Ocarinas United

This is actually my first post so... hi

Sadly I don't currently own an ocarina other then my attempts at making one, however I'm still trying! I noticed their is a large number of resources for making clay ocarinas and virtually none for making wooden ones, well other then the limited resources on Charlie Hinds website. Personally I feel a nice hardwood has the best resonating capabilities, for the same reasons a really expensive acoustic guitar does.

Now here's my only problem, working with wood is exponentially more difficult then working with clay (and i'm not saying working with clay is any easy task either) which means making one ocarina can take a few days to put together and the slightest muckup means your back to square one, cause you can always take more off but you can never put any back on! After about 8 years of blind stabs in the dark i've managed to make a 10-hole out of wood. The only problem is that the ocarina itself has no tuning, and either do any of the holes! I can sometimes get a rough f through c out of it anything else is pretty much rubish. The sound quality however even for this slapped together beast is still pretty nice though.

So I was wondering if their was any other wooden ocarina makers out there, any maybe if they have any tips, especially when it comes to tuning and sound quality, or even a construction method, as anyone who has tried can tell you it is very very difficult to get started. My current process involves cutting the chamber piece then a top and bottom plate. I cut out the chamber, then the wind channel from the chamber piece. Then I cut a section off of the bottom plate and cut the ramp section (proper terminology?) and the windway. This is the most time consuming part I feel, I use a file for the entire process and I know there has to be a better way! I then glue the bottom plate to the chamber piece and do a rough test by holding the top plate on as well. This is probably where some tuning should be done.... I then drill very very small pilot holes in the top and bottom and glue the top plate on. I then drill the holes to their final size and do a *rough* very very rough tuning and voila! Any tips at all are more then welcome, especially on the ramp piece and sound hole thanks! I can post pictures later this weekend

Wow. Thats very cool. Have you tried to contact Charlie Hind about it? He may help you out with some tips or techniques on how to get it put together...

I have heard that the Nov '99 issue of American Woodworker has instructions, but I have yet to find the article on-line

I have actually contacted him and I plan on ordering a sweet potato from him in the near future once I get a solid paycheck. Im currently in an email dialog with him, and hes throwing me a few pointers, hes a pretty nice guy and an excellent craftsman. Im going to do everything in my power to track down that issue! My dad has a large stack of that magazine and he might just have that one! If I can find it I will be sure to share, within legal means of course!

Absolutely! I'm dying to have a go making one from ancient Irish bog oak! That article sounds like just the ticket

Well this article will eventually be the definitive source for wooden ocarina making. Ive been doing some digging on fipple angle and position and I found a great snippet in a book on google books. Link to book Its a book on general instrument making, ive taken the liberty of writing out what I found important about fipples:

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Factors In Fipple And Edge Design

here is a list of factors affecting tone quality in fipple flutes.

1) Aperture size: The larger the opening between the windway and the edge, the higher the instrument's overall pitch. Larger apertures also require larger toneholes on the flute body to achieve the same pitch relationships.

2) Aperture shape: Short, wide openings (short distance from windway to edge; wide edge) produce a clear, focused tone. With all edgetones, pitch tends to rise as the speed of the air stream increases, but the pitch bending effect is less pronounced with short, wide apertures. Instead, such flutes tend to overblow to the second octave easily. Recorders exemplify this approach, with apertures that are typically over three times as wide as they are long.
Long, narrow apertures produce a braetier tone and require more blowing pressure. The pitch bends broadly in response to variations in wind pressure, but the octave doesn't overblow as readily. Some pre-Columbian flutes were made this way, with apertures a little over twice as long as they are wide.

3) Windway size and shape: The windway must focus the air stream as much as possible, so windways are made very thin -- often less than a sixteenth of an inch high, even for moderatlely large flutes. Their width should be the same as that of the edge opposite. Some are made with parallel upper and lower walls, while some become narrower toward the exit as a way to increase the air stream's focus. Less focuesed windways make for breathier tone. The passageway must be smooth; roughness or irregularities inhibit the sounding of high notes.

4) Angle of incidence: The windway should be oriented in such a way that it directs the air stream head-on to the edge, centered so that the edge cuts the air stream roughly in half. For most fipple flutes, this means that the windway should be parallel to the tube walls, not heading down from above.

5) Acuteness of the edge: Recorders generally use a sharp, narrow edge, at about 20 or 25 degrees. Many ocarinas and clay flutes use thicker edges at about 45 degrees, and you can get a decent tone with still coarser edges, such as the rounded edges of bottles and jugs.

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That had to be hand copied as its from an image but basically what it says contrary to my previous knowledge, that the air should be cut in half by the fipple (ramp) at a roughly 45 degree angle for vessel flutes (ie ocarinas). I also discovered that making the fipple slightly wider then I have been is also probably a good idea to maintain clear tonality. And also I've learned that its not the angle of the fipple that determines the tone so much as the aperture (the opening by the fipple)! Which is news to me! The overall size and shape is also an effective change of tone. Ive also been making my airway (or fipple channel) a straight even size at both ends when it should be short and wide and should be smaller at the aperture to focus the air onto the fipple (duh why didnt i think of that!).

So there is a bit more research to tack onto the pile, maybe once we get a big resource we could make a solid tutorial on wooden ocarina making and get a sticky

Moonsyne wrote:I have heard that the Nov '99 issue of American Woodworker has instructions, but I have yet to find the article on-line

a decent library should be able to get you a copy of this article. I'm gonna ask mine on Monday.

I found this link to the above mentioned article

http://books.google.com/books?id=t_YDAA ... 1#PPA22,M1

Thanks! That was nice.

that was from october and unfortunately i didnt see anything on ocarinas in it = (

It's spread out over several pages.