Anyone have a D key flute with a thumbhole for C natural?
I am interested in your comments before I act.
Thank You.
I do! Terry put a Cnat thumbhole on my Tony Dixon about a year ago and I fell in love with it.
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It forced me to learn classical grip on the left hand which I now prefer (also made it easy as pie to learn the basic silver flute grip).
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brought the c/c# into much better intonation.
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all the other great things mentioned on Terry’s site. B-c-B passages easier.. new way to finger things, etc. try the D part in Gravel Walk.. soooo easy with a cnat hole to go c-g-c-a-c-g-c
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Great great great for high c nat.
I just got my Paddy Ward, but will be sending it back to him soon to get one added on it as well. I think I would add this to any keyless flute now. The only thing it obviously would make a problem for is if you ever wanted to add a Bb key. But since that can be reasonably cross-fingered, who cares right?
cheers
If you wanted to add a Bb key, you could have it operated by your right hand index finger.
ah! thanks for the tip…
About where is the Cnat hole placed? Was it Terry McGee who did the surgery to the Dixon?
Like Headwizer, I would like to know where the Cnat thumbhole is placed. Is it at 6 o’clock? Also, when you play the Cnat, do you completely lift your thumb from the thumbhole or merely rock your thumb, still making contact with the flute with your thumb?
Looking down the flute from the head to the foot, I’d say it’s more around 4:30. Sits comforably beneath my thumb, but obviously you could place it anywhere along the axis that works.
And yes, it was Terry McGee who did the surgery.
ta!
Thank you for your most relevant comments. I may be approaching Terry myself for a thumbhole on my D flute - mainly because there are somepieces that I do with a cross fingered C tonic and it is a bit unstable as a tonic. Otherwise I wouldna bother.
And Mr Tipple, once more thank you so much for the Eb flute! I will be ordering many more from you. I may ask for a thumbhole for the diminished 7th in future orders. I like 4.30 because that is precisely where my left thumb sits on the current D flute. Of course barrel diameter would impact on this position. On a larger diameter, like on my C bamboo, it sits at 5 o’clock. On your Eb it sits at 4.30.
I think I will ring Terry now regarding my Seery Blackwood. Hmmm … 
Well I rang but he was out. Ring him just after dinner was the friendly advice that I received. “And when do you have dinner?” I ask. To that came, “We like to have early dinner”.
Now, there is something disarmingly Irish about this conversation. 
I am gonna have to make up an excel spreadsheet or something with the dinner times of all the different flute makers I am dealing with …
I received only very recently a new Bb flute made by Tom Aebi. I asked for a Cnat thumbhole (actually Ab), and it is just great. It solved some intonation problems regards C# and C, which are more pronounced on a Bb flute than a D flute. All the advantages mcdafydd mention are true. It also gives the possibility to create a lovely Cnat “shaded vibrato”, by rapidly closing and opening some right hand finger holes (you need to experiment which combination sounds best). Cnat is often such an important note, and to give it special colouring is great.
The hole is also at 135 degrees, or 4:30 on your digital clock.
So if you are comfortable using the old way of holding the flute, and not clutching it with the thumb (as described by Nicholson: On the Manner of Holding the Flute (thanks Terry!), the extra hole is worth it. Hmmm, maybe I should carve out the side of my flute for the left index finger as Nicholson had it done for his flutes. And add some sealskin for a better hold the right thumb! Anybody got a square inch of sealskin?
~Hans
Dear Swan,
I really do take exception to your describing the diminished 7th on your Bb flute
in terms of the diminished 7th note on your D flute.
It makes my little tummy rumble so.
Well I rang Terry and he must have had a really nice dinner.
I will be doing my 3 hour drive to Canberra soon - in a few weeks or so.
I am gonna have to devise a graph for friendliness of flute makers. It is Krishna’s blessing upon me that they are so friendly to me. Even the flute repairer at Bondi Junction runs out onto the street to talk to me when I walk past …
Dear Great One Blessed by Krishna,
and I had this niggling feeling that you would
But I am following simply flutemakers convention in this matter.
Apparently flutemakers are not used to describe their flutes in terms of diminished sevenths!
I wish your tummy well.
~Hans
Yes, I am fully convinced that the thumbhole is the best way to diminish my 7th! 
Oh, and yes, I do tend to lift my thumb from the flute when playing it.
c rolls anyone? Well kindof.. c-c#-c-B-c
I’m going to have to read that rockstro article soon so i know what everyone’s talking about!
I had a C nat holes on a couple whistles (not flutes, I know, but I think what I’m saying applies to both), and at first it was very novel and cool, but eventually I never used it, prefering to half hole or cross-finger instead.
‘Pimp My Ride’?
one option is to take an old German flute, remove all the keys, and plug the holes (save the c nat.) with somthing (I recomend black cobbelers wax or caulk). most of the time, the hole for the c nat. key lies in a convient position
for your thumb to cover
I take my inspiration from people around the world who are smarter than I am. With regard to a C nat thumb hole, I had never even thought about it before. However, following the comments about people who like having a C nat thumbhole on a simple system flute, I decided that I would make one and see for myself.
My first reaction was that this was going to be a little more complicated than what I was used to. But, with the C nat thumbhole, the C nat seems to come in clearer than with the crossfingered note. Also, I noted that it was possible to sharpen some notes in the scale by slighter opening the thumb hole. As anyone who plays the recorder will know, this is a common technique in bringing in second octave notes on the recorder. On the low D flute slightly opening the C nat thumbhole, will greatly increase the third octave performance of the low D PVC, cylindrical bore flute. The C nat thumbhole is placed at 4:30 o’clock, so it is easy to merely rock the thumb to open the hole, while still maintaining contact with the flute.
Like I said before, I feed on the input of smart people. What do you think about another hole on the flute that you have to manage with your thumb?
I reckon if you keep going with the holes you’ll probably end up with something that looks like this:
