Right for the end of May this year I’ve got a fun new bass C4 wooden inline ocarina set! I am pleased to give a first look at batch #27, which consists of two bass C4 inline ocarinas made with a solid purpleheart body, separated with a black wenge accent lamination, and my classic aromatic cedar mouthpiece. I have been wanting to do a solid purpleheart build for a while now, and what better way to show off the rich color of purpleheart than with a larger bass build!
This purpleheart features a beautiful medium purple hue, with light bands of curly chatoyancy running across the grain. The top and bottom are cut with a sleek band of black wenge, which I think ties together with the purpleheart beautifully for a subtle but refined contrast. Being a quite heavy and hard wood, the purpleheart lends itself to a much brighter tone. Now, as a bass ocarina, it still exhibits the soft and warmer tone you would expect for a wooden bass, however the hardness of the purpleheart adds in some subtle rich harmonics and overtones in the timbre that are beautifully layered in as you play – subtle, but with the right technique you can here them come through. This was a quite fun build, and although a solid purple ocarina might not be for everyone, it certainly would stand out as a unique statement piece in any collection. I already have a small alto A4 set in solid purpleheart in the works, and plan on making myself a custom bass purpleheart for my own personal collection sometime down the road too.
For full details about the development, background, and sound samples of this ocarina batch, you can check out the unveiling video and song demo for this batch in the links below on the Bretti Musical Instruments YouTube page:
Batch 27 Wooden Ocarina Reveal – Bass C4 – May 2026
Purpleheart Bass Ocarina Improv
