JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #114 - July 2017 - 5

composites music OPlNlON
Vitech Composites accepted to work
on the research, development and
demonstration project. For six months,
we made prototypes in small series
of about ten flutes, which I tested
rigorously based on my requirements
and skills as a musician.
I'd like to underline that the finished
instrument was produced in October
2009, a year after the patent was filed. It
is now on sale and already performs very
effectively, although this is just the first
"definition" and not an absolute, given
that research in this area is potentially
infinite, but still limited so far by my
modest financial means.
The grade of the carbon used to make
the Scoatariu flute is only 1 on a scale of
10, and it would be of great interest to
create prototypes in the other carbon to
analyse their effect on the sound quality,
in order to choose the best composite
material.

P. S. : The experience acquired in

the design and production of a broad
range of composite tubes (medical
reamers, fuel gauges, sound moderators,
Alphorns, microphone stands, etc.)
enabled us to find the best-adapted
solution for producing the flute. The
desired aesthetic aspect was the first
thing to point us towards a carbon
fabric. The wide variety of materials
available to us should eventually enable

Made exclusively
with carbon fibres,
the Scoatariu Flute
weights only 80 grs.

us to propose changes to this musical
instrument and create a broader range.
JCM: What solutions and technical
support was Vitech able to bring to this
adventure?

P. S. : Vitech Composites takes care

of all manufacturing stages for the
composite parts (mainly tubes), from
producing the prepregs to the moulding
operations, and from adjustment to
finishing (painting and screen printing).
One of Vitech Composites' strong
points is their capability to calibrate
tubes with very close tolerances (a few
hundredths of a millimetre).

JCM: How was your instrument received
in the music world, which tends to be
conservative?

Note that it took 80 years for the
saxophone, which is the most popular
instrument par excellence, to emerge
- and that was especially thanks to the
creation of a new musical genre, jazz, in
1920!
JCM: What do you think about the potential
contribution of composite materials in the
field of musical instruments in the near
future?

J. M. S. : Characteristics of composite
materials like low weight, robustness,
and especially inertia are major
advantages in instrument making. It
would be useful if they could be used
more often, to lower manufacturing
costs.

P. S. : The use of composite materials
J. M. S. : The reactions are either in musical instrument making makes
all-out enthusiasm or scepticism.
Such contrasted reactions are not
surprising, since that is often the fate
of any innovation. Novelty upsets a lot
of parameters and habits: they haven't
made flutes with cylindrical bore since
the Renaissance!

it possible to lower the instrument's
weight considerably (one example:
lightweight,
compact
telescopic
Alphorns) without losing its acoustic
properties. Through the use of a wide
variety of fibres, composite materials are
opening up a field that has not yet been
fully exploited. The use of composite
materials enabled us to design and
make a lightweight, compact telescopic
Alphorn. We make about a hundred of
them each year.
More information:
www.flute-scoatariu.com
www.vitechcomposites.com
All figures are courtesy of
©Emmanuele Salas

With its musical
properties, the flute
fits perfectly with other
instruments in differents types of music.

No114 July 2017 /

jec composites magazine

5
http://www.flute-scoatariu.com http://www.vitechcomposites.com
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #114 - July 2017
