Yesterday was an unbelivable day I received 5 boxwood flutes in the mail. Well 4 flutes and a piccolo. I spent the evening rewinding tenons, lashing cracks and generaly haveing more fun then I have had since the day I got my Lehart. It is actualy thanks to the Lehart that this day occured. Anyway, two Hall and Sons single key, one in F the other in D, one Firth Hall & Pond single key in D, one de Peloubet 4 key, block mounted in D with tuning slide, and the sweetest little Boosey and Sons Pratten Perfected piccolo 5 key in D. That is mine as I bought it from someone right here. It is a knock out. The others are just to try out and see if I might want to buy one. They all have Ivory rings and caps except for the Hall and Sons F which is turned wood rings, and is in perfect shape. Im just not looking for an F. The other Hall and Sons in D is a nice sounding flute. I had to lash a crack in the head and rerap the tenon so as to not put so much pressure on that crack. All the rings are cracked and of course it is missing the cap. It plays very nicely and has a great sound. The Firth Hall & Pond is in realy good condition with all its rings and cap intacked. However it almost looks as if the head is from another flute. The head is very light in color and the rest of the flute is pretty dark. Might just be the way it was stored or something as all the parts including the head are stamped with the makers name. It has a very merky sound and I dont like it one bit, but I will play it some more today and see. The de Peloubet is just downright beautiful. But I cant play it because there is a full length crack along the back of the head, and the liner has turned blocking the embouchure hole. All the rings are intackt but it is missing the cap. I was able to get one of my heads to fit just to check the tuning and intoneation and they are dead on. I already got the owner to come down a hundred bucks on it so I could get it for four hundred. I realy like this 4 key. I think if I could get the ivory ring off the head I could fix it. I dont know if the rings are glued on or not but it sure won`t budge with my gentle first attemps. Maybe some of you have had experience with this sort of thing and could suggest a way to tackel this situation. I think I will buy this one. Like I said it is realy beautiful and sounds great with the head of my Eb on the end of it. The workmanship looks first class, though I know nothing about this guy.
Soā¦ that was my day yesterday. They all spent the night in my humidore and I am just starting to put one together and play. Any suggestions or info about these flutes would realy be helpful. Right now I am having way to much fun
Well, though it has been a real treat to be with these flutes for the last couple of days I will be boxing them up, all of them except of course the piccolo, and sending them back to the owner. What have I learned? Well first of all I have become aquainted with boxwood. It truely is the king of flute wood. I love it. Secound, I no longer have a fear of small round embouchure holes. One of these flutes, a Hall and Sons is quite powerful if one wants it to be. And it has very small tone holes to boot. Thirdly, I am not a collector and all but one of these flutes, the F, are in need of much love and attention. I was able to rerap and lash in order to be able to play them but the more permanent restoration needed by these flutes would require much more love then I have found for any of them. And, last but not least, I have found that my progress down this flute shaped road is exeptable to me. And again, playing these flutes has helped in the playing of my other flutes. Dont know why that happens but Ill take anything I can get.
By the way the William Hall and Sons in F is what I finished up with last night and it is a real sweetheart. It is in perfect condition and of very simple design. No ivory rings or cap just wood. The guy wants 600 dollars for it but might take less as he came down 100 dollars on the price of the 4 key for me. So if anyone is interested just pm me and I will give you his email address. It, by the way, is very capable of some power also.
So my trip into the past has been great fun, and my next flute will be boxwood, and it will be a traverso, and in fact I think I have found it this mourning, thanks to a couple of email exchanges accross the pond.
Tom
PS: A 12 step program is for someone who wants to be cured Loren
I finally succumbed to my lust for boxwood and also
a rudall; Iāve ordered a Casey Burns boxwood keyless D
rudall, which should arrive in maybe six weeks. This
is an all-wood flute.
