So a keyless 2 piece blackwood flute from Seth Gallagher costs $1200 and a fully keyed Concert Pitch Nickel-Silver/Sterling Silver
Practice set with wooden reed cap is $1,550? How does that work?
Seems like flutes cost an arm and a leg these days…one of those market-will-bear situations? Thank God for Ebay!
Kevin, I think you are probably quite right, here. It is probably what the market will bear. I have an order in to Casey Burns for one of his flutes that is in the same range as the SG prices you quote. It is much more than what I would pay for a chanter. I’m not sure, but I think one of the issues may be the need for a far more exacting design and execution for a flute (I could be wrong).
Another possible reason for the price disparity may be that, once you have the flute, that’s the end of the transaction, whereas when you buy into UPs, there are drones and regs to grow into. Because of these additional costs, the overall price of a full set is much more than a single flute. I am guessing that using the same pricing formula as a flute might put the cost of UPs beyond too many people’s reach.
djm
In addition to what djm said, I would add that you should really be comparing a chanter to just the bottom two-thirds of a flute, not the whole flute with headjoint. A good headjoint is quite time-consuming to make, especially those that are lined and have tuning slides. And cutting the embouchure is not just a matter of drilling a hole…there’s undercutting and shaping involved, and a lot of testing, as the embouchure hole essentially defines what your flute will sound like. Try the same flute body with three different head joints, and you will hear three different flutes. Buying a good headjoint alone can set you back anywhere from $300-$800.
I suppose when you factor the time of making a good reed into the equation, the time it takes to make a chanter might end up being similar to the time it takes to make a flute, so in that case I would reiterate what djm said.
Actually, Seth’s practice set, in comparison to his $1200 keyless 2 piece flute, is $1325 without keys or a wooden top. With the keys (4), his practice set is $1825 and if you want a wooden top on top of the keys it is $2050 (or $2325 if the wooden top has a stop key). So the prices are actually further apart than Keven noted.
I think that the disparity can be accounted for by a price compensation out of sympathy for the aggravations of pipering. 