Just curious as to if anyone makes them or has one. I know that one could probably get a bamboo one and I think Tipples are available in this key (feel free to correct me if I am mistaken Doug) but I am talking about hardwood, conical bore flutes.
I am not looking for one just curious because there are flutes in low A, Bb, Bnat, and C. It seems like a good idea; pipes sound lovely in this key for an example just listen to Seamus Ennis who played C# pipes.
Hi Avery,
I am not aware of anyone making C# pitched instruments specifically for the ITM market. However, there are lots and lots of modern “Baroque pitch” instruments made at A=415 hz, which just so happens to play C# when fingering D… If one was to, for instance, get a copy of an early Classical 1 key like a Palanca, one will have a relatively chromatic cross fingered instrument with tuning that is not too weirdly Baroque-ish, and has pretty good volume (the Palanca has a largeish oval embouchure). That being said, I have had pretty good luck getting a nice, loud/reedy/dirty ITM sound out of the various traversii that I have tried.
Clinton
Edited to reflect the fact that I get my As and Ds mixed up. The truth hertz…
I think it’s been mentioned elsewhere, but the standard for baroque flutes is A=415, which makes them sound (in modern pitch) as if they were tuned in C#. Any of the major baroque flute makers will offer this key. Also, I know for a fact that John Gallagher makes a baroque pitch flute with two corpuses (corpi?) to allow both A=440 and A=415 playing.
Pat
[EDIT] Oops - just noticed Clinton was typing at the same time! (He meant A=415, however)
All of this begs the question of why we cannot get a good one keyed ITM flute. I know there are all kinds of reasons (excuses?) why we cannot have our cake and eat it too, with bore profiles, hole size etc., along with the difficult fingerings, a weak G# and challenging Fnat and F# fingerings.
All that being acknowledged, I have been surprised at how relatively easy it is to horse around the notes on the 1 key flutes I have tried, and have also found that they can be pushed quite nicely. Certainly, if a maker was to start with something like a Palanca or a Kirst (both late baroque/early classical flutes) and tweak the fingerings so they were closer to the modern ideal, they should be able to get something fairly workable.
Clinton
Yes, I do make flutes in low C#. However, if my memory serves me well (and it usually doesn’t),the only flutes that I have ever made in this key were for the Tarzan musical. Phil Collins composed the flute-heavy score, and he specified bamboo or ethnic flutes for many of the tunes. My flutes were chosen over the bamboo flutes mainly because they could be tuned to the other instruments in the orchestra. I think that C# (Db) is a fine key for the flute.
A somewhat related topic: http://forums.chiffandfipple.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=77401&start=0
I ended up with an antique that will play around there but I like it better a little higher. I tried a few baroques and found them “stuffy.” Kevin Reitmann may still have a Cloos that will play there good price. Take Care, Pat
There are two ways to go about it. I’ve owned two one-key Irish flutes. The Sweetheart was pretty much fully chromatic with the Fnat and Bflat sounding well half-holed and the G# cross-fingered. There’s no reason that any large-holed flute can’t be played in the same manner. I still have a Noy small-holed flute that cross-fingers as well as any traverso, but is much easier to play in an Irish style. I’ve picked it up absent mindedly and mistaken it for my Olwell.
I had been wondering about the LP antiques and A=415 baroque flutes. When it comes down to it they really aren’t the same as the modern ITM designed flutes; so I assume anyway as I don’t have much experience with them. Like I said in the OP I am not looking for one but I think it would be a good idea for them to be available. I know a piper with a Cnat set and when he wants to play those I hate being confined to the whistle and now he’s getting a Bb set as well 
. Not that I don’t like the whistle but there is just so much more one can do with a flute. I would hate it if I knew a piper with a C# set and I wouldn’t really have the option of playing a flute similar to my D and Eb flutes along with them.
Not that there is anything wrong with the antiques or baroque flutes but my experience with the antiques is they are a fairly different beast from today’s flutes. I can’t say I’ve ever tried a baroque flute; what it comes down to for me is that any flute can be played in the style we like only they may not be especially suited to it. As for a decent one-keyed trad flute; I will take the keys any day as cross-fingerings and half holes don’t really sound right to me. Yes, they can and do work but it is obvious to the trained ear what is going on. Plus half holing is so unreliable; I can and do use them on the odd Fnat here
Maybe some of the flute makers could weigh in here; why are they not available? Is it because there is not enough of a market to justify the expense of developing and making them? Or has the thought not really crossed anyone’s mind? It doesn’t really seem like it would be too much of a stretch to offer them, but then again I am no flute maker and can’t claim to know the ins and outs of the craft.
Edited to fix a typo.
As you said, Avery, C# is a lovely key for the pipes – I’ve marveled at Gay McKeon’s C# Coyne set for several years now. It’s such a gorgous combination of light and dark.
My guess would be there just hasn’t been much call for the key; I don’t think C# sets of pipes have been made with much regularity in the last few decades, either. But maybe that’ll change. Anyway, I can imagine most makers could gin one up without too much trouble if you were to ask; it’s just a lack of demand.
Me, I’m amazed there aren’t more B natural flutes out there, what with all the B sets of pipes floating around these days!