i was looking on Abellflute.com, and his flutes go for 12k, that was the most beautiful flute ive ever seen. does anybody have one? if you do, how does it play?
Surely you jest ! (that’s not a simple-system flute..or price)
I believe Jessie K has one, and she has raved positively about it. They are lookers, aren’t they? And NOT to be confused with the Chinese imitations you find on eBay… do not buy those unless you are anxious to lose money…
Nope, they’re Boehm. 
To answer the original question, I haven’t played one. But, I have played his heads and they’re quite wonderful. With one of his headjoints you can make an old gym sock sound like a $12000 flute.
I’m playing a boxwood Noy joint on my really cheap Yamaha and it sounds absoulutely marvelous. I don’t know why I would ever need an expensive body.
Doc
I’ll second that, my Noy (blackwood) head gets all kind of overuse cuz’ I keep playing it on everthing under the sun…speaking of which…it’s beginning to look much more faded than the body…might be time for an overhaul…
Played one, a friend has one (Abell).
Very very beautiful, lovely wooden sound,
but Boehm, of course.
On the upside, apparently Abell Flutes does offer a nice selection of whistles, at prices nowhere near $12K.
Got one 4 or 5 years ago after a 2 year wait. I love it! Projects very well and still has that wooden flute sound. Just a tiny bit slower response than a silver flute…for me, anyway.
The whistles he makes are pretty amazing, too.
Hei, croberts,
It was many years until I first tried a wooden flute, and I must say that I really was both surprised and delighted to find that a wooden flute really can SING!!
Your comment, however, about a slight hesitation in terms of response seems about right. Such a hesitation, however, is likely very, very slight, eh?
No, I don’t have one. They are great, though. I have a Powell wooden flute. I was looking for an Abell flute when the Powell came to me.
Quite honestly, I had no idea that Powell ever made a wooden flute!!
Let me add, moreover, that I have a silver (metal) Haynes flute, dated March of the year 1915, not long into metal flute production for Haynes, and, I believe that Haynes continued wooden flute production for perhaps another several years beyond that.
Powell, after all, worked for Haynes, first.
Then again, Powell did make some very, very fine flutes!!
Powell began making wood flutes in the last few years. They are modern-scale blackwood flutes that are designed to play like recent silver orchestral flutes, but with the added warmth of wood. I own one.
Dana
Blessed be!!
Does anyone have experience with both Powell & Abell wooden flutes? If so, how do they compare? Not that I could afford either right now, but while this thread is still fresh…
Not to hijack, but I went and looked at the Powell site, did anyone see the price for a gold boehm flute??? A tad under 40k, WITHOUT the headjoint!
2,500 for a keyed Reviol is suddenly looking mighty cheap…
John
When you look at what folks pay for vintage violins, this seems quite reasonable. I had an acquaintance in the '70’s that owned a gold one. I didn’t think it played any better than the silver one I was using at the time. He didn’t think so either but there was definitely snob appeal to the gold one, at least the orchestra he played with thought so. In fairness to the flute, most of us never have and never will play in venues that would allow us to hear the difference in flutes at that level.
Oh, agreed. Our flute player has a silver Wm. Haynes flute that was gifted to her by her instructor, the flute is from about 1940 (ish). Cost estimates for a repad alone are nearly 1k, but I’ve heard her play a generic Gemeinhart and then the Haynes, and the notes sound, I don’t know, more “liquid” somehow coming out of the Haynes.
John
Hi Cork,
Yes, the hesitation is very slight. It may just be the difference in one flute over another rather that a wooden flute over a silver one. Have you noticed that flutes seem to have different personalities, even the same brand/model?
Powell and Abell flutes are both great. I would describe the Powell’s tone as stronger and the Abell’s as sweeter, but, of course, subtleties of tone are the responsibility of the player.
As far as appearance, however, I highly prefer the look of the Abell. The Powell has a raised lip plate (like a metal Boehm headjoint) and the Abell is streamlined (like an Irish flute headjoint). The finsh on the Abell is more polished. The finish on the Powell is fairly matte.
If an Abell had been available when I was searching, I would have bought that over the Powell, but I am happy with the Powell.