Robert Bigio

Handmade flutes and headjoints
in wood and precious metals

Headjoints
I have developed my headjoints over many years to produce a rich, dark sound that blends well with other instruments yet is capable of enough power for solo playing. Most of my headjoints are made of wood (usually African Blackwood, but occasionally other woods), although I do also make headjoints in silver, gold and platinum. I have made wooden headjoints with silver or gold inserts in the embouchure, as well as silver and gold headjoints with wooden lip-plates.

My thinned headjoints are made from one piece of wood, with the lip-plate carved by hand.

I now make thinned wooden headjoints for alto flutes, and I continue to make wooden headjoints for piccolos.
This is a gallery of photographs of some of my recent headjoints.
Two views of a thinned African Blackwood headjoint with a gold embouchure insert and gold ferrules. I had made many headjoints with silver embouchure inserts and was delighted to have a chance to make a gold insert in response to a commission. The metal insert makes this wooden headjoint respond to articulation in a similar way to a metal one.
My standard headjoint: thinned African Blackwood with silver ferrules and a silver tenon. A thinned headjoint made of Mountain Mahogany, a rare wood that grows at high altitude in the Rocky Mountains in the USA.
Three views of a fluted headjoints made of African Blackwood. This headjoint has had grooves cut into the wood. The headjoint is made considerably lighter.

Alto flute headjoints
A thinned wooden alto flute headjoint in African Blackwood next to a standard headjoint in Cocuswood.

My thinned wooden alto flute headjoints have been very successful since I first introduced them two years ago. They are available for alto flutes with two different bores: 25.4mm (1"), the bore of alto flutes by Sankyo, Altus, Pearl, Jupiter, Trevor James and some others, and 25.0mm, the bore of alto flutes by Yamaha and some others.

A thinned wooden alto headjoint weighs about the same as a metal one, and in some cases is a bit lighter. The balance of the alto flute is not affected, but the sound is made richer, rounder and louder.
The crown of an alto flute headjoint.

Piccolo headjoints
Piccolo headjoints are available for all modern instruments.

Piccolos vary greatly in sizes of tenon and in lengths of headjoints and bodies. Please contact me for details.

Headjoints are available as illustrated or else thinned as the flute headjoints above.

Prices

Prices (in pounds Sterling)

Flute headjoint, African Blackwood, thinned: 725.00 now including a zirconium stopper (click here for information) and a hard, leather-bound fitted case.

As above, with silver insert in embouchure: 825.00
(please contact me for the price of a gold insert)

Flute headjoint, African Blackwood, thinned and fluted: 875.00

Flute headjoint, Mountain Mahogany, thinned: 800.00

Silver lining to any flute headjoint: add 200.00

Silver flute headjoint: 675.00
(Please contact me for the prices of gold or platinum headjoints or silver headjoints with gold or platinum lip-plates or risers.)

Wooden alto flute headjoint, thinned: 850.00

Wooden piccolo headjoint: 450.00
Wooden piccolo headjoint, thinned: 525.00

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