Does anyone know how much a Wilkes Bb (keyless) flute might cost?
And does anyone know anything about Jil Lehart Bb flutes? I just heard one played by wonderful Breton flute player Erwan Menguy.
Thanks!
The Lehart Bb flutes are excellent value for the money and widely played in Brittany (and elsewhere). I’ve seen fairly recent videos of Jean-Michel Veillon still playing his Lehart Bb. I don’t think you’d have to wait long to get one either.
See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yJ2tgn9bgA
At around 1:40 into the video, the camera drops down to show the other flutes by his side, and you’ll see another Lehart there on the left. I’m pretty sure (but not certain) that this is his “old scale” (gamme ancienne) flute that Lehart made for him, which I think he uses for playing kas-ha-barh and other tunes in the older scale that feels very Moorish to me.
I have a Lehart keyless Bb flute. They have a distinctive sound that I really love. I especially like the way they sound in the hands of players such
as Jean-Michel Veillon, Erwan Menguy, etc, of course, but there is something about the design of the flute itself that produces a characteristic
sound that I can notice even when I’m playing it myself. They are pretty big, hefty flutes that require a fairly long finger stretch, but for me at
least (with fairly large hands), its worth it for the way they play.
http://wilkesflutes.co.uk/Site/Contact.html
Standard C & B flat keyless flutes = £1000 = €1118
And Lehart @ 1120 Euros
Wilkes gives a “current price” but notes that the wait time for a new flute is 10 years or so and it is not clear what the price would be at the time of delivery.
Best wishes.
Steve
Where is my post?
Casey
I doubt that you’d have to wait 10 years for a keyless Bb flute from Chris. I think he makes a small number of keyless flutes at the same time so the wait ought to be considerably shorter than 10 years. Best to just contact Chris and ask. His e-mail address is on his website. You’ll be getting a great instrument
Bb is a nice pitch. Here is John Skelton playing one.
Is John Skelton playing one of your Bb flutes there, Casey?
I see that while you don’t usually discuss or promote them in your participation in the C&F forums, that your website still has the Low Flutes page active. At least you can offer mopane & boxwood, which are not CITES-restricted. From the text, sounds as if these somewhat follow your ergonomic designs to make the reach more comfortable than one might otherwise expect for such a long flute.
http://www.caseyburnsflutes.com/cat_low.php
I think the OP in this thread is based in the EU, so probably part of why the responses are primarily focused on their local makers, particularly as demonstrated by the Breton players mentioned.
Casey makes a great Bb at a good price and will customize the finger spacing to suit your hands. I have one in boxwood and I have super happy with it; here is me playing it.
I do make them as well as in a Folk Flute-like model. Grey Larsen, Carlos Nunez and Matt Molloy also play these.
That one John is playing is one of my first successful ones that Skip Healy and I voiced together one evening. Circa 2002. I met John in October 2001 at an event Dusty Strings and I hosted called the Flute Symposium. Jean-Michel Veillon was supposed to be there but his travel was interrupted by all the 9/11 business, so he canceled the week before our festival. John stepped in at the last minute, and the flute was part of my thanks for his rescuing us. Engraved on his flute are the words “Mr. Skelton’s Weapon of Mass Terror”. Grey, Skip Healy and Ralph Sweet were also present.
Casey
+1 for a Casey Burns Low Bb Folk flute 
. All the goodness of a well constructed, mellow tone instrument with no extra frills. My family greatly prefers when I practice on mine.
Here’s a Wilkes Bb been played by E-B Famille:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7LHwqG_nTA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDu4wZ0J5HQ
Thanks for your answers, everyone, and for the lovely sound clips. Some wonderful playing and some wonderful flutes.
I have wanted to play a Bb flute since that groundbreaking moment (for me) when I heard Altan’s Frankie Kennedy play Dobbin’s Flowery Vale…
That might have been it for me too.
I have a 4-key Wilkes Bb in boxwood, it’s really an amazing instrument. Jean-Michel Veillon and Malo Carvou have both tried it and didn’t want to give it back, and Harry Bradley described it as “extraordinary.” I got mine with an unlined head; in retrospect I wish I had six keys (which is actually what I ordered from Chris, but this flute became available a few years into my wait and he offered it to me since it was similar to what I wanted), because you really need the long “C” key to be able to blow the seventh into pitch, otherwise you have to do some very extreme lipping-up; the note is very flat otherwise.
There are a few different ways to approach tuning in these Bb flutes. I have another Bb (in blackwood) from Tom Aebi and he takes a different approach; the seventh is in tune, but that makes the flatted seventh (which would be C natural on a D flute) very sharp and I have to change my normal fingering for that note…hard to get used to. I’ve thought about selling the Aebi, but when I listen to this little air I made up (which in retrospect seems too reminiscent of Seamus Egan’s Lament for Frankie), I think I’ll keep it (it was recorded on the Aebi and multitracked so I could play along with myself):
i have a Bb Olwell, all wood in rosewood, it’s light and plays amazing, also very comfortable.