Hi guys,
just wondering if anyone knows anything about this type of flute. I currently play it but it has been passed around a couple of family members whenever they need a flute. No one seems to know where it originated!
Thanks!
Eugene Lambe used to make flutes that looked a bit like that. Does anyboy recognize his handiwork here? Cheers,
Rob
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIEQBAQfMt4
I like his walking stick flute in this video, but sadly no silver head joint…
Very interesting, Anzer. The head, with the winged embouchure plate, looks like the head of a German Reform flute, but they had lots of keys. I wonder if it’s a combination of an old head and a relatively modern body? I assume there are no words on it? Any idea of how long your family have had it?
Is it the usual cylindrical head & conical body arrangement, or the more modern tapered head and cylindrical body? (I assume the former, but just checking.) And that’s a tuning slide junction where the yellow band is on the head?
Terry
My aunt had it first, then i got it when i started playing about 10 years ago. I asked my aunt a few times if she knew anything about it but she cant remeber where exactly it came from. It has probably been around for about 25-30 years. There are no words on it.
We discussed the posibility of it being the head of a different flute but decided that it was unlkely. We could well be wrong though! It is cylindrical head & conical body arrangement as you say. Also correct about the tuning slide Terry.
actually, im not sure if the head is tapered. The top part of the head is slightly thinnner than the bottom. i.e. the top part slips into the bottom of the head to make up the tuning slide. Does this make it tapered?
Yeah, that’s a Eugene Lambe alright.
A lot of people who were learning flute had them a while back in the West. The dates seem a bit early though; 25-30 years ago seems too early for one of these, but Eugene has been making stuff for a long time (maybe 20 years?)
The body was usually just one piece. No foot joint. Maybe that’s an early model.
Regards,
H.
Very good, Harry. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one - that’s what surprised me about the wave on the embouchure plate. I guess he was inspired by a German Reform Flute.
I think I could believe the dates. I’ve been making for 33 years now. I understand that Eugene was possibly the earliest maker in Ireland, so I imagine he would be about the same or not far behind.
The head probably isn’t tapered, Anzer, if it’s one of Eugene’s.
Wow, 33 years (me, not necessarily Eugene!). Scary, huh? If we set that against when Rudall & Rose started working together (1821) it takes it up to 1854. By then they had been making Boehm flutes for seven years and had abandoned development of simple system flutes. Indeed, the big decisions were all being made by Carte, who joined in 1850 and was admitted as a partner in 1852. Rudall officially retired in 1856.
So we’re entering into a period where modern makers may have been making for similar or even longer periods than the makers from the golden age of the conical flute. I wonder when we can say we are in a new golden age?
Terry
Eugene Lambe had been making flutes from the mid to late '70s.
I have seen the same sort of German reform lip plate, tuning slide and socket on flutes used for charanga.
Kevin Krell
very interesting guys! Go raibh maith agaibh!
Frankly, the commercial Boehm market appears to be in some decline in more recent years. For instance, there are notably fewer options available today than there were, say, ten years ago. Indeed, ten to twenty years ago may have been a golden era for Boehm flutes.
The conical bore wood flute, however, apparently has a more limited distribution, but the quality and the selection as currently available is arguably better than at any other time in history. So, I’d suggest that this is a golden era for wood flutes.
Eugene was my first thought too but the footjoint seemed an less usual feature for a Lambe of that vintage.
I know Donal Mahony makes flutes like this and I think his uncle Brendan McMahon did them as well early on.
JP Downes from Quilty sometimes plays one like it by the way.
I had to dig deep into my bag of flutes but I found an old Lambe with reform headjoint (lefty).
Incidently, in a recent interview Eugene says that he considers his reform headed flutes his best.