So recently a friend of mine showed me a link to what I perceived to be a quite bizarre antique wooden flute. The flute appears to be made of grenadilla/ebony with nickel-silver/German silver rings and keys with a few ivory accent pieces. The keys would total to about 14 and the alternate Bb key (technically referred to as a lever) is missing. The end of the flute (I’m not sure if it would be referred to as a ‘foot’ in this instance) is styled much (in my opinion) like a ‘boot’ on the bassoon. I’ve seen photos of a low A simple-system however not one such as this. I’ve made a small montage from the eBay photos and made a few minor labels of what I believe the keys to be (the out of the ordinary keys are labeled but may not be 100% correct).
Once again, to those who’ve chosen not to read the previous in full, I’m not 100% certain of the key labels on the lower joint/foot and apologize if this is incorrect.
With its re-curved foot and all, it’s an unusual flute, and no doubt an interesting flute for a collection.
However, in a practical sense, there could be some performance negatives.
For instance, beyond a potential for a player to spit at themselves (:lol:), and beyond a potential for leaks, given all of its keys, perhaps the biggest issue could have to do with weight distribution, given the additional weight of the foot, and given that some of that weight is effectively offset, away from the head to foot centerline of the flute. The additional weight could cause the flute to be foot heavy, perhaps leading to a need for an awkward grip on the flute, and, because some of the weight of the foot is effectively offset, perhaps (and likely) the flute could tend to roll inwards (for instance, as the top side toward the player). I have a couple of Boehm flutes which include an otherwise popular C# trill mechanism, but, in practice, the additional offset weight of that mechanism effectively causes a flute to roll inwards, as a perpetual annoyance. Yes, Boehm flute makers generally appear more than glad to mention the potential benefits of the C# trill, but I have yet to see one Boehm maker address the matter of such a flute’s tending to roll inwards. :-/
A collector, or a museum, however, might think otherwise.
Hmm… I’ve yet to notice any sort of funky angling/rolling, personally, with playing a flute with a C# trill key. I suppose it depends on the overall weight of your flute (ex. heavy or thin wall) as well as your wrist support while you play, etc. I have very dainty 10 y/o girl wrists that I’ve been scared to accidentally break (lol) however have yet to notice any sort of ‘rolling’ issues with flutes aside from the bass flutes with the T-shaped bulky crutch-- UGH! Unfortunately (or possibly QUITE FORTUNATELY!) I was not a bidder on the funky-looking flute although curiosity is knocking on one of the nerves in my brain-- OUCH! Do you think my labels on the keys on the lower joint/foot seem to be correct?
I was thinking that although that piece on the headjoint seemed to be an indicator, it seemed to me more of a locking device. If you look carefully at the photo of the barrel, it looks as though there’s a turn-key on the barrel and that would lock the headjoint in place after the tuning slide has been aligned to where you want it. Wonder if the high bidder is a member of the C+F forum…
