Custom wood headjoints for flute, piccolo, alto, and bass made from the finest cocus, grenadilla, and other rare hardwoods.

Standard features

Headjoint prices

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Wood Flute Headjoints

Below is our first wood flute headjoint. 1973
Cocuswood headjoint in case.   Three Eppler wooden headjoints.
L-R: alto, flute (African blackwood),
piccolo (cocuswood)
Neil Lukas/Acme Silver - cocuswood headjoint

The wooden flute headjoint is enjoying a reawakened interest as discriminating flutists have discovered the advantages of its warmth and depth of tone. Highly suitable for all musical styles from baroque to avant-garde, equally at home in chamber music, the orchestra, the recording studio, or in solo roles, the Eppler wooden headjoint brings an added dimension to the performance demands of today.

Alexander Eppler was the first American flutemaker to reintroduce the wooden headjoint on a systematic basis beginning in 1975. Noted for ease of response yet full tone, Eppler wooden headjoints can be heard today in the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Russia, Hong Kong, China, Spain, and elsewhere. Eppler wooden headjoints, acclaimed for their unequalled beauty of design and craftsmanship, are also found in private collections in the United States and Great Britain.

 
Robery Weyrick/Perspective Image

The wooden Eppler headjoints are elegantly hand-crafted from a selection of attractive and acoustic heavy hardwoods. The three principle hardwoods are:

  • the customary African blackwood (grenadilla)
  • the stunningly exotic snakewood
  • the legendary and now very rare cocuswood.
Eppler wooden headjoints are available in two styles:
  • thick-walled headjoints impart a broad and full tone
  • thinned-walled headjoints are noted for brilliance and ease of response.

Thinned headjoints have lip plates resembling metal headjoints. The standard wooden headjoint has the same lip plate, but the area around it has not been carved away to reveal the shape of the lip plate. Thinned wood headjoints have a noticeably thinner sound, halfway between a standard wood head and a metal one. There is no difference in the actual ease of playing, between our standard wood headjoint and ones made of metal.

All heads are custom designed and can be fitted to any metal or wooden flute of either foreign or domestic manufacture.

Eppler wooden headjoints are also available for piccolo, alto, and bass flutes.

Mary MacRae - headjoints on roll
Headjoints in production
Mary MacRae - headjoints in row
Neil Lukas/Acme Silver - Eppler in workshop

"Fantastic. Congratulations on a true work of art." --Ransom Wilson, American flute soloist and conductor, New York

"Beauty of tone, dynamic range, power, flexibility, response, elegance of design and workmanship--Eppler headjoints have it all." --Felix Skowronek, N.F.A. President 1985-86, professor, University of Washington, Seattle

"I was delighted to have the cocuswood headjoint for December's concerts and recording. It sounds fabulous with the harp. I can't wait to give it a go in orchestra." --R. Yeager, performer, teacher

"Just a note to let you know that the wood flute is holding up very well and that everyone who tests it is amazed at the mellow sweetness of tone. This, of course, has to do in large part to your headjoint...truly a masterpiece. Bravo! Our patience was well rewarded." --William Tosh, flute player, Costa Mesa, CA

"The head joint is killer. It brings new meaning to my flute." --Paul Lindbergh, flutist, Hawaii

"I want to express my appreciation to you for making such a masterpiece of a wooden headjoint that helps me take the voice of my gold flute to another level--clear in all the ranges, warm and yet with a big tone. The new design for the chin rest area gives me very comfortable. The weight of the headjoint is just right to keep a balance between the weight of gold body and the weight of wooden headjoint. You are truly a master craftsman. "--Dr. Kim Ok Gwan, flute player, Costa Rica

Headjoint Price List

Standard wood is African blackwood (grenadilla)

$1,485.00 Standard (recommended) headjoint,
wood and sterling silver.

$1,885.00 Wood headjoint with carved lip plate, wood and sterling silver.

$1,485.00 Piccolo wood headjoint.

$2,850 Alto wood headjoint.

$3,250 Bass wood headjoint.

Curved wood headjoint available;
inquire for prices and specifications.

Price on request for:
- thinned concert headjoints
- any of the above in cocus or snakewood
- headjoint case

Prices and specifications subject to change without notice. The pricing of Eppler wood headjoints is confirmed at the time of order. These prices are quoted in US dollars. Any duty costs are the responsibility of the purchaser. 		Aleksey Morozov - Eppler and Vdovenko
Aleksandr Eppler with one of his assistants, Nikolai Vdovenko. 2004
We accept Visa and MasterCard.

For all correspondence and mail orders:
Eppler Flute Company
P.O. Box 16513
Seattle, WA 98116-0513, U.S.A.

Telephone: (206) 932-2211
FAX: (206) 933-1269
Email: epplerflutes@hotmail.com
James Pelletier (left) and Alexander Eppler (right), working into the night padding flutes.Igor Medvedev - Eppler and Pelletier
1. (this page) Wood Headjoints. Flute, alto, bass, piccolo
2. Wood flutes. Models and prices. Flute restoration and repair
3. Flutes, alto flutes, piccolos
4. More photographs
5. Flute restoration: "before" and "after"
6. Transcript of interview with British flutemaker Albert Cooper
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© Alexander Eppler 1998
Webpage last updated: March 21, 2009