Hi,
Does anyone know of, or ever seen a fully keyed (especially with Boehm style keywork on the foot) flute in “E” before? I know many of you own F flutes, and some Eb. But I’m especially interested in “E”.
Any ideas welcome 
Calum
As for odd keyed flutes I know John Gallagher has made an 8 key B, and I believe he has plans drawn up to make an E flute. Might want to give him a try, he’s very willing to do things outside of the box, and whatever you get from him will be top notch.
You might try Hammy. He advertises an E flute and does Boehm style feet I believe though don’t know if he’s done a keyed E.
I also think Lehart does an E but perhaps not with eight keys.
Someone may have mentioned on here that Copley was working on a E as well but I could be wrong on that one.
Billy Miller does a bamboo E to tide you over.
Good Luck
Calum, I’d be very surprised if such a thing existed at all in terms of antiques. There was simply no reason for anyone before modern “trad” uses to make such a thing. That said, you might be very lucky and find either a low pitch (continental) F flute (see below) that played near enough at E in 440 terms (especially if it had a tuning slide to enable you to access the lower end of its tunability), or a high pitch (English) Eb one that crept up somewhere near a 440 E - though I suspect most HP Ebs would struggle to make CP E without some modification.
I think that, as 8-keyers are pretty rare in Band Flutes anyway, your chances are not good of finding one at all, let alone fitting the parameters that would add up to playability in E at 440. That said, remember that in the very late C19th into the C20th most British military bands played at 452+ and the “Db/C#” flute (Eb in our terms) was a standard item - so you might (maybe slightly more likely) find a Bohm or hybrid system antique flute which would reach E.
e.g. this French 6-key one I posted last night in the F Flute thread. Of course we don’t have definitive info on that, but the vendor’s confusion is suggestive… I suppose you might be able to get a “C” foot made to fit such an example?
From Hammy’s site:
I have been making flutes in E for some years now. Initially because I played an old E flute which I thought was a superb instrument, but latterly because it makes the whole job of playing in the key of A so much simpler. G fingering on this flute gives the key of A. These flutes are really responsive players without being shrill.
I have a piccolo {fife} by B and S Dulcet marked E that plays in E. It has no slide but plays easily in E at modern pitch. Just as you sometimes see band flutes marked B not Bb. I don’t believed these are mistamped. I don’t know what the purpose was but they exist.
An antique flute add I found recently advertised G flutes and C piccolos both items I would have thought didn’t exist.
Not something we see as common but you never know.
A modern maker would be your best bet. I would think.
I have a high pitch Eb flute. I used to think was pitched in E. It will play in E with the slide all the way in but is out of tune with itself witht the slide closed. The intonation doesn’t sort itself out until the slide is opened a good bit. Weird as normally flutes sound better with the slide closed a and sound worse when you need to extend the slide a good deal.
I’ve played one of Hammy’s. One of the most enjoyable flutes I’ve ever come across.
Thanks for the feedback everyone… yeah I was thinking of Hammy as I saw someone selling a D instrument which has Boehm foot recently. An E flute could be pretty natty… With the Boehm foot it’s session friendly too (play in ‘D’ using ‘C’ fingering.)
I’ll drop him a line and meanwhile try to continue spring cleaning some instruments!