Romanian Kaval, 5 hole pipe

[ftdevilliers]

Does anyone out there know the dimensions for a Romanian Kaval? Apparently it has a larger bore than a Macedonian Kaval and has only 5 finger holes.

[MichaelLoos]

Here are the dimensions of my Romanian Caval, pitched in A:
total length: 740 mm
bore diameter: 17 mm, expanding to 18 mm towards the end (very unusual for a balkan flute)
finger holes, distance from bottom end to middle of the hole:
F 1: 320 mm 4.5 mm diameter
F 2: 265 mm 6.2 mm
F 3: 230 mm 7.0 mm
F 4: 157 mm 6.7 mm
F 5: 118 mm 6.7 mm
The window is 5.8 mm long and 8.3 mm wide, the labium is at 22 mm from the top end.
As on most balkan flutes, the window is on the back side (in case of the Romanian kaval, this is essential as you need to half-cover the window with your under lip to get a strong low register).
The scale in the first octave is: A - B - C - D - Eb - E, it overblows to the sixth harmonic, giving a natural series of:
A (fundamental) - a - e' - a' - c''# - e'' - a''
The bad news is: I wouldn't at all consider mine a good instrument, so you're probably better off not taking these dimensions too serious but rather develop your own design.

[ftdevilliers]

I can not thank you enough!

Why would you not consider yours a good instrument?

[MichaelLoos]

Why would you not consider yours a good instrument?

Too quiet, unstable in tone and not well tuned.

[ftdevilliers]

Well...here is my idea then, for now: I'm going to take a pipe with an internal bore of about 22mm, drill 8mm holes at the measurements you gave me...maybe make a notch to make producting a sound easier and just see what comes out!

Talk about experimenting!

Thanks for your help.

[MichaelLoos]

I guess, much more important than widening the bore and the fingerholes would be, carving the windway and labium properly to achieve more efficiency in sound production. This has been done very sloppy on my instrument.
Please keep me informed, I might be your first customer...

[ftdevilliers]

I want to experiment with labium length etc. In order to do that, I want to make a Romanian Kaval with a seperate head joint, so that I don't ruin the whole instrument each time I don't get the labium, window size etc. right.

So, what I need to know now is:

How far from the top is the window and how far from the bottom of the instrument is the window?

I will keep you posted!

[MichaelLoos]

It has all been said:

total length: 740 mm
The window is 5.8 mm long and 8.3 mm wide, the labium is at 22 mm from the top end.

22 - 5.8 = 16.2 mm from the top of the instrument to the upper edge of the window
740 - 22 = 718 mm from the bottom to the labium, + 5.8 = 723.8 mm from the bottom of the flute to the upper edge of the window.
It is definitely a good idea to make it in two parts, this will also allow for a bit of tuning slide.

[ftdevilliers]

Thank you. I was making sure that I understand you correctly.