I managed to get far enough behind that I’m having to bundle two months into a single prize drawing…again!  So, since I skipped October and now November is nearly over, I’m bundling two months together.  Consequently, this month there will be two separate prizes for two of our lucky subscribers!

Donations have a been a bit thin on the ground as of late, so I’m stepping in to provide some goodies to our loyal subscribers.  This time we have a Curly Maple NAF in the key of A, featuring a Black Walnut Bear Claw block, and an Ancient Pueblo (Anasazi style) flute, also of Curly Maple, in the key of C.    This is a very user friendly key for one of these flutes, being comfortable for most any player.

Here are some pictures:

Only subscribers are eligible for the prize drawing.  Not a subscriber?  To learn how to become one, click HERE.

Well, we have to make up for a lost month it seems!  In my preparation for the Yosemite Flute Festival, I got so distracted that I forgot to set up the August prize drawing!  And with September nearly over, we are in danger of missing another.  So to make up for my slackness, there will be four separate winners this month!  The prizes will be a new creation from Earth Tone Flutes: The Talking FluteTM.

These flutes are meant to be fingered with one hand while the other hand acts as a note-bender.  The open holes provide a partial pentatonic scale, and by partially covering the foot of the flute with the other hand, the player can bend notes like a trombone player, providing a full chromatic octave!  They are tons of fun and in the hands of a skilled player they can do things that no ordinary flute can do.  There are two different “keys” here: C and E, and the woods represented are Black Walnut, Curly Maple and Eastern Red Cedar.  I’ll try to get a sound sample online to go with these…

Only subscribers are eligible for the prize drawing.  Not a subscriber?  To learn how to become one, click HERE.

This months prize (being posted at the very last moment) is provided by Earth Tone Flutes.  It is a Curly Maple NAF in the key of D with a Redwood Burl Bear Claw.  Here are some pics:

Only subscribers are eligible for the prize drawing.  Not a subscriber?  To learn how to become one, click HERE.

David Chu; Flute specialist and owner of Sideblown Technologies

A few weeks ago I travelled down to Boston for some meetings and to visit some flute makers. An interesting fact is that most of the classical concert flute makers in the USA are located in the Boston area.  The older established companies like Wm. S. Haynes and Verne Q. Powell along with the newer companies like Burkart, Brannen, Arista, Emmanuel, Williams and Nagahara are all within 50 miles of each other. The advantage for this is that they can share a lot of the same suppliers and the same highly skilled work force. Many technicians leave one company to work at another and never have to move. Others even start their own businesses making complete flutes, providing service freelance or specializing in making peripherals.

One such person is David Chu. Originally from Hong Kong, he first came to Boston to study classical flute at the New England Conservatory. He later moved to Phoenix where he wrote music for film and television as well as playing and contracting orchestras for film music sessions.

He then returned to New England where he began working for Burkart Flutes and Piccolos where he learned the trade of flute making.  After that he worked for Arista Flutes and eventually became the General Manager of Wm. S. Haynes Company.

Now David works has created his own company called Sideblown Technologies repairing modern flutes as well as restoring historical flute by such makers as Louis Lot and Bonneville. These great French flute makers flourished during the 1860s to 1930s. Some of those flutes are pitched at        A 438 and others have had the holes repositioned to play at A440.

David has also created his own line of hardwood and bamboo headjoints.  I bought one of his bamboo headjoints that clip onto the Boehm system concert flute many years ago.  I have used it quite a bit for studio work. It is very handy when a composer needs an exotic tone but the piece has a lot of chromaticism.

The headjoints David is fashioning out of the hardwoods like grenadilla and boxwood are particularly excellent. These headjoints have wonderful sound and crisp articulation.  He offers them with and without the wooden lipplate.

Restored historic French flutes and newly made hardwood head joints

For more information please look at David’s website http://www.sideblown.com which among other things is a great resource for used instruments and other flute related sites.

This month we have a prize provided by Flute Portal member Bryce Goebel (aka KokopelliSpirit).  Bryce found this fantastic Djembe for sale, and she bought it and had it sent directly to me as the prize for this months winner!  Thank you Bryce!  It comes with a gorgeous bag and an extra “mini” djembe!

Here is some info from the seller:

The Ruby Pro African djembe drum is a professional level djembe that sounds absolutely fantastic and is built to perfection. Made with the utmost care and attention to detail this Pro African djembe drum is a hand-carved beauty that is not only stunning but a true work of art. It just doesn’t get any better than this!

Features:

• Legally Harvested, Environmentally Sustainable Mahogany wood
• Get full access to growing library of Djembe Lessons online
• Every drum comes with a Djembe Care & Maintenance Guide
• One-piece Mahogany solid shell construction
• Government Certification Process
• Low Stretch Alpine Nylon HTB 5 mm rope runners
• Natural, unbleached heads for authentic look and sound.
• 3 ring system at the head for more stable tuning and elimination of skin slippage
• Lathe turned for uniform thickness
• Lateral groove/rough surfaced carvings on interior bowl to reduce overtones
• Premium selected goatskin drumheads

The Bag: Beautiful earth tones in this fabric djembe bag. Features 2 heavy duty black zippers and a front pocket for storage. Each bag is quilted with padding to protect your instrument for storage or when transporting to gigs.

Mini Djembe: The X8 Drums Mini Djembe is hand carved and hand painted. Each one comes with a goatskin head and sturdy rope runners. Measures approximately 6″ tall x 4″ head.

Only subscribers are eligible for the prize drawing.  Not a subscriber?  To learn how to become one, click HERE.

This month we once again have two prizes available!  The first is a donation from Earth Tone Flutes: Low A NAF made from salvaged Old Growth Redwood and featuring a Curly Maple block.  Here are some pics:

The next prize was donated by Flute Portal member Scott Shuffitt (thanks Scott!) and it is an ABS flute made by Dr. Hal Kacanek of “Sounds We Make, LLC”.   It is a clever design and very nicely done.  On top of it all, it sounds great!  Very nice travel or backpacking flute–totally waterproof and nearly indestructible.  Here is a pic:

Only subscribers are eligible for the prize drawing.  Not a subscriber?  To learn how to become one, click HERE.

This month the Flute Portal celebrates the addition of the new shakuhachi forum!   We also welcome the many new members who have joined the site after the closure of another  popular online shakuhachi forum.    In keeping with this big change, we have two prizes this month, both of them donated by members of the shakuhachi community!  To be eligible to win either of these flutes you must be a subscriber (to learn more, see the link at the bottom of this page).

S.P. Shepard has donated one of his speckled, black bamboo beginner models!  Here are some pics:

Our other shakuhachi has been donated by Colyn Petersen of Shin-Sei Shakuhachi!  It includes a leather utaguchi cover as well as a Tsuyutoshi (Cleaning Cloth, not shown).

Not a subscriber?  Click HERE to learn how to be eligible to win this prize!

We’ve successfully upgraded the operating system on the Flute Portal server, and all functionality and data appears to be intact and working correctly. Please let us know if you encounter any problems. Thanks!

We’ll be upgrading the operating system that powers the Flute Portal tomorrow (Tuesday) at 10am. If we don’t run into any unforeseen snags, the site will be back up and running within an hour. Thanks for your understanding, and if you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me.