I am excited to reveal a first look at the newest batch #16 high end wooden inline ocarina from Bretti Musical Instruments, and the first ever official bass C4 ocarina model! This batch consists of a single ocarina, SN 044, made from a beautiful selection of iridescent ribbon-stripe sapele, a vibrant purpleheart accent band, a deep orange-red padauk top, and my classic aromatic cedar mouthpiece.
The bass C4 build is a major milestone for this effort, and probably one of my most challenging builds to date. Scaling to deeper and larger ocarinas, there has been a lot of trial and error to fine tune the response of the ocarina to how I want, as well as balancing a number of factors such as breath curve, fingerhole size, overall response, and range. However, like all my prior ocarina sizes, my deeper bass (and future contrabass sizes) still have the same extended 19 note range as my altos and tenors. Historically, inline ocarinas, and especially larger bass inline ocarinas, have been made with a significantly reduced range. I have never liked the common notion that bass inlines must be made with a drastically reduced range, and feel that they can be just as capable as any size to play a wider range of music.
This particular ocarina exhibits a bit lower breath curve than typical, with a gentle breath at the bottom, and comfortably rising up through the range. The tone is a bit breathy at the low end, with a beautiful clarity at the top, and a comfortable breath curve that does not require you to push hard to reach the final notes. Moving forward, I have already reworked the breath curve and response balance a bit for this size to be slightly higher, and further refined the tone to reduce the breathiness and give a more focused texture, as well as implemented a new ergonomic grip which I will be using for larger and deeper ocarinas, however this ocarina still plays absolutely beautifully for those who like a softer ocarina with a more gentle breath response. The tone is rich and warm as you would expect from a deeper wooden ocarina, and standing at a bit over 9″ tall, has a beautifully large size to show off more of the incredible colors of the wood, while still being very light and comfortable to hold.
As of this post, the ocarina is available in the shop. For full details about the development of the C4 size, as well as sound samples of this ocarina, 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 16 Inline Ocarina Reveal – Bass C4 – October 2025
Ye Banks and Brays O’ Bonnie Doon – Batch 16 Bass C4 Ocarina
