I am in the market for a new flute and wondering if anyone has (or has played) a Briccialdi (model Ravagli) and what they thought of it.
Thanks!
They are really nice flute.
A good quality/price ratio.
I just tried the new Briccialdi “Belcanto” model. It has soldered tone holes and lowered mechanic (such as the Muramatsu mechanic height).
It is amazing!!
While the Briccialdi “Ravagli” and “Maneschi” models are suggested for beginner flutist.
modern boehm flutes are all equal… quite annoying indeed!
and few exceptions not include Briccialdi!
Completely useless. They have these bizarre flap things covering the tone holes. And they’re made out of metal. The maker must have run out of wood.
That’s an incredibly cheap price for an open hole flute!
Never heard of them, nor played one. A pinless system on an open hole keyed system is quite something. Their head cork/titanium insert
sound fantastic as an innovation too.
For 350 Euro, that’s almost too cheap to believe it can be as good as it seems on paper. If you live in Italy, you get to demo before buying the flute which seems ideal. Outside of Italy … hmm. Those pressed felt pads are going to create maintenance problems, and the risk of an unproven pinless system, may mean that your tonal sealing becomes problematic with ‘drift’ over time.
All flutes aren’t equal: they might be on paper. 6 months down the line, if the keys are all drifting, you won’t be happy to pay 50% the cost of the flute to get it serviced, and 1 year down the line, the other 50% again, because it keeps on drifting. If you want a flute to learn on, a standard pin/spring mechanism is fine. An open hole keyed flute system is definitely more for later grades. The worse possible combination would be a used flute which might need repair, but the player is not quite sure where; possible tonal leaks from poor sealing felt pads, but not quite sure which, without a warranty.
Thankfully these Italian ones come with a 2 year warranty. It’s probably worth a bet for the cost, although the hassle if anything goes wrong, without a local flute shop to set it up and check it before you get it probably means you’d have to hope it plays perfect from the box …
looks that those flip things have an hole in them! maybe the maker ends to run out of metal too!
I’ve received a Ravagli today and it plays perfectly (for what I can say on its mechanics : I don’t repair or adjust flutes and, by the way, am a newbie on this forum). My HJ came with a generous overcut and oval blow hole (a rather unusual combination); but they don’t provide this cut anymore, I may have had the last one. I’ve been told the HJ that will be available on the Belcanto in july is based on the Pearl Forza. At roughly 800$, or 1200$ with a silver head, with the features described by blankpage, the Belcanto will be a very nice instrument.
The headjoint I got has a very good first octave, with an unusual tone much to my taste. Getting much higher, the word that comes to my mind to describe its sound is “acid” (lacking a better word) but it can be tamed to go with a lower pH…
but boehm flutes are NOT interesting anyway…
They might not be interesting, but they sound great!
Takumat - great to hear of you’re delighted by the Ravagli. I think we all share reservations about a new flute manufacturer, especially one who can charge as little as the Italian maker.
My favourite headjoint style is the Michael Allen headjoint with the rather bizarre built-up overcut, rather than just merely ‘generous’. It is very rectangular in shape, and looks incredibly contemporary, rather than classic.
Hopefully the acid upper register you’re experiencing will settle once the flute is blown in. Tonal consistency across the octave pitches is very important to me though, so I tend to stick with rather conservative flute choices, than taking a gamble on an unknown. I’ve had to wade through too many Boehm flutes to get to where I am now! Still - the basic Trevor James TX10 is still with me since primary grade school. I still use it for outdoor practice, or places where I wouldn’t want to damage my best Boehm flute.
Good luck!
bump
I realise that oval blow holes were common in older flutes, and are still favored in Europe and on Irish flutes. Has there been a certain trend towards more rectangular blow holes among Irish flute makers (in the past, say, 50 years) ? And is overcutting a common practice among them?
Yes - the oval embouchure hole is very forgiving for newcomers. It is less focussed, but still gives a great tonal colouring. Circular tone holed (like the baroque and renaissance) flutes can be more demanding due to the smaller hole size. These can be as small as a single A4 hole punch size, compared to the oval tone hole of a standard Boehm flute, which can be around 1.5cm wide at its maximum.
I’ve seen some romantic era flutes (which includes ‘Irish’ flutes) with diamond shaped embouchure holes; rectangular seem to be more of a modern/contemporary head joint maker speciality. In Boehm flute practice, head joint manufacturer is differentiated from standard flute making; in Irish flute music, the two are usually made by the same lutherier or flute maker. The difference is, that the head joint and embouchure hole development is more advanced (scientifically and in terms of manufacture, using a greater range of materials) in the Boehm flute world. That advance …is tied up with phenomenally high costs for a head joint alone.
Undercuts and overcuts … we all have different lips and shapes of embouchures. Tailoring cuts is great for the professional. For instance - the Michael Allen headjoint I came to love, is particularly challenging for new flutists. It is designed to be soft with a very tight sweetspot, offering a wide tonal palette, but less volume. There is a huge risk of wispy sound leaks due to an unfocussed embouchure, and equally, the flute embouchure positioning makes it hard for sudden fast styles requiring rolls, cuts and stops. It excels however, with mellow, sultry and melancholic music, which is what I play with it mostly. You will see some differences between the Pratten vs Rudall styles, with Prattens having generally wider boreholes all through, and Rudalls being smaller. This trend is changing, and some of the most exciting innovations, seem to be a balance between the two styles, with larger holes in Rudalls. But as for the embouchure hole differences - a silver riser, or a wooden riser can add an extra 200Euro; an overcut or undercut, about twice that. It also depends on the music you play too; for jigs and ITM, I’m not sure how meaningful talking about ‘purple’ or ‘yellow’ tone colour would be (e.g. making a flute sound more recorder like, rather than ‘flute-esque’. Then, the embouchure hole itself - this will require calculation for changing, and balancing with the risk of too many overtones, or other issues. Generally, if you have an oval shaped embouchure, it’s a great base line to start, and then revisit the complexities (and expense!) of an upgrade a year or two down the line 