I am very excited to finally announce the very first instrument of the brand-new Historical Replica Series from Bretti Musical Instruments! This special series of instruments consists of various rare and unusual artifacts found throughout the ages of human history across a wide range of cultures around the world.
The seeds to begin exploring historical replicas really got planted during last summer’s Boston Early Music Festival 2025 Exhibition. During the week I was participating as a vendor, I was completely immersed in the world of early music, surrounded by hundreds of years of cumulative craftsmanship experience amongst dozens of extraordinarily talented peers. Talking with the other craftspeople there, and seeing the extraordinary workmanship of their early instruments and specialties, something really switched on in me that day – not only a drive to pursue my own craft to a higher degree, but to begin exploring more historical roots of music and history itself.
Since then, I began exploring dozens of new instruments that I would have never even given consideration to prior, looking at how they were built, how they were played, and the history behind them. I became completely hooked, with my list of researched instruments growing by the day. In looking at the range of incredible and unique instruments, I began to refine what instruments I would like to begin tackling based on my own available tooling and skillsets. At the current time, because I neither have the funds nor the infrastructure to support a heavy duty lathe needed for serious bored-flute making, I had to look at instruments that could be made without a lathe. My list includes at least a dozen of these rare and unique instruments now, which I have been researching, modeling, and preparing plans for making.
Like all my instrument endeavors, I stumbled across the Jorvik Panpipe completely by chance, and saw some immediate potential. In researching the instrument further, I discovered that while there are a number of replicas out there from various makers, no one had accurately reproduced the original historical artifact form to a very high degree. As a result, I wanted to set my replica apart from the rest and reproduce many of the subtle, nuanced details of the original design to a higher degree of accuracy than has been done before. So what exactly is the Jorvik panpipe?
The Jorvik panpipe is a 1000-year-old Viking instrument discovered during the famous historical Copperfield dig at York in the UK, where a massive trove of tens of thousands of artifacts was unearthed, giving archeologists and researchers an unprecedented look into the everyday lives of people living during the Viking era. Only one of these panpipes was ever discovered, but the artifact was so well preserved that even after 1000 years buried in a peat bog it was found almost completely intact and nearly fully playable! The original panpipe was made from a slab of well-aged European boxwood, discovered with 5 tubes bored into the body (with 4 tubes remaining undamaged). The original tuning is roughly to the key of A5-E6, however based on analysis of the tube lengths the historical tuning is not the same as the modern intervals used today, and as a result, would most likely sound “out of tune”, though still derived from a minor key of A.
In replicating the Jorvik panpipe, I wanted to create a very accurate model reflecting the actual features and details of the authentic historical artifact. While there is unfortunately very little information published about the original artifact, the dimensions are known and published, and very accurate historical reference drawings can be found from the original study, which can be found both online and in the book “The Viking Dig: Excavations at York” by Richard Hall. By using the known dimensions and accurately scaling the drawings, I could create very accurate templates for my design based on the original artifact.
As a result, I have taken great care in reproducing all of the subtle nuances of the artifact – from slight curves on the sides and bottom, to the triangular cut tapered top of the blowing edge, to the bevels in the carrying strap hole, and even replicating the broken side of the found artifact as it was theorized to have looked from the original dig site notes. Because of the attention to these nuanced details, as far as I am aware this model is currently the most accurate reproduction of the Jorvik panpipe on the market, and the first replica of the artifact of its kind that I have seen. This adds much more time and effort to the crafting process, but makes for a much more historically informed model.
This is only but a small sample of the work that I have done with this historical replica. On the newly launched dedicated Jorvik Panpipe page, you will find much more information on the various exquisite woods I have used to make the replica, as well as the various styles offered, and other information about my approach to the instrument.
In addition, to celebrate this new launch I have also just released a highly in-depth video covering the background of my approach to this build, not only looking at and discussing details of the historical artifact in depth, but looking at a wide range of models I have made, with full sound samples and further info. The link to the video can be found below:
Historical Replica Series – The Jorvik Panpipe – A First Look
This is only just the beginning as I continue to make my way through the ages, discovery new instruments and songs along the way, so keep an eye out for more exciting updates from The Historical Replica Series to come!