Construction and Materials
Concert flutes have three parts: the headjoint, the body, and the foot joint. The headjoint is sealed by a cork (or plug). It is possible to make fine adjustments to tuning by adjusting the headjoint cork, but usually it is left in the factory-recommended position around 17.3 mm from the centre of the embouchure hole for best scale. Gross, temporary adjustments of pitch are made by moving the headjoint in and out of the headjoint tenon. The player makes fine or rapid adjustments of pitch and timbre by adjusting the embouchure, and/or adjusting the position of the flute in relation to the player, i.e., side and out.
Often, a different head can make the flute play like a different flute. Some flute makers sell both end blown heads and transverse heads that can be interchanged. The same flute body can be used as a whistle/recorder style instrument, or as a transverse flute.
Read more about this topic: Western Concert Flute
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