PHILIPPE BOLTON

HANDMADE RECORDERS & FLAGEOLETS


THE RECORDER'S HOLES


The holes of early recorders were undercut to improve the sound quality of the instrument.


alto recorder after Stanesby Junior: close-up view of the holes     alto recorder after Stanesby Junior: section view of a hole

Undercutting helps the flow of air through the open holes, as shown in the picture below and thus gives more sound and better speech. The blue lines and arrows in the picture below show the movement of the air molecules.

section view of an undercut hole showing the movement of the air molecules