I’ve recently been coming across the name Firth, Hall & Pond, a 19th century American flute manufacturer. Grey Larsen’s main flute was made by them, and I’ve also seen mention of them in other discussions of 19th century, pre-Boehm system flutes. Does anyone know more about these instruments? What sort of system do they use? How do they sound? Big holes, little holes? Are they sought after by collectors and players? Etc?
Thanks,
Paul
for an example see Terry McGee’s new left handed site.
Grey Larsen seems to be the main exponent of Firth, Hall and Pond flutes in the Irish trad world today. Terry McGee’s site has a nice picture of what they look like, since during his world flutemaker’s tour a couple of years ago he met Grey, measured his flute, and has since developed his own design based on it. I’ve never played a FH&P flute myself, but I did see Grey’s flute up close a few years ago when he came by our local session. I would say that the flute would stack up on the smaller end of the flute spectrum, i.e. short foot, smaller holes and a correspondingly smaller sound than a Pratten-style flute (e.g. a modern-day Hammy or Olwell). Maybe even a bit smaller sound than a Rudall-style flute. (But please note that by saying “small” I’m not saying that small is bad. Also, if Andrew Pickering is lurking about here, “small” as I’m using it here has nothing at all to do with loudness.) To get a good idea of what they sound like, listen to Grey’s sound clips on his website www.greylarsen.com . I doubt that anyone playing today could get more out of these flutes than Grey does, so his sound clips ought to tell you all you need to know about these flutes.
Yes , Glauber .Left handed .
Scroll a bit further to "left handed " flutes, if you have the energy .
Grey’s Firth&Pond, nee Hall, is really an anomaly for these makers and I’m guessing comes near the end of their production line. They made (or imported from England as some believe) many types of flutes, from small hole single key baroque models to large hole Siccama style flutes. I find their medium-hole model which closely mimics a Rudall to be most noteworthy. For about a 10 year period (that’s a hypothesis) they had a stock of gorgeous grained wood of some purple rosewood variety.
A couple of key styles are evident, the saltspoon Riley inspired and then later the flat type as on Grey’s flute. The Rudall style is solid at 440 and in my opinion sound great. F&P flutes don’t have the nicities of a R&R, i.e., no lined key blocks, key springs rest on the wood and not a striker plate, no key cork silencer dots, but in their typical American functionality, they do the job very well indeed.
Since Terry came out with information regarding F&P their prices on Ebay have gone up considerably. Get ready to spend close to 2K on an 8 key model. American flutes seem to have become more popular with collectors. And don’t forget that there’s three reasons why Grey’s flute sounds like it does: Grey, an Abell headjoint, and the flute body, in order of importance. But hey, that’s just my opinion.
Another maker will be introducing a FH&P model this year. From what I understand; mid to late summer is the timeframe. It is also my understanding that they will be based on Grey’s flute…
Tony
Okay, I stand (somewhat) corrected. I wasn’t aware that Grey had an Abell headjoint on his flute.
Found it: http://www.mcgee-flutes.com/LH-flutes.htm
When you said “left handed site”, i thought he had reworked his whole site to make it easier to use for gauches like me. I detect a degree of unwarranted irritation in your post (“if you have the energy”), but it’s probably just nothing. It turned out i did have the energy, after all! 
No irritation ,just joking .It is futher down and I thaught you may have had a hard day .
Thanks! Not very hard. No death threats, or attempted physical damage or anything of the sort. But the day’s still young, there’s still time.
I’m left handed but have never understood why people play the flute left handed .The history of left handed playing and the flutes made to accommodate it would be an interesting study .Especially (if Im right )there is a much higher proportion of people playing L/H than the proportion of lefthanders in the population .Terry agreed so he put up my flute for starters .I have since heard of a L/H Grenser , and a L/H Monzani.
Any others ?
Have you all seen the Firth & Pond at present on Ebay ?
I wasn’t able to find it on ebay.. Do you have a link?
Thanks,
Tony
My apologies .The auction ( No2373293082 ) ended 1/2 hour before I wrote .I wasn’t following it too closely .$245
Andrew, I actually laughed out loud.
You so amuse me! 
Mary
Thanks for all the info everyone. I don’t know how this thread took a left turn (!), but stranger things have happened here.
Paul
Yeah. I didn’t think it was funny, i thought it was gratuitous aggression bleeding over from the “fake Rudall” thread. :roll: And reeeealy, i have enough annoyances in my life already. I don’t need this, the board doesn’t really need me, that’s how people fade away. It’s like being nibbled to death by vicious “toy” doggies. Thanks, Kevin, maybe i don’t have the energy, after all.
What nonsense .I have already said I think you are the best contributor to the site .Don’t sulk .No harm intended .
Andrew has a dry sense of humor, please note well.
Andrew, newbies to the board (anybody joining
after this post) may misread you.
Maybe emoticons? I don’t use them myself. Best
I am afraid there seems to be a huge gulf between American humour and English Humour .I have heard that American humour relies primarily on slapstick ,and is little understood /appreciated in Britain .Who knows about Ulster ? I fear that there may also be some conflict between the English temperament and the Latin temperament , neither of course being superior - just different .
I hope that Americans are not such delicate creatures that one dare not make jokes in their presence , or even tease them on occasion .
I am sorry that Glauber is so sensative as to be wounded by anything I might say , especially when it innocently done .I have a high regard for him and I would hate to offend him except for saying that he has his threads mixed up .(Rudall as opposed to N*******n)