This Peruvian hardwood, is one of my four top favorite tonewoods for flute building, and Google seems to think I am the only person in the world building flutes from this material. The bore is 7/8”, with an overall length of 19-5/8 inches.

Wood used overall, include a mouthpiece of California buckeye burl, between layers of African zircote, a sliver of southern bald cypress because it was staring at me on the bench, and a cap of the huangana negra. The fetish block is cut from the buckeye burl, bonded to a base of Oklahoma red cedar for moisture control while the build includes addl. 19mm disks of buckeye burl added to each side of the compression chamber. All of the buckeye was subtly hand colorized for additional visual appeal.

Inlay, beginning at the mouthpiece starts with a stunning 5x7mm Lightning Ridge Australian boulder opal, flanked by 4.3mm turquoise dots, while each side of the compression chamber includes 8mm quartz capped black mother of pearl cabochons……Forward from the fetish block I’ve placed a 17x24mm oval Mexican crazy lace agate, while the finger holes are accented with four 4mm abalone dots, and another 8mm black mother of pearl cab. Lastly, the fetish block has a dome cut 6mm iron pyrite cab set to the crown, and 2.1mm faceted African cognac diamonds set as eyes.

Odds N ends…..The flute was tuned at a wood temperature of 72.8 degrees F, an ambient temp of 71.9 degrees F, and 64% humidity. Additionally, the instrument includes a slide on/off wrap of South Dakota prairie rattlesnake skin. It is strongly advised that the wrap be REMOVED before attending Native American events with the flute, as the skin holds a great deal of negative energy for some woodland tribes and communities.

Lastly, when possible, I run the fetish ties through the flute body. The fetish should never need to be completely removed for drying out the flue area. Simply loosen the ties, and pull the fetish a couple inches off to the side, so they both have the opportunity to dry out.