How flutes are made

A flute's tone holes are either pulled up out of the tube wall or soldered on one at a time by hand.

stations: 9
things upstream: 23
raw sources: 12
steps from the ground: 5

The short version

Most modern concert flutes are metal, and student models are often silver-plated nickel silver. Makers draw tubing for the body, then draw or solder on the tone holes. Ribs and posts go on, and a separate team builds the key mechanism around them. The headjoint is cut by hand, and pads and corks are fitted before play-testing.

Alloy the tubing metal

Student flutes are commonly nickel silver, an alloy of copper, nickel and zinc that contains no silver at all. Better flutes use sterling silver, and gold and platinum are used too.

Goes in
Copper Nickel Zinc
Draw the body tube

The metal is formed into a tube. The flute is, in its most basic form, an open tube that the player blows across.
Add the tone holes

Tone holes are either drawn up out of the tube wall or made separately and soldered on, each one fitted to the tube by hand. Their size and position decide which pitch each fingering gives.

Goes in
Solder
Solder on ribs and posts

Ribs and posts go onto the body, followed by a barrel, a foot joint box and end rings. They carry the mechanism, so the body has to pass inspection before moving on.

Goes in
Solder
Build the key mechanism

Stringing is the trade's word for this. Workers shape milled, cast and stamped pieces into keys, fitting each key together with the others.
Assemble and cut the headjoint

A wall and a lip plate are soldered onto a tube drawn to a precise taper. A headjoint cutter then shapes the opening with a few hand tools, and plays the result to check its tone.

Goes in
Solder
Plate and polish

Many flutes, especially student models, are electroplated with silver. The plating is thin and wears away easily. Body and mechanism are polished before padding.

Goes in
Silver
Seat pads and corks

Pads are fitted so each key can close its tone hole, and each cork is shaped by hand. At Powell the pads are adjusted to a half-thousandth of an inch.

Goes in
Cork oak bark
Play-test and adjust

The instrument is played as a whole for the first time and goes through several rounds of testing, with spring tension adjusted for an even feel.

End of the lineFlute

Worth repeating

In a blind listening test, professional flutists could not tell flutes of different metals apart.
Historically flutes were most commonly made of reed, bamboo or wood, and some were made of glass or bone.