By chance I came across this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01ndELCxHzk
It’s flutemaker F. Baubet, currently living in Ireland presenting one of his flutes. I like the sound of this particular flute. Anyone having experiences with this guy and his flutes?
A link to his website:
http://francoisbaubet.50webs.com/index.html
certainly looks very interesting and very well priced, I too would be vert interested to hear from anyone with experience of these flutes.
Hi,
I play on a François’s flute D Blackwood and keyless.
I’m very satisfied a strong low register and a high register rich in harmonics
Olivier
Hi Olivier,
can you elaborate a bit more, please? Is it an easy player? Lightweight or heavy? How does it compare to your Lehart (I assume) in your avatar? How about intonation? Thanks.
Solid guy, great maker, great to deal with. Rock solid guarantee of satisfaction, no matter how many weeks you’ve had the flute. He doesn’t want to think that there might be a player out there who doesn’t like a flute he made. His price for a beautifully made four-key flute is ridiculously low. Email me for details.
I am going to be picking up a Baubet Delrin keyless flute with the larger 60mm silver rings this June whilst I am in western Ireland. Matter of fact, I will be lodging almost walking distance from Francois’s shop in Enis. I am very excited about adding this instrument as my 2nd flute with my Windward keyless Olivewood flute.
I agree with others here about his very reasonable prices for not only his keyless flutes, but most especially his keyed models as well. I must admit I would love to have one of his fully keyed African Olivewood flutes too. I seem to be getting instrument POOR…LOL
I ordered a 3 keyed Olivewood flute from F.Baubet. I’m looking forward having it in 3-6 months. I’ll let you know 
a high register rich in harmonics
love to know what this means.
It means you keep your harmonicas in a cash register on the top shelf.
i interpreted that to mean that he is able to play the high notes and have good timbre with this flute
I don’t get why one would need an Eb key without a Bb key. Maybe not “to play in the key of Eb and Bb” but for venting or some other uses?
many flutes cross finger Bb quite well
Eb not so much 
Exactly. Bb is done quite Well with XOX XXX in low register and XOX OXO in high register for instance. And for users of the piper grip, thé Bb and C keys are not vert handy.
These flutes look real nice! Great price too. 
[Thread resurrection. - Mod]
Just to return this thread to life:
Has anyone of the posters above (and others) received his Francois Baubet flute? Impressions? Opinions?
I’m just thinking of ordering a keyed one.
Yes I did
My 3 keys olive wood flute is both beautifully looking & sounding. I was so pleased with it that I ordered a keyless delrin flute to François and recieved it quickly, and this later is even more powerfull (delrin vs olive wood) but yet as pleasant & easy to play.
I really recommand the Baubet flutes !
Oh great, sacrenouille.
Thanx for reply).
Does anyone else have Francois Baubet flutes? More reviews?
I have a delrin keyless one since June 2011 (my 1st flute) and I’m very satisfied with it !
As Sacrenouille (salut!) said it can be very powerfull and have a very rich tone, in the 1st and 2nd octave.
Baubet told me that the embouchure might be a little bit difficult at first but it was the promise of a good potential, and my flute teacher said to me that I can progress a long time on it.
Francois Baubet: a review
In January I ordered from him a rudall D flute in mopane with 4 keys. I hesitated about what wood to have the flute from but finally decided to have a mopane one, mostly due to that video posted here in the very first post of the thread - the sound of the flute in mopane there seemed great to me. Beside that, Francois wrote mopane was his favourite tonewood so I thought he could make a really good flute from the wood he likes the best.
I ordered a D Rudall style flute in mopane with 4 basic keys, a screw cork and L3 hole slightly offset.
Francois told me that waiting term would be about 6 months and it was indeed so - the flute was ordered on the 10th of January and completed in mid July. Francois is very pleasant to deal with - all my questions were clearly answered and all the options I wanted explained and fulfilled well. Francois’ prices are very reasonable and he doesn’t take deposit (ie. you pay all the sum after he informs you that the flute has been made).
Finally, my flute was brought by a friend of mine from Ireland to Moscow where I had a chance to pick it up some 3 weeks ago.
The flute came in a good case with a humidity regulator and a vessel of cork grease - this all was included in the price.
The flute looks beautiful - more than I expected, craftsmanship is excellent. It is very solid to hold, quite heavy - head is significantly havier than the rest of the flute due to being fully lined, and if I hadn’t a habit to hold it on my shoulder while playing (like Harry Bradly or M.McGoldrick) I would have found this balance quite challenging. But this is a matter of getting used to, I suppose.
I wouldn’t say that the tone of my flute resembles the one on the Francois’ video. What surprised me (and others who listened and played) when I first played this flute - it’s how loud, open, bright and resonant its tone was. Just now I can compare it with my old German 8-key blackwood flute with a metal head which plays in C#. It sounds softer, quieter and poorer in respect of resonance - when you play the Baubet’s flute you can really feel the buzz of the wood throughout the range. The old German has somewhat more velvety sound, it is pleasant but not that rich. To my surprise it is easier to play the new flute though it has larger tone holes and embouchure, - it is easier to fill than the German one,- when you play the latter it seems that a good part of air is lost in vain. Not saying about tuning issues - the Baubet’s flute is excellently in tune while the German is to be lipped up and down to be in tune (within its C#). The new flute is more responsive then the old one.
I would say the flute is quite an easy player with an exception of the bottom notes which were at first a bit tricky for me (requires more concentrated embouchure) but since I was used to my old flute I had to just change my habit a bit - to get strong and buzzing low D.
Now I am gradually getting used to my new flute in and breaking it in and it seems to sound better and better with every time.
I don’t have a lot of flutes here to compare it with but certainly Francois made a great flute.
Here’s Francois site http://francoisbaubet.com/ - it is not very informative, just a page, hope he’ll eventually build a full one with all options, now it better to write directly on his e-mail (given on this page).
You can see variety of his flutes on his Picasa Page.
That is a great review. Thanks for posting it.
