A Nasenflöte by Karl Wigert

Mister Karl Wigert is a 67 years old carpenter. He lives in Uster, Switzerland, and make nose flutes. I ordered one, and received it quite quickly, packed in a very nice little bag. Inside the bag: the flute, and an user-manual.



« I've been producing nose flutes for 15 years. Before, I made different musical instruments in the percussion field. At the moment, I only make nose flutes, no other instruments. The fabrication time varies, but usually, it takes me one day per flute. Until now, I have made around 250 ones. »



The flute itself has a shape very near the "large model" by Heinrich Handler, in Austria. And since this shape was, for Mr. Handler, the result of a recomposition of the traditional Styrian nose flute from the 30s (he worked with archive photos), I thought the shape was also traditional in the Canton of Zurich, where Mr. Wigert lives. But I was wrong : « No, this flute is an unusual instrument, here too. »



The instrument gives immediately a very nice impression of precision and well-done craftsmanship. It has been well assembled, well sanded, and stained with a mate mahogany light varnish.

The flute is signed by Karl Wigert monogram, a 'W' made by four strokes of chisel.



The nose saddle is rather ergonomical, but should have been a bit more, with a more comfortable place (a scoop) for the nose bottom cartilage (yet this &#@§! cartilage...). But it's however possible to find a position with no air leaks.

The particularity of this nose flute is its whistling system. As told before, the instrument is very precisely done, and thus was open to receive sharp specifications (or it is the inverse : the will of fine settings needed a precise woodwork?).
Indeed, the mouth hole is the tiniest I've ever seen : it is 2 cm wide, by ... 2 mm high! And more : the exit of the airway is less than 1 mm thick !



Those very tiny specifications lead to a very precise nose flute, dramatically oriented to "sharp playing". Indeed, I can reach very high notes without having to bend the tongue near the palate, but fore sure, cannot go deep in the bass.
The flute is so precise, that just a light breeze make it sound. On the negative side however, blow too hard makes it produce unwanted sounds.
What I would say as a conclusion, is that I feel this very good Nasenflöte as a... recording studio nose flute : very precise but a bit weak in loudness, because you have to blow it lightly.

The Wigert Nasenflöte is a very fine instrument, needing a bit of time to accustom to it : as lightly as you blow, as precise you have to be yourself to keep the tone, because the flute is very sensitive to tongue movements. This flute is for experimented players, and absolutely not for beginners (and thus, a bit to difficult for me). It won't forgive no mistakes, but will offer in exchange an easy speed and precise playing.

Here is a quick sound test to show the sharpness of this instrument (played by Nosy Diva on my insistence as she was doing something else) :



Fortunately, Mr. Wigert has embedded 3 nice pieces on his website, played with a pair of Nasenflöten. I don't know (but I don't think so) whether they have the same specifications than mine, but I guess not, since they seem more disposed to bass playing :

Lueged vo Berg und vu Tal :



Der Mond ist aufgegangen :



Viel Glück und viel Segen... :



Last word : this nose flute review was totally supervised by the best authority, the Noseflute.org CEO herself, Miss Patafix :