Hey, I am considering getting myself a Burns Low A flute, with the rings, though I haven’t picked the wood yet.
Can anyone tell me what their like, what is thought of them, or if you have one you want to sell, tip me a pm and we’ll chat.
Negative opinions welcome, I just haven’t experienced once, so I’m wondering.
Beannacht leat
demon_piper
I’m curious about this or any low-A flute. I keep running across tunes played on them lately. A couple by Chris Norman, a couple by Frankie Kennedy. It’s such a cool sound, and without all those flats on a Bb flute. 
I sort of have/had one. Mine had some tuning problems (at least the way I play) and Casey graciously offered to adjust it for me. He stands behind his work! So it is currently with him and I hope returning home soon.
It is a beautiful (and hefty) thing to behold. The tone on mine was wonderful and it played very easily throughout the full range of the instrument. I have long thin fingers and didn’t have any trouble with the reach even with minimal off-set of the holes on the right hand that I requested. My band mates call it “the bat” and it is only a little shorter than a baseball bat …and the tone! Did I mention the tone? Rich, sonorous, and sublime.
Clark Ratliffe
If I were getting a wooden bass A flute I would save hard
and plead Terry McGee to make me a keyed Siccama style flute.
And I would definitely ask for keys for the lower than A gee sharp and gee.
Then I would show those Sufi ney players a thing or two. 
I play a Chris Wilkes blackwood 5-key Bb which is a joy. The previous owner had Casey Burns make a keyless A section that replaces the two middle pieces on the Wilkes. It plays well in A – albeit quietly.
Getting an A section might be a less inexpensive option for somebody who already has a bb flute.
With great anticipation, my Low A in Mopane should/could be in my hands next week or the week after.
MarkB
It might be worthwhile to have Casey make you a Bb section. Like buying two flutes for the price of a bit more than one flute. Bb would probably be more useful than A, if only because there are more Bb pipers and sessions than in A.
C is lovely as well; a C middle section would use the D HJ and foot.
David, I agree that C is a nice key. I actually e-mailed Hammy to see if he could fit a C body to my (favorite Hamilton) flute, and he said it could be done but that he would have to make the bore smaller than he would like in order to fit the D head/barrel. He prefers to make a straight C flute. Other makers will vary, I am sure.
Mary
I know David, I couldn’t afford the combo at this time and I want to see how the stretch was on the Low A before going ahead with the Bb body and if can fill the thing with air!
I really don’t have the chance of playing with pipers most of the time and the several I know have sets in D.
MarkB
One of the rewards of playing a C, Bb or an A flute is the way it makes the D flute seem so much smaller and easier to move around on. Like a baseball player swinging two bats before going to the plate with one bat.
I don’t find the larger flutes harder ‘to fill:’ the air is already in the flute. My embouchure might need to be more focused.
I find my hand getting tired from holding the heavier, longer flute. I have to build up my endurance before playing comfortably in a Bb session.
A C flute is much easier and is very lovely. Playing along with a set of C pipes is joyful.
Yes, mine too. Thank you for that David. Hmmm … my Bb is wanting ma Bouche to be ma bouche.
I was talking to Kevin Ryan a few weeks ago when he had just recieved his 8-key Bb Grinter. As he was touring, and the flute wasn’t played in properly he couldn’t take it with him to Sweden at that time, so unfortunately I didn’t get to try it out 
But he told me that he would acctually use a bit less breath pressure on that flute than on a regular D. It needed a more focused embouchure but didn’t recuire as much air.
I’m dying to get a Bb, probably a Mopane Burns, maybe with an A body to go with it.
I spoke with Casey BUrns a while back. He said that his C flute is a different bird than his D so you can’t just get a C body for his D head.
I have heard good things about his C flute though.
Doc
I have a Casey Burns low A and B-flat combo package in blackwood and sterling silver and I absolutely love them. I am using them more and more in performance and I really enjoy playing my A flute at sessions. The rich low sonoroties are incredibly satisfying, and they are surprisingly easy to blow and comfortable for the hands. When people try out my low A or B-flat, they seem to be instantly transported by the gorgeous sound and surprised to find that this sound is so accessible to them.
I have posted quite a bit of information and opinion on these flutes at my website at http://www.greylarsen.com/store/lowflutes.php, including recordings of me playing them and a free transcription of Martin Wynne’s #2 showing how one can play tunes like this on the low A flute, in unison with other players, and getting those lovely low “fiddle G string” notes that one cannot play on the normal D flute.
I find my A flute so useful that next month I will be sending it back to Casey to have him retrofit it with six keys. In the future he plans to offer tuning slides as well. But, the present keyless design, without a tuning slide, makes for a very economical instrument, starting at only $600.
One can purchase these through Casey Burns, or through my website. The latter helps to support my work in Irish flute writing, teaching, performing and recording. I’d be happy to answer questions about these flutes and I recommend them wholeheartedly.
Happy fluting,
Grey
http://www.greylarsen.com/store/lowflutes.php The comma busted the link.
On the topic at hand. . . drool!
Anybody know what key Sarah Allen uses for her low flutes with Fluke??
Sarah Allen plays a Boehm-system alto flute, in G.
Thanks Grey for posting, it was your sound files on your website that convinced me to go ahead and purchase a Low A flute, with a Bb body to follow in time.
And I will go back to your site to listen how you play D tunes on the A!
MarkB
Again, that dampness you feel is my drool. I’m totally jonesin for one of these because it would allow me to play GHB repertoire/fingerings and still fit in in a session for a lot of tunes.
Is it worth selling off a newly acquired 12-string electric guitar? GAS-inflicted minds want to know.
MarkB[/quote]
Again, that dampness you feel is my drool. I’m totally jonesin for one of these because it would allow me to play GHB repertoire/fingerings and still fit in in a session for a lot of tunes.
[/quote]
This is very interesting to me. As someone who does not know a lot about GHB fingerings, would you please explain how GHB fingerings relate to the low A flute fingerings?
Many thanks,
Grey
Sure thing.
There are a few specific reasons why an A flute is appealing.
Highland Pipes are technically in A (Although in reality most are tuned somewhere around Bb or higher). On a pipe chanter, an A is fingered with “six fingers down,” much like a D on a flute. There are some important differences, including a lower-hand 4th finger hole on a pipe chanter for low G, and a thumb hole for high A, but the core of the fingerings are the same. An A-flute allows most of the GHB repertoire to be played on a flute without transposing everything to a different hand. Throw in a low G key on a long foot and the entire GHB repertoire is immediately available, with minimal fingering differences.
There are a lot of Irish tunes played commonly on pipes. To cite an example, the reel Farewell to Erin has be heard a lot recently in pipe competitions. I’ve known this reel for years, but I can’t play it on a D flute at the moment (working on it slowly but surely.) Other examples include the Silver Spear, Kesh Jig, Jolly Beggarman, etc. Basically, if it’s possible to cram a tune into one octave, somebody has probably written a version for pipes.
At just about every session I’ve been to (Not that many), I’ve heard a lot of tunes like that. I’ll pick up a D whistle and realize I’m playing in the wrong key more often then not, because I know the fingerings for a different instrument. It’s a weird experience. Usually, I’ll play the tune in D or E, starting on the lower hand, and the rest of the group will be in A or B.
Also, I speculate that a lot of Scottish tunes like Strathspeys, with a lot of wide, staccato interval jumps would be easier to play in one octave on a flute rather than switching between first and second. Probably more of a sign that my embouchure needs work than anything else.
Ultimately I’d like to get complete fluidity to play any tune in any workable key seemlessly, but it’s nice to have options. More importantly, low flutes are just cool 