Okay, so I’m not in the market for a new flute right now, but that doesn’t stop me flicking through the used instruments forum with envy!
But I’m wondering…how do you get to try these flutes? I would love to be able to commit to spending lots of money (if I had lots of money) on an Olwell flute, but I’ve actually never played one, or even seen one! I just put a deposit down on one of Tony Millyard’s flutes, and he spent over an hour and a half with me playing all the flutes at first, then choosing between just 3. Some I loved, some I struggled with, but as he said of course, different flutes suit different people so the one I went for wouldn’t be everyone’s choice…
So why are the firm favourites loved by so many? Are all of the “great makers” flutes consistent? Unless you have lucky, flute playing friends, how do you know whether to buy an Olwell, a Murray, an Ormiston…etc? What happens if, heaven forbid, you got one you didn’t get on with?
Don’t be mistaken. Most of us probably bought the first decent flute we ran into. Then the chore begins - learning. There are probably a lot of stories about just how folks ran into their first flute.
Thankfully, Irish music is pretty much a social endeavor and you can meet a lot of people by playing sessions, going to workshops, attending festivals and even by taking lessons (heaven help us!). As you cross paths with other flute players there is a somewhat natural tendency to swap instruments. At least that’s been the case over my lifetime.
Get out and about and you’ll have your own flute playing friends. Some flutes are memorable, some are not. You’ll want the one that is memorable. It may take some time but it’s a good journey. You might have to buy a pint or two along the way.
That’s when you post an add on used instrument exchange.
If you told people where you live – by posting it as part of your avatar – a kind fluter might offer you his good flute to try. That said, all the top fluters are known for their fluting and not for their flutes. A top-notch fluter can make a side-blown garden hose sound good. Aaron Olwell can carve a flute out of a carrot and actually play a tune on the thing.
If you bought a flute and didn’t get on with it then you would just sell it on, perhaps losing a bit in the process; that’s the cost of experience. You can offer it on the Used Instruments Exchange on this site. Often you can buy one here for less than from the maker’s price – but not always. Flutes made by Olwell and Wilkes, however, generally go for more than the new price, saving you the long wait.
Your experience of trying several flutes and choosing the one you liked is the best way to choose a flute. It doesn’t matter if the other two were not to your liking, or if the maker is not consistent, if you liked the flute you bought. Learn on that one. Trying flutes from other flute players at sessions is a good way to get a feel for a maker’s flute - most are fairly consistent, ranging from typical of that maker to real winners - but a few minutes with a flute is not the same as living with something. You may end up selling even the best of flutes down the road as your playing and taste improves, sometimes at a loss. Still, if these were Boehms, you’d lose less than you would have if you’d rented a flute for a year or two.
The names you hear most commonly are often among the best, but personal taste - which takes time to develop and changes as you grow - means that some of the most coveted flutes are not necessarily the right or best flute(s) for you. Just the way things are - if you’ve played awhile, and tried many flutes, you’ll end up with your preferences and they may exclude some of the most popular makers for your own individual reasons (hand size, embouchure approach, ease of play or do you prefer a challenge?, what tone you’re after, what kind of power you want or don’t think you’ll need, etc.) That’s also why many players own more than one flute. And I won’t even get into keys.
All of the most admired flute makers make good flutes - even great flutes - and they certainly won’t hurt your progress if you chose one, even without sampling it. Most of the well-known names retain their value, if not the exact amount you paid, and a few, as David said, will cost more used than new. Some that drop in resale value are amazing deals, because the resale differential is (often) less about quality than wait list lengths and who’s the most coveted by other players at that time. But, as a player, the most coveted flute for you should always be the one that sounds the best, to you, and the one you most enjoy playing.
Yes, I suppose so! I’m happy with what I have now, and you’re all quite right I should just get out and meet some more players. I live in England, in the Midlands, but soon to be moving to Yorkshire where there is much more music. Hopefully I might catch a glimpse of some of these flutes in the wild…
And yes, I’m one of those people that bumped into their first flute by accident. Luckily for me it was a Dave Williams and someone else who knows about flutes recognised the name and told me to buy it. Thanks to eBay I ended up with a 4 keyed flute for £350. It needed a little work, but still, I was happy with that!
A good method is to purchase one of the maker’s lower end flutes, if they make them and have any available.
