so i sold all that stuff (my Abell set, the antique boxwood, the walnut sweetheart, and my ebonite F M&E) in order to buy Dave’s ebonite Hawkes (that he had up on ebay–i bid on it at the time, but couldn’t make the reserve). anyway, he was kind enough to arrange something with me afterwards, so after i got all the money in my paypal i sent it to him.
and i got one bad @$$ flute. to coin something Pat told me; i think i’ve found my dream flute. this thing is awesome. Dave told me it “growls”; it does. i love ebonite too; no muss, no fuss.
i tried a bunch of delrin flutes looking for something i could safely travel with and settled instead on the ebonite M&E, which had the most growl of the bunch. this one growls too, but is also easy to play, all the way down to the bottom C, which still rocks. (on my german flute i have to rubber band down the low c nat key and it still isn’t as loud : ).
Dave and i are wondering why no one seems to have copied this flute; i’m not exaggerating–i’m sitting here looking at 10 D flutes right now and the Hawkes is my favorite, hands down.
so anyway, i’ll have a couple of flutes for sale soon… but for now, here’s some photos of the Hawkes:
I guess I’m one of many who thought that the flute was probably well deserving the deal, but the combination of the player*) and his budget wasn’t. Yet. Of course I don’t think we’ll see much more of those I’m afraid, but there you go. Nice to see it has a home.
*) edit: just want to clarify I was referring to myself here
Nice looking flute–it also piqued my curiosity when it was on ebay, especially because of the foot-key arrangement (which appeals to the former Boehm fluter in me). I wonder why most makers copy the grasshopper foot keys of the earlier nineteenth century, rather than this later, more practical arrangement?
For that matter, why do makers/players seem generally more into flutes up to about 1860 or so, rather than later flutes, like this Hawkes?
I think Paddy Ward was offering a Hawkes at one time, but not sure if he still does. He’d measured the ebonite one I still have and had a wood one himself.
I agree the foot key arrangement is much easier to use. Of more practicality is the space given for the E hole, by that I mean that the Eb key (crescent, which I think Rockstro likes to take credit for) and the short-F key are spaced enough that you’re neither accidentally venting the F nor having to contort your pinkey to activate the foot keys. Very comfy. I suspect because it’s a rod/spring setup and that violates the block-key ethos.
I had an Eb version of this and it could certainly bark, i also have it’s little brother the Eb Piccolo which is a dream to play. Maybe someday i’ll buy one in d
I just hope he is OK himself, but of course I cannot tell.
Now, back to the lighter subject of the ebonite Hawkes. Mr. speaker, chairman of the board, I think that I’m speaking for everyone present here when I say…
… Clip!!
(And oh, yeah, feel free to say “no” if you don’t feel like playing us some )
i just sent you a pm; i’ll see what i can do. i’d like the feedback honestly, still being a fledging flute player. but i tried to record something and just totally blew out the microphone (on my cheap webcam) in the 2nd octave, so i guess i’ll have to play around with the levels and see if i can work something out. (or get a better microphone
If you have a video camera on your mobile phone, use that - most phones have at least a 3MP camera now which will take tolerable MP4 videos - set it up about 8 feet away… that’s how I do all my vid clips! My current and not up-to-date phone has an 8MP camera - and I take it you’ve seen the clips I produce with it. The sound quality is half-decent too. Using your phone, you can get away from the computer, do it away from the computer’s noise, anywhere that suits. I edit the clips (crop/splice) on the phone and then just transfer them to my computer from the memory card and upload them. Easy peasy!
Good luck!