A Comparison of Boehm's Design of the Flute with That of Rockstro
Walter E. Worman · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 1971
The flute commonly played today is basically the model developed by Theobald Boehm during the years 1846–1847. A 19th century rival was the Rockstro model designed in 1864 by Richard S. Rockstro. Boehm and Rockstro dealt with the problem of flute making in quite different ways, and both developed very playable flutes. The present paper contrasts their methods and also shows how their methods compare with the method an acoustician might use to design a flute today. Due to the double standard of pitch, low at A4 = 435 Hz and high at 452 Hz, a method of building a flute to altered pitch without redesigning it was needed. Both Boehm and Rockstro developed schemas which were practical graphical methods of altering the design to the new pitch. These schemas are compared with each other and with the basic design methods.