Flute players got screwed

[I.D.10-t]

[troll]
Violins were made for a long time and no one asks if they are A=440.
(Stratocaster violins have had their pins moved and other stuff
rearranged that they don’t even sound the same. Or was that Stradivarius?)
When they screwed up the chalumeau they gave it a new name.
Same with a Hautboy.

Yet you flute players have to define which kind of flute you play.
[/troll]

[plunk111]

uhhhh… What?

[crookedtune]

Oboie, you had to encourage him.

[fearfaoin]

If Violins had frets, the whole musical world
would probably be very different. Romani
music would be pretty different, for one.

So your answer is the slide flute. Who cares
what tuning that would be?

[an_seanduine]

If Violins had frets, the whole musical world
would probably be very different.

The Viola da Gamba family got left behind in the dust pretty early on. . .

Bob

[fearfaoin]

@an seanduine

The Viola da Gamba family got left behind in the dust pretty early on. . .

Yeah, stupid Lute-Cello hybrids. What were they thinking?
They don’t hold their bows right, either.

[an_seanduine]

A lotta years ago when I was in College, back before they wore shoes. . ., someone with a lotta money and good taste presented our Music Dept. with a full Suite of Gambas, and I had an opportunity to play with them En Consort on my recorder. Lovely buzzy sound. These were modern interpretations of late Baroque instruments with fixed inset hardwood frets, not like the earlier ones with tied on gut frets. They were set to a mean-tone temperament.
Thanks for that ‘blast from the past’

Bob

[benhall.1]

Ah yes, the tied on gut frets, deliberately designed to be moveable so you could play in different keys and subtly move the pitch to be more in tune.

Now, I wonder if anyone will come out of the woodwork, on that note …

[an_seanduine]

Calling the Afro-Celt Community! Any Kora players out there?

Bob

[MTGuru]

The solution everyone wants is obvious: movable holes. It’s beyond me why flute makers continue to attach the holes to the instrument with some sort of permanent glue that makes it impossible to move them even with considerable force. If you want to slide a hole to a different position, or lift it off entirely and store it away for future use, there’s no way to do that. Given the recent advances in temporary adhesives and modern breakthroughs in hole storage technology, you’d think someone would have thought of this innovation by now.

[benhall.1]

Have you tried holistic therapy?

No really …

[MTGuru]

@benhall.1

Have you tried holistic therapy?

Or maybe Gestalt.

[radcliff]

@MTGuru

The solution everyone wants is obvious: movable holes.

Someone already tought about it…
http://www.spada.criptanet.it/html/descrizi/desc79.htm

[crookedtune]

@MTGuru

The solution everyone wants is obvious: movable holes. It’s beyond me why flute makers continue to attach the holes to the instrument with some sort of permanent glue that makes it impossible to move them even with considerable force. If you want to slide a hole to a different position, or lift it off entirely and store it away for future use, there’s no way to do that. Given the recent advances in temporary adhesives and modern breakthroughs in hole storage technology, you’d think someone would have thought of this innovation by now.

A lot of A-holes would welcome the change.

[Rob_Sharer]

@MTGuru

The solution everyone wants is obvious: movable holes. It’s beyond me why flute makers continue to attach the holes to the instrument with some sort of permanent glue that makes it impossible to move them even with considerable force. If you want to slide a hole to a different position, or lift it off entirely and store it away for future use, there’s no way to do that. Given the recent advances in temporary adhesives and modern breakthroughs in hole storage technology, you’d think someone would have thought of this innovation by now.

I’d prefer it the other way around; get rid of all the wood bits. That’s where all the weight and bother is, if you ask me.

What you’d be left with would be a flute that’s all hole…kind of like this thread.


Rob

[Denny]

@Wed Apr 12

@flutefry

craftsmanship…… artisanship…… a very high level of craft.

Indubitably. A well-made flute must have all three, in addition to the following:

Its architecture must also be absolutely impeccable. Note that ‘impeccable’ on its own is not superlative enough, its quality of impeccabilitude must be, in a word, Absolute. Absolutely absolute at that. The slightest hint of peccability in its architectureship and it’s doomed.

It must scream quality. Loud enough to upset the neighbours in the early hours of a Sunday morning when you accidentally leave it assembled on the coffee-table after coming home pissed on a Saturday night.

If you look hard, you should be able to see the grain in the wood! This is a hallmark of a well-made wooden flute which sets it apart from the run-of-the-mill metal and plastic offerings on the market.

It should have superb fit and finish. That is, all the bits should fit, and it should be finished.

It should demand your respect, but you have to earn its respect too. If you accidentally leave it assembled on the coffee-table after coming home pissed on a Saturday night, you should wake to find that it’s left a horse’s head at the bottom of your bed.

It should kick butt. If you can’t say “Wow! This flute kicks butt!!” then it’s not well-made. When you emerge from your scratcher on a Sunday morning rubbing your bleary eyes and wondering how drunk you were that you scored with a horse’s head after the session last night, it should jump off the coffee-table and kick your butt.

It should practically play itself! The tune should be ‘The Home Ruler’, or at least the C# from it. Maybe even louder than the sound of the razor scraping across your chin on a Sunday afternoon, definitely louder than the gentle buzzing of the flies around the horse’s head, especially if you left the living-room window open.

Keys should not be clunky and should not impede playing (I know this is true 'cos I read it in a review). Especially if they’re not fitted.

Oh, and Colin says “It should be free-blowing. Unlike the Paddy McChud embouchure-less model, or those flutes which have an alien proboscis which flies up out of the hole and blocks your lips whenever you try to play”.

[jemtheflute]

@radcliffe

@MTGuru

The solution everyone wants is obvious: movable holes.

Someone already thought about it…
http://www.spada.criptanet.it/html/descrizi/desc79.htm

Ah well, there goes another unholey thread, sliding down the Swannee…
Never mind, don’t fret.

Trip-trap, trip-trap… (he said, Grimmly… but please don’t get gruff with me).

[chas]

@MTGuru

The solution everyone wants is obvious: movable holes. It’s beyond me why flute makers continue to attach the holes to the instrument with some sort of permanent glue that makes it impossible to move them even with considerable force. If you want to slide a hole to a different position, or lift it off entirely and store it away for future use, there’s no way to do that. Given the recent advances in temporary adhesives and modern breakthroughs in hole storage technology, you’d think someone would have thought of this innovation by now.

Yet another case in which the Beatles were forward-thinking. Ringo had a moveable hole in the Yellow Submarine.

[crookedtune]

And they knew how many holes it took to fill the Albert Hall.

[I.D.10-t]

@Wed Apr 12

the Paddy McChud embouchure-less model.

I had a McChud hole-less. Early version that was high pitch. Sold it because it wasn’t made of black wood.