Many builders and players love eastern red cedar flutes. I am not one of them. This instrument has a nice, respectable voice for a cedar flute. However, it is not a cedar flute. Folks can purchase red cedar for around $0.50 USD per board foot. This flute is built from 50,000-year-old New Zealand Kauri bog wood, selling for between $70.00 and $140.00 USD per board foot….and it sounds like fifty cent cedar. I prefer the ring of hardwood voicing, often produced in the Kauri, as the cellular voids in the material becomes amberized over thousands of years. Oh well…..Additional ingredients include California buckeye burl, SE Asian amboyna burl, yew and mappa burl woods, a couple of touches of rawhide banding, a repurposed Zuni earring, spiny oyster, abalone, turquoise, and a Zuni-inspired hand-painted adobe cabochon. Hoping you don’t find yourself playing dodge ball with tornadoes this spring. Play nice.
QUERENCIA WOODWINDS