I prefer a two-piece ITM flute, the fewer the joints the better, but apparently because there are so many hand sizes in the flute playing community, it’s getting harder to find two-piece flutes and three-piece keyless flutes seem to be more of the norm, these days.
Which do you prefer, and why?
And, what is your hand size, the comfortable spread from the tip of your thumb to the tip of your little finger? Mine is about 9 inches, or nearly 23 cm.
I don’t care, to be honest. My flutes all have one-piece middle joints (with seperate footjoints) and I’m happy as it is.
Of course, all other things being equal, the two-piece center section is standard for Rudall-style flutes, with a one-piece center section being one of the hallmarks of the Pratten design. Still, if you’re playing a keyless Pratten, the elimination of the center joint is rendered moot by the absence of a G# key to correctly locate. Cheers,
Rob
I think that the reasons that three-piece flutes are becoming the norm for keyless flutes are: (1) they are more adjustable, accomodating different fingering styles and hand sizes, (2) they can be broken down into smaller pieces for ease of carrying and shipping.
Personally, I like to rotate the joint between the hands, especially on a larger low D flute. I even prefer the same three-piece layout for a smaller flute, such as a flute in F. It isn’t so much that my hands are small; I simply like the adjustment possibilities of having a joint between the hands.
By the way, three-piece flutes are easily convertible into two-piece flutes, if that is your preference. A couple of drops of super glue on the joint should do the trick. I doubt that doing this would help the resale value, however.
practical advice, Doug! 
My main flutes are both 3 piece (really, 5 pieces!) and I line up the tone holes anyway.
I don’t have a preference according to how many pieces the flute breaks down to. But I have to agree with the smaller case idea.
M
I’ll offer a mental bone to chew. 
The joints in a flute theoretically operate as acoustical dampeners. That is they absorb energy and affect the harmonics and tone of a flute.
Theoretically, a flute made of a single homogeneous material will produce the best harmonics. 
Season’s Greetings!
I was surprised to see that the joint between the hands affects the placement of the finger holes on my pvc flutes, resulting in a shift of 1-3 milimeters.
I don’t have evidence for this, but I am guessing that one-piece flutes will produce a more pure flute tone, with the flute tone becoming more complex as joints are added. However, a more complex flute tone is to be desired in an Irish flute used to play ITM.
I only like more pieces just because it’s easier to carry around. But my flute has its third piece as the foot joint, leaving the body all one piece. This is how bohem flutes are, too. I have found no benefit to my hands in having the extra joint between the hands, so I don’t really desire that.
Perhaps there is a trend because enough people are worried that the flute will be hard to reach? I wouldn’t know about any trends though.
I will sometimes rotate the lower joint of the flute out a little, I guess Nickolson liked to rotate it in? Anyway it seems to be a little easier on the lower notes, for me, anyway. I have made Prattens with both one piece and two piece mid section, if they are keyless it doesn’t much matter. With the smaller pieces, you can put the flute in your pocket…
It is more work to make that extra joint, and extra ring, so I imagine that is why you see more one piece sections . Conversly it is hard to find good long sections of some of the hardwoods like Boxwood to make the one piece bodies, so it is a trade off.
Hello Fluters from Southern Florida!
That is where I have been all week (I head home in the mornjing) seeing things like Alligators eat Turtles in the wild, Mahogany trees, fresh Passion Fruit, and swimming in the ocean out at Bahia Honda in the Keys. Best way to see the Keys is by boat, not the strip mall traffic jam that is Highway 1. The Everglades are just magnificent! This was a badly needed vacation and we’ve enjoyed staying with my sister in law at her timeshare condo.
I may be going from 3 piece to 4 piece flutes as a matter of course soon. What is driving this trend for me is that this is a better use of the wood resources. 320mm long middle joint blanks without flaws are just getting harder to come by and so I can do better my making the middles in 2 pieces from smaller, but better cuts of wood. Similarly my 2 piece Folk Flutes just got changed to 3 piece boxwood ones and it is easier to handle the boxwood in shorter sections, rather than the 15" long lower joint of the former Mopane flute. In Boxwood a length like that is hard to come by without some sort of major knot or inclusion - not to mention warping over such a length! Finally, it is better on this ageing flute maker to not have to bore and ream out such long pieces of wood. Shorter ones are easier to handle.
Casey
Some and perhaps most of my treasured, two-piece Sweetheart flutes have some kind of major knot or other inclusion in them, but they have never caused me any trouble, as unlikely as that may seem.
And, the functional simplicity of a two-piece ITM flute is hard to beat, but that’s just my experience.
Although you can’t beat the simplicity of a one piece bamboo flute, once in a while it’s kind of interesting to piece parts together from different flutes. For example the Eb foot from one of my 6-key flutes can replace the foot of my favorite keyless flute and still play in tune.
Uh-uh. Here’s Nicholson’s flute set up as the line-up dots set into the flute indicate:
The right hand is at a full 45 degrees compared to the right hand (I measured it). It also explains why he bent the touches of his Long F keys (when fitted) upwards, rather than downwards as other makers did.
I like it rolled out too - it makes your right hand fingers straighter and therefore more free to move, especially if you support the flute on the tip of your thumb. More about Nicholson’s view on holding and blowing at:
http://www.mcgee-flutes.com/Nicholson_on_Tone.htm
Terry