Beltrami Flute Replica

In 1823, Italian explorer Giacomo Costantino Beltrami acquired a flute during his travels in the United States. That flute currently resides in the Museo Civico di Scienze Naturali in Bergamo, Italy. It is the earliest known Native American Flute made of wood that has an upper and lower chamber and a block covering the duct. It's an interesting instrument, having seven holes, a unique tuning, and a carved fish head on the end. You can find more information on the Beltrami Flute on Flutopedia.

In 2010, Clint Goss approached me about making a replica of this flute. He had all of the measurements, tuning, and detailed photographs of the original instrument. With all of that information, it was easy to reproduce. After creating a replica for Clint, others began to show interest in this unique piece of history, so I've made many more over the years.

In an effort to make this replica as accurate as possible, this flute has a round sound hole instead of the contemporary square sound hole. As a result, this flute has a soft voice and jumps octaves easily. The scale of this flute matches the original, which is somewhat close to the modern diatonic major scale. This instrument is tuned to match the original. Therefore, it is NOT a concert tuned instrument according to modern standards.

• Wood: Cypress
• Holes: 7
• Solid Bore Construction
• All-natural Finish
• Other notes about my flutes