The Ney flute is very famous and loved my many, but also as it is rim-blowing and in a way different from the quena flutes or Chinese Xiao, or japanese Shakuhachi is considered quite difficult.
To make it more easy I designed and crafted one from PVC but not as rim-blowing flute but with fipple with membrane (see post 243) . This fipple with membrane gives to it almost the same breathy and harsh sound as the classical rim blowing Ney. But because we cannot create easily shifts of the pitch by one semitone with the mouth only as with the baspare (rim blowing mouthpiece) and in order to have the Ney fully chromatic (all 12 notes ogf the octave) with the 2nd and 3rd harmonic , I added one more hole one semitone away higher than the highest front hole of the classical Ney.
It is essentially an one octave , fully chromatic (all 12-notes of the octave) direct blowing flute.
In the next 2 photo we see a C5 full chromatic upper registry whistle (see post 199 or 248) that utilizes practically the 2nd and 3rd harmonic and with the 6 holes to give the chromatic half octave C5 C5# D5 D#5 E5 F5 F#5 with the 2nd harmonic and with the 3rd harmonic to give on the same holes the G5 G#5 A5 A#5 B5 C5 C#5 gives thus a full chromatic 12 notes octave. It is the same idea of the valves in a trumpet and slide of a trombone (and close to the main idea of a Ney). The 1s tharmonic is hardly listened or of sound it is fused with the 2nd harmonic due to the membrane fipple (see post 243) and gives to this part of the 5th octave a more bass sound. It is made again by PVC tube of external diameter 25 mm. If we would utilize 20 mm or 12 mm tube so that it would become an overtone flute and it would be even better garanteed that the 1st harmonic is not playable as in the (valved) trumpet too. The length to bore ratio Length/bore=34 , thus strictly speaking an upper registry whistle (see post 199 ) rather than an overtone whistle . That is why it does not give practically more than the 3rd harmonic (quite large size bore). The idea is the same with the trumpet and the valves that produce 5 notes each a semitone away from the previous. We see 7 holes in the front (there is not thump hole) but the highest pitch hole is a tuning hole for C5, thus 6 holes covered 3+3 by the two hands. These 5 notes that divide a 5th (also a 4th) give the concept of ancient Greek 4-chords and 5-chords as basic building block for an octave scale. If we close that tuning hole too it will give a Bb3 note as in a C4 Ney. The whistle has a breathy harsh sound due to the membrane fipple sounds almost exactly like a C4 Ney flute (which normally is rim blowing ) and if we exclude the 1st harmonic of the Ney it is identical with what the Ney is playing (of course the semitones are in the equal tempered scale rather than deviating oriental scale)
I remind the reader (see post 243) that due to the same laws of acoustics we may use on the same body tube besides a fipple also a quena rim with notch blowing mouthpiece and also a tenor sax or clarinet mouthpiece. Except that in the latter case we will have only the odd number overtones (1st 3rd, 5th etc)
A 2nd version of the Ney or chromatic fujara, or aerophine valved-like trumpet is the next in the picture at Eb4 root note, from PVC of 12mm external diameter, and mouthpiece from ordinary soprano whistles.
It has a chromatic 6+1 fingering system as if of an ordinary whistle except it is not in diatonic steps but steps of one semitone. The open hole of the tume gives Eb when all else are closed , and the rest 6 front holes give correspondingly E4, F4, F#4 G4 G#4 A4 . There is also a 7nth hole and thump hole as in the 2nd photo, which is not really necessary but as in quenas it helps also by partial opening as registry key that helps triggering easier the 3rd overtone. It gives the note A4 (which also can be give if all front and thump hole are closed and we pass from the 2nd to the 3rd overtone). These holes when used for higher overtones are as correct as the valved in a trumpet or brass instrument.
No more not less correct.
The idea to derive a full chromatic scale with this 6+1 fingering system is excatly as the idea to derive all the chromatic scale with the 7 positions valves in a trumpet. Except that in the trumpet by each valve-step the pitch lowers by a semitone while here with each additional hole the pitch increases by one semitone. As with a trombone or valved trumpet a fully chromatic non-repeating sequence of notes with the 1st 5 harmonics would require
2ND OVER TONE: ALL HOLES FROM TUBE BOTTOM HOLE TILL THE 6TH HIGHEST FRONT HOLE
notes Eb4 E4 F4 Gb4 G4 Ab4 A4 .
3RD OVERTONE: ALL HOLES FROM TUBE BOTTOM HOLE TILL THE 5TH HIGHEST FRONT HOLE
notes Bb4 B4 C5 Db5 D5,
4TH OVERTONE: ALL HOLES FROM TUBE BOTTOM HOLE TILL THE 4TH HIGHEST FRONT HOLE
notes Eb5 E5 F5 Gb5 .
5TH OVERTONE: ALL HOLES FROM TUBE BOTTOM HOLE TILL THE 3RD HIGHEST FRONT HOLE
notes G5 Ab5 A5
As with a valved trumpet or with the slided trombone, as we move from the 1st hole to the higher holes the required speed and pressure of blowing increases, but when we reach at the an appropriate higher hole it is the same as with that of the next overtone at the bottom tube hole of the fingering as above. If we layout the notes per overtone and hole it will be a triangular matrix over the 2 dimensions (overtones)x(holes)
At the end of the post is for comparison the essential rage of a valved trumpet
I have crafted one more such chromatic overtone flute at Bb4 with the 6+1 chromatic fingering system. It is in the range of the standard piccolo trumpet although it is about 7 cm long .
