# Do wooden flutes sound the same as metal flutes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 23, 2002, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-wooden-flutes-sound-the-same-as-metal-flutes/115540 "2002-06-23T05:44:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2002, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-wooden-flutes-sound-the-same-as-metal-flutes/115540/21 "2002-07-01T19:43:46Z")
Voila: “Unsound Reasoning” from _Scientific American_, March 1998 [http://www.tallgrasswinds.com/unsound.html](http://www.tallgrasswinds.com/unsound.html) > [@](#): > > At a recent conference on music and human adaptation at Virginia Tech, physicist John W. Coltman demonstrated what he first described in the early 1970s. After asking the attendees to divert their eyes, he played the same tune twice on the flute. He then asked whether anyone heard any difference between the two performances. No one spoke up; the two were virtually indistinguishable. > > Then Coltman revealed his trick. The first time he performed the tune, he played it on a simple side-blown flute made of lightweight cherry wood. The second time he used a flute of identical design, except for one detail: it was made of concrete. > > To anyone schooled in the physics of wind instruments, Coltman’s point is old news. Whether the air is set to vibrate by an edge tone as on the flute, by a reed as with the clarinet or by buzzing lips as with the French horn, the sound itself comes from the vibrating air column inside the instrument. This sound is produced through the end or through open tone holes, not by vibrations of the instrument’s body, as is true of string instruments. Dozens of published reports, some dating back 100 years, converge toward the same general conclusion: **so long as the walls are thick enough to remain rigid–about 0.4 millimeter (0.016 inch) for metals, two millimeters (0.079 inch) for woods–and the inside walls are smooth,** the kind of material used for a wind instrument is, for the most part, immaterial. > > … > > The variation in timbre of wood and metal instruments stems from differences in acoustic dimensions brought about by the manufacturing process, not by the materials per se, says Robin Jakeways, a physicist at the University of Leeds. For example, holes in wood flutes are simply drilled in, whereas metal flutes have holes enclosed in a short length of pipe. Brian Holmes, a physicist at San Jose State University and a professional horn player, cites a study that found that plastic and metal clarinets had tone holes with much sharper edges than their wood counterparts. When these holes were rounded off, these clarinets sounded much more like wood ones. Materials also differ in their ability to conduct heat and vibrations. “While those vibrations may not affect the sound significantly, they certainly affect how the instrumentalist interacts with the instrument,” Holmes explains. After spending a premium for an instrument made of expensive material, it’s only human to convince yourself that you must sound better. **And, as flutist James Galway points out, the workmanship of an instrument made of $70,000 worth of platinum is likely to be of extraordinarily high quality. “People pick up my flute and say, ‘This is better.’ Of course it’s better; it’s like getting into a custom-built motor car,” he says…** I bf’d some interesting point of exception. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2002, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-wooden-flutes-sound-the-same-as-metal-flutes/115540/22 "2002-07-01T19:49:42Z")
er, “points” ---
**Author:** ![PsychoMuze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecd19e/32.png) [@PsychoMuze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PsychoMuze)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2014, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-wooden-flutes-sound-the-same-as-metal-flutes/115540/23 "2014-05-08T21:38:23Z")
People are mostly talking about the sonics in the instrument. One thing you don’t take into account are the scale they are tuning the instrument. The maker also cuts the instrument in specific ways that no two instruments sound the same. A flute player like myself can tell the subtle differences between two silver flutes, gold flutes, etc. There are differences in color and resonance even if they are the same model and make. There are also arguments between different makers and their “standard” sound. Like there is a “Powell Sound” vs. a “Haynes Sound” and so forth. Some wooden flutes, such as those made by Sankyo, Di Zhao, and Eppler, have a more “organic” sound with lots of resonance. It depends on the craftsmanship and how thin or thick the wood is and you get different color profiles. I can say the same thing about those same makers and their metal instruments. Tubing thickness definitely plays a role in different colors and ability to tell them apart. To an untrained ear, they all the sound the same. Many factors go into the sound of the instrument when speaking about the differences in sound quality. We flautists/flutists/flute players have the ability to manipulate the sound channel through our mouths and velocity of air, the spin of the air, and weather we’re creating a smaller or larger cavity in our mouth are all considerable factors to think about. From my opinion, I think there is a difference in sound from an all wooden instrument to an all metal instrument. Combinations of both instruments affect the color produced. The best advice I can give anyone is try and instrument of different materials and record the results on paper. Feel free to message me your rebuttal or agreement. I’m no know-it-all, but I have enough experience to back me up. I’ve tried MANY instruments. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2014, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-wooden-flutes-sound-the-same-as-metal-flutes/115540/24 "2014-05-08T21:57:50Z")
Have you ever done a blind comparison? ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2014, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-wooden-flutes-sound-the-same-as-metal-flutes/115540/25 "2014-05-08T22:22:57Z")
> [@sexyblonde](#): > > Yes, the wooden flute has a more hollow sound while the metal flute resonates better. Wooden flutes are better for folk music and metal are better for orchestra type music. The type of metal the flute is made out of even changes the sound. Hope that helps! Yes, but which type of flute wards off zombies better? Wood or metal? ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2014, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-wooden-flutes-sound-the-same-as-metal-flutes/115540/26 "2014-05-08T23:59:10Z")
**Moderator Action** Since this concerns musical instruments, it is best suited to Cafe Society (which didn’t exist when this thread was started). Moving thread from General Questions to Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-wooden-flutes-sound-the-same-as-metal-flutes/115540/27 "2014-05-12T11:02:24Z")
All I can say is that for some hardcore HIP-musicians (as in Historically Informed Performance), the idea of using metal flutes instead of wooden ones in Baroque music is almost sacrilegious. I can hear the difference between a recorder and a transverse flute but it’s a small one in my opinion and I certainly don’t get all worked up if a recording of, say, **Bach** ’s _Brandenburg concertos_ uses the latter instead of the former. I pay much more attention to the performance itself: if the tempos are lively, the notes clear and the overall feel “bouncy”, then I’m happy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-wooden-flutes-sound-the-same-as-metal-flutes/115540.md?page=1)