The flute has a round embouchure, so Iām interested
in your positive experiences with this. I thought that the combo of the round embouchure,
boxwood, and all-wood might maximize the
expressive nature of the flute. Best
I love boxwood, but iām too afraid of what Chicagoās wheather would do to it, so i special-ordered my traverso in blackwood. Blackwood is a wonderful wood; pity itās so heavy.
After playing almost every kind of flute for 20+ years, i think i may have found my true calling: the traverso. Of course there will always be a place for other flutes, too, but the flexibility and just total coolness of the traverso have won me over.
Well Jim, three of the flutes were unlined heads. The 4 key was the only one with a tuning slide and lined head and the head was unuseable. I fit the head of my old 8 key Eb to it just to see if it was in tune and such. The William Hall and Sons in D is incredable. It played in A=440 but sounded as rich as if it were 415. Simply beautiful. The small embouchure holes took maybe 30 minutes of quietely modifying my technique. After that it was no sweat. I dont know if you could call this or the others traversos but I think they have similarities. For one who is more impressed by the expressivness of the flute this is the way to go. In my humble opinion that is. Anyway today I reserved a boxwood traverso made by Luc Verhoeven which is truely beautiful to look at and affordable. And he is a very nice guy who will not claim to be a flute maker. It is just a hobby and he plays what he makes. The one I am getting was not for sale but he finaly changed his mind. Anyway Jim dont worry about the embouchure, just be patient and you will love it.
I am with you glauber. This has been one of those magic moments of discovery. I am glad I had time with the Lehart to see what a powerfull instrument the flute can be but I think the qualities of the traverso out weigh the qualities of a flute designed for Irish trad. First and formost is the intamesy of these cridders. Sitting here at peace with one of these boxwood beauties in my hands was a revalation, realy. I think that is one of the reasons I love my rosewood Dixon. It can be pretty powerful but its true color is painted in the quite of the night.
Oh brother this is getting a little sticky
Yes he does glauber. If you want to see mine, check his website and look at #13 on the left side of the page. It is the one that is not for sale. Boxwood with tortis shell, fake of course, rings. Talk about beautiful.
And what a nice guy. It has been a fun month exchanging emails with him. Anyway thats the one
I almost bought the ācomtemporaryā traverso, but i ran out of money. Ultimately, it was good i didnāt, so i can concentrate on learning to play the flutes i already have. But i send people to him whenever i can. Heās a very nice guy too.
Beautiful flute, #13, congratulations! I think youāll be happy. The Grenser flute is very capable, loud, plays the 3rd octave up to the A very easily. Itās a late Baroque model. My traverso is a Grenser too, but done by Rod Cameron.
Iām having a hard time finding a traverso teacher in the Chicago area, BTW. Itās a good thing, i think, all the traverso people here seem to be extremely busy.
I have bought flute No 20 from Luc. Itās a Rottenburgh copy at A = 415 Hz. As I only got it a few days ago, I can not say much about it, itās still in the breaking-in period. Also this is my very first traverso, so itās difficult to make an intelligent judgement. Compared to my Hamilton irish flute, it feels like a toy. Nevertheless I do like the tone and the comfortable finger spacing. The intonation seems to be ok when I use the special fingerings from the book (pressing down the key for certain notes). I will make some pictures later and post them.
Lucās prices are unbeatable. So I think these flutes are at least very good instruments for beginners.
I received 5 boxwood flutes in the mail. Well 4 flutes and a piccolo. I spent the evening rewinding tenons, lashing cracks and generaly haveing more fun then I have had since the day I got my Lehart. It is actualy thanks to the Lehart that this day occured. Anyway, two Hall and Sons single key, one in F the other in D, one Firth Hall & Pond single key in D, one de Peloubet 4 key, block mounted in D with tuning slide, and the sweetest little Boosey and Sons Pratten Perfected piccolo 5 key in D. That is mine as I bought it from someone right here. It is a knock out. The others are just to try out and see if I might want to buy one. They all have Ivory rings and caps except for the Hall and Sons F which is turned wood rings, and is in perfect shape. I
