Has anyone played one of these?
http://www.carbony.com/Flutes.htm
there’s been, I think, three threads: in chronological order
Carbon Fiber Flute (Carbony from Pipe Maker’s Union, LLC)
Hey Jon, 
Man, Denny you’re just to fast! 
I thought the material had good properties, but it wasn’t a good design (hopefully it has evolved since then).
A traditional 8 key block mounted version would be cool…
Co-incidentally, the following appeared today via the near-defunct Woodenflute mailing list:
I trust Frank won’t mind me forwarding his post here.
I remember testing one when they first came out - it had some pretty serious flaws, as I recall. Tone wasn’t great, but not TOO bad, but it didn’t have a cross-fingered C-nat - a big problem for me! All fingers up was C#, but any fingers down made it go below C-nat. I assume he’s fixed this problem by now since he’s selling them.
Pat
I rather expected that and the other two posts were what got Jon started.
forty-five minutes? fast?
This clip from the Carbony flutes website:
http://youtu.be/5v-_Sz3S1Sc
Hey Denny,
I was going to post before you did, but while I was digging up the links you posted.
Making my links superfluous! 
Glad to hear the Carbony flute’s design has evolved! 
ah, so it was really you…
A post on woodenflute.com got me started… 
I did Jon.
One of the early ones.
It was total crap.
I actually liked the his low D whistle. But that was an early model too. It had an aluminum head and it made it really crazy top heavy.
If he’s continued to improve his design I’d love to try a new one.
It’s a weird material though.
I’m sure it has a really small radar cross section.
It probably looks like your are playing a needle on the scope.
I’ve had the opportunity to play some Carbony instruments at the local highland games, and they’re pretty cool instruments, between the good sound and the cool material, but they are massively overpriced for what they are. For the kind of money they are asking you could easily get a much, much better flute or whistle. I consider them more of a novelty than an actual professional instrument.
Rob had a booth at a highland games last month and it was raining on the 2nd day so few people were around. I talked with him for a long time. He sounds like he’s the sort of fellow who believes that a product can (and should) always be made better. He spent a bit of time telling me how the design has evolved over time, but not being a flute player I wouldn’t try to relay any of that.
I did give the D flute a blow and I managed to play two octaves and a bit of a tune without much trouble. I thought it sounded nice and was easy to blow. Since I don’t play flute I don’t know if that means anything.
I have one of his low G whistles and I like it a lot.
Some people feel that carbon fiber is a material with unique qualities that may be particularly well-suited to making a flute from. Plastic flutes can approach wood at their best, but other materials can offer musical elements that there’s no other way to get. I’m not saying I feel this way, nor that the builder of the Carbony flutes does, but it does at least deserve some exploration.
None of my evaluation of the Carbony products was based on the fact that they’re made of carbon fiber. (I agree that carbon fiber has excellent potential for musical instruments). My statement reflects the fact that I find the Carbony products overpriced for their quality compared to other products of a similar price.
Unfortunately, where I live there are few people who stock low-G whistles to try out. Compared to the Susato whistle I tried there was no comparison, even though the price for the Carbony was steep ($225 vs. $70). I figured I was better off to pay more for something I could try and know I’d be happy with than to pay less to get something through the mail only to be disappointed.
Carbon fiber definitely has a few advantages and if you need them, they’re probably worth paying for. One of the biggest advantages is that it has a thermal expansion coeficient is nearly zero. So no matter how cold or hot, it won’t change tuning.
When you say “quality” I take it you are referring the design more so than the build quality? The fipple blocks are CNC machined and the bodies are molded on a steel mandrel so the manufacturing quality is exceptionally high. Though I see how some people would not care for the design. To me, the low whistle is very breathy; it would be well suited for certain types of recordings, but probably not so well suited for session playing.
What’s a “faise cut embouchure” Carbony’s web site mentions?
Best,
K.
Fraise cut is a method of under-cutting that pulls a conical shape to the bottom of hole. It provides a smooth airflow transition and is a technique perfected in the 19th century. It is a manual process as the tool must be positioned inside the instrument and drawn into each hole.
The Carbony tone holes are all undercut in this method and it only affects the angle at the bottom of the hole. The embouchure is actually cut to have a 7 degree angle for the entire length of the hole.
Thanks for your interest!
Rob
It would be useful to have a simple diagram, even if only drawn on a napkin and photographed for transmission, nothing formal … Otherwise, I can’t be sure I’ve got it.
I once tested one of these carbony whistles and just loved how it felt in my mouth and hands, the effortless way it played, its lightness and sweetness, but the price and this Forum’s comparison to the cheaper Clarke put me off buying one. If I had, I believe it would still be one of my whistles of choice, though I rely on my Burke composite and the large bore African Blackwood with Delrin mouthpiece Mack made for me. These Carbony’s are fascinating though and one day I’ll just have to try one of the flutes. The comments from the Forum on Carbony’s development is fascinating.
TTFN
K.