About High Spirits Native American Flutes 

Click here for FAQ on Native American Flutes

Inspired by traditional Native American Flutes, High Spirits flutes are made in Arizona by Odell Borg.  These wonderful flutes come with a free "How to Play" CD, instruction booklet and fingering charts.  Each High Spirits native American flute is accurately tuned to their specific keys and are made with a uni-body construction (single piece of wood), eliminating splits or separation at the seams caused by moisture of the breath. Odell Borg makes each High Spirits Native American flute from non endangered wood that have great natural sound qualities and each flute has a warranty against defective workmanship and a satisfaction guaranty at the time of purchase.  To learn more about Odell, click here. 

The Flutes
Native American flutes have some great advantages over other musical instruments.  They are easy to play, especially the smaller ones.  You do not have to read music to play one as the Native Americans, like all tribal cultures, never had a written music language. They developed instruments that were naturally harmonic. No musical background is necessary to play these flutes. To produce the sound, one simply blows into the instrument; the unique design easily creates the music. They are also inexpensive allowing you to own and enjoy various models made from different woods and in different keys. The Native American flute is constructed with two chambers, one you blow into and the air flow is directed out a hole into the other chamber which makes the sound. The length of the flute determines the key.  

Warning: Most people who purchase a Native American Flute love it so much they buy additional flutes in various keys & woods. You can't say I did not warn you.

To hear what my customers say about these flutes, click here. 

All those different woods?
Each type of wood creates a different feel and tone. The general rule is the softer the wood the "warmer" the tone.  Hardwoods tent to be clearer and more responsive.  It is a personal preference as to which is better and many or most Native American flute players have some of each.  
Aromatic Cedar has the finest sound quality in the softwood family. These soft grain woods generate a warmer, richer and full mellow voice. 
In the hardwood family Walnut has an exceptional tonal quality. The sound waves traveling through the tight grain of these woods create a clear full voice. The added advantage to hardwoods is added durability to bumps and elements.
The maple & birch are also hardwoods.
Odell Borg makes each High Spirits Native American flute from a solid piece (instead of gluing two halves together as is so common) of the finest cedar, walnut, birch, maple and other fine domestic plantation-grown woods or recycled lumber, finished with three coats of a non-toxic hardening oil for durability and clarity of sound.  Our flutes are buffed and hand burnished and then coated with several coats of non-toxic tung oil which is a hardening oil that is extracted from the nut of the tung tree. The extra buffing and multiple coats of tung oil give our flutes the polished finish. We do not use any polyurethane's on the flutes. Each Native American flute is precision-tuned so that it will blend perfectly with other instruments.

5 or 6 Hole?
The High Spirits flutes with a few exceptions like the Pocket Flute are 6-hole flutes and come with a leather tie that easily converts them into a 5-hole flute. When comfortable just remove the leather tie and experience the use of the 6-hole. So you are not faced with this choice with one of our flutes.
All the flutes are based on the minor pentatonic scale. When used as a 5-hole flute it is in the minor pentatonic scale. 
When the 6th hole under the leather tie is exposed the flute will play the relative major key in both the Diatonic and Chromatic scales.
A 5-hole flute is easier to play because it is based on the pentatonic minor scale. (5 notes to the next octave) 
A 6-hole flute allows for an extended range of the instrument and different scaling.

So many keys you have!
Even if you've never played a woodwind before you should quickly adapt to most any key except the lowest ones.  Flutes in the highest range (D, C)  have a piping, Irish whistle quality, while flutes in the lowest range have an airy, hollow mellowness to them.  Experience has shown us that people usually want the deepest tone that is comfortable to play.  The A and G flutes are good middle of the road flute keys, still very easy to play and have a nice deeper sound than the smaller ones.  The F#, E, low D and lower, being larger flutes, need more practice to master. They are not so difficult to play as it is a matter of breath control. Again, most players I know have many flutes of different keys and woods.
I would recommended the key of A for people who never played an instrument before.

Octave ranges available with High Spirits Flutes:
Key of "A" in 2 octaves. The Sparrow Hawk "A" & the Contra Bass "A".
Key of "B" in 1 octave. The Whitetail Hawk "B"
Key of "C" in 2 octaves. The Merlin "C" & the Condor Bass "C".
Key of "D" in 2 octaves. The Kestrel "D" & the Condor Bass "D".
Key of "E" in 2 octaves. The Kestrel "E" & the Condor Bass "E".
Key of "F" in 1 octaves. The Condor "F"
Key "F#"- 3 octaves. The Kestrel "F#", Golden Eagle "F#" & Contra Bass "F#"
Key of "G" in 2 octaves. The Redtail Hawk "G" & the Contra Bass "G" .
Each flute includes a FREE "How to Play" CD, instruction booklet and fingering charts.

Native American Flute Care
There is very little maintenance to a Native American Flute. High Spirits flutes are finished with multiple coats of a non-toxic hardening oil, assuring durability and clarity of sound. When finished playing, just suck air in backwards through the mouthpiece to remove the humid air & moisture. If it is very wet, remove the bird or block to allow more air to circulate and shake it out. Keep your flute out of direct sunlight and store in a bag when not in use for a long period. 
You can also apply a natural oil to the inside once a year or so, especially in the mouth piece end as that is where the most moisture builds up. You can pour oil inside the flute, roll it around and let it drain out and re-use the oil that comes out. You want to use an oil that is non-toxic and will not go rancid with time. We recommend sweet almond oil and it is available in our shopping center.  Click here to see our natural oil for wooden flutes in our shopping center.
Each High Spirits Flute with the exception of the Pocket Flute comes with an excellent CD that includes instructions on how to play the flute, use different techniques, how to care for it, sample songs, and more. An instructional booklet including fingering charts is also included.

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NOTE:  A note about "Native American flutes": Just as a "French horn" is a particular type of musical instrument, "Native American flute" refers to a particular type of musical instrument and does not imply that it was made by an enrolled member of a federally-recognized tribe. Although Odell has Native American ancestry and his flutes are owned, used and endorsed by many prominent Native American musicians, High Spirits flutes are not "Native American made."