About the Recorder with Bb hole
A standard soprano recorder bottoms out at C. This remix adds an extra protruding hole near the foot, worked by the right little finger: half-cover it for low B, close it for low B-flat. You get those notes without blocking the bell. It also plays up into the high register, though the top notes need more breath and come out loud.
The new hole changes the fingering slightly. F now lifts the index finger rather than the middle one, and going from F to G moves both hands. There's also a notch to rest your right thumb. A fingering chart PDF is included. The designer describes PLA as warm, airy and flute-like, and PETG as clearer and brighter. She had no luck with ABS, because any weak layer bonding leaves a recorder that hardly sounds. She also notes that some prints play their low notes better than others, for reasons she couldn't pin down.
Who it's for. Recorder players who want to reach those extra low notes, and anyone printing a first wind instrument. The demo video shows the range.
What you'll need
Printed parts
- Head, body segments and foot
Bought parts
- Petroleum jelly for the joints
Tools
- Optional: a test vase to check your filament prints airtight
Build overview
Print settings
- Material: PETG or silk PLA worked especially well; avoid ABS and rough composites
- Walls: Thick: 3–4 perimeters or more
- Infill: High
- Adhesion: Critical; the designer liked a raft with a 15 mm margin and 0.15 mm air gap
- Finish: Surface smoothness matters
Video
Play video: B-flat recorder demo (loads YouTube)
Nothing loads from YouTube until you press play. Video thumbnails are © their creators.
Photos
All photos: lysithea81, from the design page on Printables, licensed CC BY-SA. We resized them and converted them to WebP. These adapted versions are shared under the same licence.