For some years now I’ve been making recorders out of carrots. How is it done? Well, a carrot is similar to a tree. They are both organic, cylindrical, they have roots, leaves, and grow in the ground. A carrot, however, is orange in a way that few trees are. I treat the carrot like a piece of wood. A tapered bore, 13-16 mm, a windway, made with a form tool fashioned from a bandsaw blade, a window, made with a sort of double guillotine plunger, and a labium cut with a chisel the old fashioned way. The block is made from another carrot and formed in a specially adapted apple corer. I even undercut the labium with a bent knife, and give the block and windway small chamfers. However, there are some ways in which the carrot, which is a living thing, must be cherished. It needs to be kept wet so that the cells remain rigid, and hold the line of the labium. The air must vibrate across the labium, the labium must not vibrate in the air stream. Frequent dunking, without soaking are essential.
For some years now I’ve been making recorders out of carrots. How is it done? Well, a carrot is similar to a tree. They are both organic, cylindrical, they have roots, leaves, and grow in the ground. A carrot, however, is orange in a way that few trees are. I treat the carrot like a piece of wood. A tapered bore, 13-16 mm, a windway, made with a form tool fashioned from a bandsaw blade, a window, made with a sort of double guillotine plunger, and a labium cut with a chisel the old fashioned way. The block is made from another carrot and formed in a specially adapted apple corer. I even undercut the labium with a bent knife, and give the block and windway small chamfers. However, there are some ways in which the carrot, which is a living thing, must be cherished. It needs to be kept wet so that the cells remain rigid, and hold the line of the labium. The air must vibrate across the labium, the labium must not vibrate in the air stream. Frequent dunking, without soaking are essential.