I’ve had this flute for about 7 or 8 years without knowing much about it. All I was told when I bought it was that it was English (ah, the innocence of youth!). Anyway, it’s got a couple of repaired cracks on the barrel and one on the third section. I would like to sell it to assist in my proposed Ormiston purchase - would anyone make a stab at a value?
I would appreciate anyone’s words of wisdom. Click on the link below and keep your fingers crossed that my sub-mediocre web skills hold out.
It does look English, and very pretty. There were anonymous English flutes made, so if there’s no maker’s mark, you’re dealing with one of these – looks to be in the mid-late 19th c.
You might want to ask Dave Migoya or Terry McGee (the former is on this forum, so he might jump in anyway).
Ormiston’s, I hear, are nice flutes, but I’m not sure nicer than that one.. Might be an even trade, really.
What don’t you like about it? My guesstimate is that this flute would sell for around $650 on Ebay, plus or minus $150. Is the foot joint frozen onto the right hand section? I’d play on the Ormiston before selling your current flute. It may not be a significant improvement.
Take a look under the keys to see if there’s a maker’s mark there – it would be on the underside of the touch of the key itself. Just slip out the pin that holds the key in the block, take out the key, and look at the underside of the touch. Some of the English makers put their mark only on the key. It definitely looks English.
Cheers for the replies guys. I looked under the keys and there are no further clues. As to why I am thinking of replacing it - it seems to exhibit all the bad qualities of older flutes such as poor intonation, especially on the bottom hand, and is kind of tricky to blow sometimes. I have played an Ormiston before and frankly, it beat the pants off this one!
By way of an experiment, I recorded myself butchering “Speed the Plough” on this flute and on a Dixon Polymer that I got a couple of weeks ago for £100 (I love a bargain). The results can be found by following the link below. One thing that I hadn’t noticed until I listened back was that the Dixon is slightly flat (or I am blowing it flat)on the upper register. As you will hear, however, the wooden flute is woefully flat on the low end - and believe me I’ve tried everything to blow it in tune.
As always, comments, criticism and downright abuse is readily accepted.
PS - the sound not unlike a fly fisherman casting on the recording is actually my garbage MD player updating its table of contents as it records - that was well worth the money, wasn’t it! I actualy have a home studio but am currently without a mic - hence the MD option, but rest assured, I at least have the good grace to be deeply ashamed about the quality of the recordings - oh, and the playing.
BMFW - That comparison helped. Personally, I think the Dixon sounds a lot better so I can understand why you want another flute to replace the allegedly English one.
Also, I didn’t notice the Dixon being very flat at all. Have you tried adjusting the cork nearer to the embouchure hole which should raise the pitch of the upper octave (only move it a tiny bit)?
I thought your playing rocked, since no-one’s mentioned it yet! You handled the “English” flute’s iffy tuning just fine, I had a hard time telling what was wrong with it, other than a different quality tone in some notes.
Haven’t had a chance to check out your sound-samples, but obviously if you feel the flute plays poorly, you’d want a better one. There are plenty of weak old English flutes kicking about, not just German ones , even some with names printed on 'em!
You might want to have someone look it over, though, as some of its intonation problems may be adjustable/fixable, if the flute in general is worth that. At any rate, this might up its worth if you’re trying to trade it in for your Ormiston.
On 2003-02-11 18:26, SuiZen wrote:
Is it tuned to A=440 Hertz ?
Bill
It is A=440 but with the tuning slide quite a long way out, so I’m guessing it was originally designed to cope with the slightly higher concert pitch of years gone by.
Do you think it might be a high pitch (A=455 Hertz) flute? If so, this could be problematic, tuning it to standard pitch.
If you don’t have a way to measure the pitch, the following free tuner software might help. It’s for a variety of instruments, even though Shakuhachi is prominent.
Do you think it might be a high pitch (A=455 Hertz) flute? If so, this could be problematic, tuning it to standard pitch.
Bill
Bill,
You might be right there, however the intonation is such that it’s a bit tricky to tell. With the tuning slide well in, a G in the lower register measures bang on 455 on my tuner (ie G relative to an A at 455). However, if I then play the A immediately above, it registers very sharp on that scale. (I know this sounds like a kind of round about way of doing things, it’s just that I generally use the G to tune up - each to his own). It may just be a flute with poor intonation and I may have to accept that!
Hopefully someone will want it if I sell it - I just want to be honest about things when I do come to sell it.
I recently asked Rod Cameron if he had any new keyed flutes for sale. He said no, but if I could find a “decent” vintage flute, he might be able to restore/improve it. There are other maker’s that could do the same. I’ve read reports that Rod does great work to enhance (re-ream,re-voice, and re-tune) Aulos baroque flutes.
You probably don’t want to go this route, but a buyer might want to consider this.
You could also post your flute problem, picture of flute/URL, on the wooden flute email list, and ask if it’s worth enhancing. There a several flute makers that read and respond regularly.
Bill
[ This Message was edited by: SuiZen on 2003-02-12 16:11 ]
, even some with names printed on 'em!