For me my low end flute is the Folk Flute. There is no reason to dumb down the acoustics on these and there is some efficiency as using the same reamers and acoustic profile as my higher end flutes on these. Plus these give me lots of practice tuning and voicing a certain acoustic shape that I have developed over 30 years, compared with a maker who might only produce a dozen or so flutes a year (I usually produce over 120 and may exceed 150 this year).
So these flutes end up playing as good as my higher end flutes with all the bells and whistles (keys and tuning slides) and I sell them as my loss leader, and get them into the hands of players all over the world. Some of these come back and order the more expensive ones from me later on, with all the customization, etc.
Or one could simply get the new Courting Flute. This flute is better than most high end flutes. Why? Its longer for one thing (then it must be better!), and has one more hole than a 6 keyed flute. There is no key work to worry about and even 2 people can play it at the same time! What other flute can do that? So you are getting more for your money with this flute.
We must apologize here at Casey Burns - Wind Instrument Maker. Casey has started his usual August break which only lasts a few weeks this year and he’s gone a bit crazy in the head, having just completed his 30th year making flutes - or as he says it, drilling a long hole through almost two miles of wood like some sort of glorified human earthworm or weevil. He says he should have gone into Hedge Fund Management instead, and is complaining about the next 30 years of weevildom. We regret these postings which we have no control over. He’s somewhere between here and Mendocino posting these on his iPad while playing his Accordina (an Accordina of all things! How tragic! Its the b@st@rd child of a wind instrument and a button accordion!), and we still can’t locate him. We are worried about him, that he may get into further mischief. The Management Team at Casey Burns - Wind Instrument Maker
“And yes, I’m one of those people that bumped into their first flute by accident. Luckily for me it was a Dave Williams and someone else who knows about flutes recognised the name and told me to buy it. Thanks to eBay I ended up with a 4 keyed flute for £350. It needed a little work, but still, I was happy with that!” KatHadley
Then you have acquired a great flute and at a bargain price. Dave was/is known mostly for his uilleann pipes, but his flutes are also quality instruments. I also have a four-key blackwood Williams. It was my first flute. Like a Wilkes it is not as easy to blow (for a beginner or someone unused to the embouchure) as say an Olwell or Murray, but stay with it, practice a little every day and you’ll be rewarded. As others have said try other peoples flutes if you get the chance, but you have a very good instrument there, so just practice and learn your flute no need to go chopping and changing just yet - all the best - ee by gum lass, Yorkshire’s a great place, I’m from Lincoln
Hi, I tend to agree with Julia (D). I am not agreeing with Gordon and that is to try out as many flutes as possible. I will try to explain myself. Trying to find a flute that suits is a long process in my view. You just can’t go to a session and try out another player’s flute. First of all not everybody likes this, flutes being very personal and last but not least a flute and a player need to bond. And this often takes months. I have people heard trying out a flute and directly deciding that the instrument wasn’t to their liking. often these were experienced people with a long state of experience in playing. As a novice you possibly can’t dismiss a flute by blowing it 2 or 5 minutes. I have bought and resold several flutes in the process just trying to find the right one. I even tried a flute for several months and couldn’t get to terms with it and it also came from a good maker. My advice would be to go to a well know builder after you have chosen a particular sound by listening to a good player or advanced session player. Then buy a quality flute which you would be able to sell if it isn’t your cup tea. A high end flute is easy to sell and often you won’t loose too much money because there is no waiting list. Good luck!
This is not at all what I was advising, Ronnie, so you can hardly disagree with me regarding that advice. I said that trying out a few different flutes from the maker of your choice is certainly the best way to pick a flute out from one particular maker, if you are in a place (the shop itself, or at a fair, etc.) where you can do so. Since many flutes are purchased via the internet, or long-distance sales via post, it is often not possible to do so. I also said that, sure - try other player’s flutes to get an idea what you might like, but that a few minutes with any flute will not tell you much beyond, well, how a flute plays for you immediately. Many flutes and their players strike an agreeable accord later on in their relationship… After years of trying other flutes and practicing on your own, you will begin to know what you want in a new flute, when and if you feel you need one.
I also said that a quality flute from a known maker will at the very least be a decent flute, even if, ultimately, it is not the perfect flute for you, and you can always resell it later, as your abilities and personal taste develops. Which is what you said, after I did. So, in fact, we are - and were - on the same page completely.
I do agree with Casey that there are many lower-priced flutes out there at the moment, including his well-regarded folk flute, that are better than fair flutes, and well worth buying before a newer player lays down huge chunks of money on so-called top-end flutes. I wish there had been these flutes around when I first started out - or that I’d been aware of them - but there certainly are plenty around these days.
