Our primary purpose at Turtle Mound Flutes is to create high quality flutes in the Native American style, suitable for on stage performances, in studio recordings, jamming in gatherings such as flute circles, or just enjoying by yourself.
Turtle Mound Flutes makes wooden, end-blown flutes in the Native American style. That is, they consist of two chambers. Air is blown into the “slow air chamber” (SAC). It then passes through a “flue” (small passageway) that is located under the external attached “fetish” (also known as the bird, block, totem, and by other names) and hits the “cutting edge” of the “true sound hole” (TSH), resonating in the long sound chamber. As we cut the “flue” between the two chambers into the top of the body of the flute, our flutes are generally (although historically inaccurately) considered in the woodlands style.
We offer flutes in several categories, with corresponding cost points. This page will introduce you to those categories, with links to pages to allow you to examine them closer.
Themed Flutes
Our premier line of flutes are crafted from selected woods, both common and exotic imports. Each flute bears images associated with the featured theme (most often animals) in pyrographic art (wood burning), often with paint to highlight a scene. Most of these flutes also have crushed stone or shell inlay. The fetish (block) is a carved image associated with the theme.
Although what sets this category apart among our offerings is the artwork, each flute is carefully crafted and tuned. Our standard tuning is to the standard 440Hz, we’ll use the sometimes favored A432 or other standard if requested.
We make the most common 6-hole style, but can do 5-hole on request.
Click here (or on the image to the left) to visit our Themed Flutes page to see which themed flutes are currently in stock and your options for ordering one not in inventory.
Johnny Kee Performer Series Flutes
when Johnny Kee started incorporating the Native American flute in his performances and recordings, he needed new flutes in his collection for certain songs. These flutes did not need the artwork of our themed flutes, and so the performer series was born. These are flutes that are made along side our themed flutes, but are removed from the run when the others go on to get their artwork.
So our performer series flutes are made and tuned with the same care and attention to detail as our themed flutes. Instead of the themed flute artwork, these flutes have Johnny Kee’s signature logo, and a little crushed stone or shell dot inlay at the mouthpiece. Without the labor needed to do the artwork, we can sell them for considerably less than the corresponding themed flutes. Although less expensive, it is important to realize these are not “beginner” or “student” flutes, although the reduced cost could make the attractive to beginners.
Click here (or on the image to the left) to visit our Johnny Kee Performer Series page and learn more about them.
Knock-About Flutes
Wooden Native American flutes need to be handled with a fair bit of care. Flute players are often reluctant to travel with their flutes, or participate in outdoor activities with their flutes. Also, leaving a wooden flute in a closed car in the summer can result in serious damage. For those situations, we created our durable Knock-About Flute series.
Our Knock-About Flutes are made with heavy wall “schedule 80” electrical conduit (PVC). The walls are thick enough to flatten a nest area and still have enough material for the flue and “ramp” at the “cutting edge” of the True Sound Hole (TSH). This is exactly the same “sound mechanism” as in a quality wooden flute. We tune our Knock-About Flutes with the same care as our wooden flutes. In fact, because the PVC is harder to work than most wood, they take longer to tune than their wood cousins.
In a blind sound test, most people would not be able to tell the difference between our Knock-About Flutes and a wooden flute in the same key.
Click here (or on the image to the left) to visit our Knock-About Flutes page and learn more about them.