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

Standard features
Headjoints available
To more Eppler Flute pages
Eppler cocuswood and silver headjoint in special case
Eppler cocuswood and silver headjoint in special case.
Eppler headjoint with special lip plate area engraving
Special extra lip plate area engraving.
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Robery Weyrick/Perspective Image, three wood Eppler headjoints

Wood Flute Headjoints

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.

detail of piccolo headjoint made of snakewood

Three Eppler wooden headjoints.
L-R: alto, flute (African blackwood), piccolo (cocuswood).

Below and right: Piccolo headjoint (snakewood).

  
Piccolo headjoint made of snakewood
Snakewood blank, ready for flute making. snakewood blank for making a flute


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.

 

 

 Mary MacRae - Eppler headjoints on roll
Headjoints in production.
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.

 
early Eppler wood headjoint
Mary MacRae - raw wood headjoints in row
 
Our first headjoint. 1973
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

Headjoints available

Standard wood is African blackwood (grenadilla). 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.
  • Standard (recommended) headjoint,
    wood and sterling silver

  • Wood headjoint with carved lip plate, wood and sterling silver

  • Piccolo wood headjoint

  • Alto wood headjoint

  • Bass wood headjoint

  • Curved wood headjoint

 Aleksey Morozov - Eppler and Vdovenko
Aleksandr Eppler with one of his assistants, Nikolai Vdovenko. 2004
Prices on request

Also available:
- 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. Any duty costs are the responsibility of the purchaser.
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. 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 2010      Webpage last updated: February 17, 2013