I live in England, in the Midlands, but soon to be moving to Yorkshire where there is much more music. Hopefully I might catch a glimpse of some of these flutes in the wild…
If you’re moving to Yorkshire (particularly anywhere in reach of Leeds) then come over to a session, have a few tunes, swap flutes, you’d be very welcome. Send me a PM or email whenever suits.
PS. I suspect there might be as much or more music in the Midlands, having just come back from the Pat Molloy weekend in Birmingham
What can I say? I gave my opinion. on the matter. I’ll keep,it short now. You can’t judge flutes by trying them out for a few minutes. High end flutes are easier to shift if they don’t do it for ya. My personal view. Buy one from a known maker get aquainted with it, if it doesn’t do the trick, sell it. That’s what, I did.
You can’t judge flutes by trying them out for a few minutes. High end flutes are easier to shift if they don’t do it…
You can say that again:
You can’t judge flutes by trying them out for a few minutes. High end flutes are easier to shift if they don’t do it…
One of the best players I know (Alan Griffin, from Lisdoonvarna, who now lives in the Basques country and plays with the group Antzina) is still playing his first good flute: a seven-keyed Hammy from the early nineties. In his hand the flute is dynamic, flexible, and sweet. He has learned to get the most out of his flute, accepting and understanding the nuances that it takes to be both expressive and powerful. I play a lot of flutes, and enjoy their differences, but there is something to be said for only playing the one flute.
I agree about the limitations of trying a flute for a few minutes. Still, done intelligently, there can be some value in it.
Last night I tried a Hammy and, sure enough, the holes were too big for my fingers (which tended to get swallowed
in some of them) and the flute was something of a handful. Not a problem of the flute, but not a flute for me, probably.
Last year I played briefly a Glenn Watson flute. It was very comfortable in my hands and it sounded fine, and partly
as a consequence, if I were looking for a flute I would be thinking favorably about one of these.
Of course I care a good deal about reviews I read here and the fact that great people are playing a certain make of flute.
And I do, of course, agree that more experience can reverse initial impressions. But, despite the limitations, some
time playing a flute, when added to the mix, can be a help. I don’t think I would just send off to a good maker
and wait and pay and then sell it if it didn’t work out. That’s how I would end up with the Hammy–no slight to it,
but not a good fit for me.
I agree with what you’re saying here, Jim, to an extent. That’s why I recommended people try other flutes through the years, not with buying in mind or the somewhat fickle need to constantly change flutes - I do think a player should stick to one particular flute at a time - but rather to get a feel for how different one make or style can be from another, to see how that may or may not influence your playing.
That said, often what’s comfortable at first try and seems the most appealing in the short term, especially in the few minutes you have at a session - easy tone control, smaller finger spacing, etc - may become, or feel, limited later on, while the seemingly less-comfortable flute can, with work, be harnessed into the more rewarding main player. Of course, not always.
My first big purchase, appropo to this conversation, was a keyless Hammy, and I based that purchase on a few minutes with a friend’s Hammy during a session. Many times afterwards I’ve wondered if it was the best choice for me, given my particular style and narrow fingers; it is a handful, the holes and bore are quite large, and I’m not always up to it. Still, it was a better flute than others I could swap it out for, dollar for dollar, and when I play it well, it is superb. So I hung onto it. Lately - eleven or so years after its purchase - I’ve been achieving a consistent, tooth rattling tone from it that eluded me over the years and - more importantly - the flute feels quite comfortable and natural in my hands. I’ve brought in a flute or two to replace it now and again, but invariably find myself - especially in session - back on the Hammy. Lesson? None, really - but with my limited ability to swap out for ‘better’ flutes (and I’d argue there really aren’t better ones, just different), I stayed with my first choice. Love to own some other flutes down the road, and I do wish I’d gone for keys on it originally, but the quality investment made right off kept the level higher than had I gone for an easier player (for me) in the first place.
no need to go chopping and changing just yet - all the best - 
ee by gum lass, Yorkshire’s a great place, I’m from Lincoln
on the matter. I’ll keep,it short now. You can’t judge flutes by trying them out for a few minutes. High end flutes are easier to shift if they don’t do it for ya. My personal view. Buy one from a known maker get aquainted with it, if it doesn’t do the trick, sell it. That’s what, I did.
