My first “real” recorder

Distance learning course with Fred Morgan

How do you get to know the great recorders of the past?

You travel through all the museums and private collections around the world and measure them in detail.

I never had that opportunity - apart from a few very inspiring museum visits.

That was more a matter for the “old masters”. One of them back then was Fred Morgan. Those of us who are a little older will remember the legendary Australian flute maker well. Fred was incredibly generous with his knowledge. He also taught flute making at Dutch universities and published a number of his measurement protocols. There was a wonderful folder with drawings of the original flutes from Frans Bruggen's legendary collection. An incredible treasure for flute makers like me - the instruments were described down to the smallest detail so that you could easily recreate them.

I already knew a bit about Jacob Denner.

P.I. Bressan - I was even more interested in him. His instruments were famous for their incredible richness of timbre. And Frans Bruggen owned two alto flutes by this English master, among others.

So I got started.

Turning instead of forging

At the time, my workshop was housed in a former village smithy.

The advantage: there was enough space, there were a few old workbenches around and I didn't disturb anyone.

I stacked everything on the old forge that otherwise had no place - the lathe was more important.

I'll come back to the fact that the forge also had its problems later.

A toolmaker friend of mine built me the first broaches and wind tunnel tools. And I drew up working drawings, procured materials and got started.

The final, decisive work in flute making is the processing of the sound - known as “voicing” - and the tuning.

I voiced and tuned my first own recorder. No - not my first, of course. How many Waldorf recorders had I already made...

But the first “real” one - a copy after P.I. Bressan!

All original - in 408 Hz, with the original fingering and without double holes.

Yes, and apart from a few things that I would do differently today - it became a really passable instrument, with a very interesting sound, many possibilities - yes, really beautiful...

They are serious about it!

Of course I was proud of it at first. I managed to do it - without any big machines, just a lathe and a handful of tools. And a lot of time, of course.

So I had the recorder with me once when a group of students from Duisburg visited the company for a recorder tuning training - that was also one of my fields of activity.

And one of the students came up to me: “I want a recorder like that!”

Yes - she really meant it! My first order!

Of course, the recorder had to be tuned to the standard 415 Hz, even with “normal” fingering.

I then learned that this meant more than just making the instrument a little shorter. I made about 3 instruments until I was able to deliver one to her. And that one was: in 418 Hz!

Why was that?

Well - it was winter. There was a small fan heater running in the smithy, but overall it was pretty cold. And in that - yes - freezing cold, I tuned the recorder to 415, which was of course too high at “normal temperature”. On this occasion, it was finally saved with a new middle joint.

It didn't take long for the second order to follow this first one - from the same recorder class.

The new recorder must have been pretty good...