Will people share their experiences with C flutes?
Worth having? Keyed? Unkeyed?
Which makers? I’m thinking about
buying one. I’m pretty sure I
can play one. Best wishes, Jim
Well Jim I have a Cloudhands bamboo flute in C and it is a real nice flute.
I love the sound and although I have to use my pinky to play the bell note it is not hard to play. A little pricey for a bamboo flute but it is a beautiful thing. By the way dont you have a G flute. Im thinking about getting one but not ready to drop big bucks on one. Any ideas?
Take care
Tom
A friend of mine was used to own a very nice keyless Hamilton C flute.
The overall response of the instrument is only a little less quick than a D,
so you can also play it at normal speed with some effort. C is a really nice pitch
for a flute, it allows you to play some nice East Clare tunes in their original
pitch. Matt Molloy plays a Pat Olwell flute with an interchangeable C body,
and that combo would be a nice alternative, especially if you are seriously
interested in band playing, as with the same headpiece you should reduce noteably
tuning problems that happen when switching flutes during a gig.
I think that only a few makers do offer a C flute: Hamilton,Olwell (as above) and Wilkes.
I tested some months ago a 8 keyed C flute by Arhpa. An incredible instrument that gives a mix between the deep sound of Bb flutes and D flutes. I have some pictures is somebody is interested in.
Serafin.
Tom, mainly I’m playing G flute to accompany
musicians playing in C, and I find that the
copeland G whistle sounds so good that
I’m using it mostly. I have a G Sweetheart
flute in Rosewood, but it plays flat a lot
outdoors. It’s made to be in tune when the
tenon is all the way in but that doesn’t take
into account the need to make it sharper when it;s
not warm. Also a Bleazey boxwood in G,
which is a good flute. Jim
Thanks for the info Jim. I was woundering about the Sweatheart. I have plastic flutes for outside. Anyway didn`t mean to change the subject.
Take care
Tom
You can ask Ralph S to make the G flute so that it
goes sharp, I’m pretty sure. They’re pretty
good and not expensive–though not great, either.
Good enough. Mine is in rosewood; I would
like to hear one in maple. The maple Sweetheart
D is a great flute for the price, IMO.
Thanks for the info. Casey Burns makes a
C flute, too. Not seen one.
There is a Sweetheart C as well,
which is nice but it would be fun to play
something more powerful.
Sweetheart flutes vary tremendously. Some are crap and some are unbelievably good (and most are in between). I have GREAT Sweet flutes in D, F, and G and some OK ones in other keys. They vary from instrument to instrument, not from key to key.
I play a Patrick Olwell bamboo low C. It’s earthshaking… an absolutely brilliant flute.
And yes, I can handle the finger spread.
And yes, it responds plenty fast enough for dance tunes.
Best,
Chris
Well now you got me dragging out my Cloudhands C. And as soon as my hands become unfroozen I will see how it does with a jig or two. If the Olwell bamboo C flute is anything like his F I would almost be afraid to play it due to possible sonic damage to my skelital structure.
Hey Jessie does it do any good to talk to Ralph in order to get a good flute?
I wouldnt want to insult him or anything but if I cant try the flute before I buy it is it just a shot in the dark? Just woundering.
Tom
They are returnable, anyhow.
My experience with Sweet flutes has been positive. I think it’s gotten better, but he does have a reputation for inconsistency. He’s a very nice guy, though, and i think he wouldn’t be afraid to talk about your concerns.
I’ve played two maple Sweet Ds which I thought
were very good. Bought one. I also had a walnut D
which was OK but less good. This exhausts
my experience with Ds. So I have jumped
to the conclusion that Sweet maple Ds are
very good! Fallacy of Hasty Generalization,
thy name is Stone.
It does sound as though there might be
a market for tweaked sweethearts (I beg,
your pardon, Sweethearts).
Geoff Wooff made me a C flute in 1986 to go with my C pipes. They were very nice. Joe Skelton from Galway played them one day and he filled a street with their sound.
I got separated from them though at some point in time but the woman who they are residing with recently said I could have the flute back if I had a use for them. I’d only have t o ask. Hmm..
Who is Geoff Wolff?
Did a search but found nothing.
It would be nice to know of
more people who make C flutes.
Jim, re-read the name. Geoff Wooff has some name as an uilleann pipemaker 
The C flute was based on a Rudall and Rose owned by [as far as I remember] Seamus McMahon of Ennis, scaled down to C. Worked a treat. geoff doesn’t do flutes these days I think, he made a few Cs and I remember a Bflat flute for Ronan Browne.
Right. Wooff. No he doesn’t seem to make flutes.
I wish I had a name like that.
‘You, in the back, what’s your name?’
‘Wooff!’
‘I beg your pardon?’
‘Wooff! Wooff!’
‘That sort of behaviour won’t be tolerated,
young man!’
‘Wooff! Wooff! Wooff!’
‘Ah yes, I’ve heard about you before,
Mr. Glauber.’
Imagine having a name everybody makes the same jokes at, your life long. Great Stuff.
I did, actually. I changed it. No offense
intended.
Even my new name didn’t save me.
Once I was driving up to a book store
with a friend who thrust a joint in
my face. The devil made me smoke it.
When I walked into the store my visual
field was disintegrating into cubes,
then reforming. I forgot my wallet
at the cash register when I left.
The cashier ran after me.
‘You’re Stone, aren’t you. You look
like you’re Stone,’ she said.
‘Noooo!’ I protested. ‘Noooo!’
‘Let me look at your eyes. Yeah,
you’re Stone alright.’
‘Go away! Leave me alone!’
‘Then I can’t give you this’ she said,
showing me my wallet. She’d been
looking at the picture on my driver’s
license.
I recovered brilliantly: ‘Oh, God!’ I said.
When people aske me ‘Are you Stone?’
my immediate response tends to
be ‘No!’ This never happened with
my original name, Hymie Finkleboo.
Out of the frying pan…