It’s day 2 of a week-long marathon of ocarina batch reveals leading up to the 82nd New England Folk Festival in Marlborough, MA from April 24-26! This set, batch 23, consists of three soprano pendant ocarinas (SN 060-062). This set is crafted from a beautiful mix of woods, with two different keys. A summary of the woods for each ocarina is as follows:
SN 060 (E5): maple burl, purpleheart, aromatic cedar
SN 061 (E5): maple burl, purpleheart, aromatic cedar
SN 062 (F5): figured bubinga, curly maple, Australian red mallee burl, leopardwood, aromatic cedar
For the first two ocarinas in this set, I wanted to pair something unique and different with the maple burl. Looking around the selection of woods I had on had for the top, I saw the rich deep color of purpleheart and thought why not! Despite being a bit of an unconventional paring, I think the purpleheart really pops against the rich swirling figure of the maple burl.
The third ocarina of this set is a bit of an odd one. The body is actually made from a leftover block of wood cut from the tenjin block of my personal custom tsugaru shamisen build. Because the piece was a little smaller than typical, the standard ocarina template was modified to fit the shape, resulting in a slightly shorter build. Despite its quirky look and eclectic mix of woods, this ocarina has a beautifully sweet and clear tone.
Each pendant is carefully voiced with sweetness and clarity across the range, with a low breath curve that makes them effortless to play even at the high end, and all of these pendants are 7-hole style (6 hole plus 1 sub-hole) with a total of 18 notes.
Full in-depth details of every ocarina, as well as the story behind the pendant development, features of the pendants, sound samples, and a full song demo from this batch is now available on the Bretti Musical Instruments YouTube page:
Pendant Ocarina Unveiling Marathon Day 2 – Batch 23
Ocarina Improv 2 – Soprano E5 Pendant Ocarina
Additional details for the new pendant ocarinas can also be found on the dedicated Pendant Ocarinas page, where I include all of the general details, range, available keys, dimensions, and other resources. This is only the second of five brand new pendant batches for the unveiling marathon, so keep an eye out for more beautiful pendants to come!
