So, I’m out & about NOT looking for flutes (yeah, right) when on a stall I see 3 poor old cracked wood flutes held together with a rubber band for £30 the three. How could I resist. All nameless, 2 blackwood 1 cocus; two have a key system I don’t recognise , the third is an unpromising cracked 8 key with an angled Gsharp. I thought I could at least practice a bit of repairing repadding and recycle a key or 2 from this lot.
So I took the one I recognise, followed Jack Bradshaw’s glue instructions on 3 cracks,(thanks Jack) plug up the leaky keys with modelling wax, sort the tenons and … this amazing sound, - dark , powerful, spot on in tune, easy to blow across all 3 octaves. It’s the most “in tune” flute I ever tried. But rather low . I must admit I don’t understand pitch very well, it’s so low it could be not a D flute , but I’m not sure. But it’s a real belter of a flute and I love it.
A question, though, about the surface of it. Whoever made it coated it in a thickish varnish, tho’ there’s nice blackwood underneath. Do you think I could rub it down and give it a satin oil finish? I Don’t much like a glossy finish , not this tacky looking varnish anyway.
First thing you want to do is go to Terry’s site and look at his c# to eb measurements list…this should get you in the ballpark.
Look really close for an ID…could be realy faint markings.
Could CAREFULLY try taking off the varnish w/ solvent (which solvent ??? a little at a time…slow work…don’t want to soak the wood at all ! Maby that would give you a more desirable finish right away ??
Hi Julia,
Sounds like a treasure trove over there! A good thing to look for, is block mounted keys, a better indication that it is not a german flute.
Andrew is right, just get a cheap mike, and plug it into your sound card.
Here’s a cool tuner that is free to down load. http://www1.ocn.ne.jp/~tuner/tuner_e.html
You can adjust the tuner to the freq. of the flute i.e. A=430, A=460 etc.
and see what tuning has the least errors.
Jon
I’m sure there is an unloved, forgotten, yet astoundingly remarkable flute waiting for me…all dusty in a corner within an unassuming antique store….with a meager price tag…(can’t forget to add that).
And when I place the shine-less dull Blackwood to my lips a sound so dark and rumbling pours forth like a cascading stream though a dark wood. One swift whipe clears away the dust to reveal a wood so dark, it shimmers like the sleek coat of a galloping black mare though the moors.
Yes, I shall find this flute…and by the sounds of it….I shall find it long before you do….
Guys,
Thank you so much again for the tips and help - pitch experiments start tomorrow. Thanks for the software tip Jon. Jack, thanks for Terry’s lists and for the advice - looking closer at junk flute 2 I see it has a teeeeny stamp saying Germany right at the end of the foot.
I must say I am the proverbial dog with 2 tails over the flute that works, just played it this evening, it has a low and lonesome sound, yum. And one of the other 2 , which had a stuck slide , after a bit of WD40 and a comedy tug-o-war act between meself and a burly sculpture technician at the artschool I teach, yielded to the inevitable force of a determined woman and came apart in the right place. It too sounds great, is in tune, only needs 1 new pad and plays chromatically although I’ve no clue what system it is, but will check it out.
The third junk flute however may not even make a lamp base. Still ye never know.
Bargains? well there are no famous names or rarities in this lot and the dusty corner may not hide an R&R but, I’m skint, I needed a nice sessionable flute, my preference is for dark & growly sounding ones, and here it is for a tenner.
Dragon, your black mare is out there somewhere because your Romantic spirit will will it into existence. And Andrew may yet find his bargains because I look out for stuff for him as well in the unsalubrious boroughs I frequent and I am VERY thorough!! (I have some pics to send you AK though the boxwood attachment patent flute had been sold)
I don’t know about stick in the mud, Dragon. I have bought five flutes in the last fortnight, including a nice looking French one in New York at what appears a give away price.This will bring the total to around 40.How many are there in your bit of mud, wherever that is ?
I have just tried my Wilkes keyless on your freebie analyser, Jon C.
It seems to produce a different result to the In-tune in that it registers a greater range on the A. 420 up to 460,rather than 430 to 460.
Most of my flutes show a considerable range of adjustment like this, and I often wonder why players are forever nittering about whether flutes are " In Tune ". Perhaps they should wonder if they are in tune !
I often think of Louis Lot telling his customer that one of his pitch options was at the old tuning of 440 to 450 ! He certainly knew the difference from just 440 or 442 !
The programme is certainly very good value at nothing !
One of my local music store owners is a real antique instruments collector. He has got a few wooden flutes, 2 ones that looked like real junk to me. They were really small, like an F flute or so I would think, with five pinmounted keys and horrible cracks. The keys were also in very bad condition. But he has got one flute that looks like it’s tuned in D judging by size alone. 8-keys, blockmounted. The wood looks like new cocus to me although the flute is obviously an antique. Has anyone got a theory about this? It’s much darker than Boxwood but much lighter than any antique cocus I’ve seen. It looks almost exactly like the Cocus Hammy in the porn thread in colour. The flute has some bad cracks in the head and barrel, I think it was missing a key or two and all the other keys need service and repadding. I could not find any maker ID or serial number anywhere. I even looked under the head stopper above the cork for a serial or something. It comes in a nice wooden case made of a bright wood with very interesting grain structure (I know the wood name in Swedish but not in English). If I could only convince the guy that it is not worth very much. It sertainly wouldn’t sell for a lot of money on E-bay considering the condition and the fact that the maker is unknown. I would love to try to restore it, but I don’t want to pay more for it than it’s worth, but if I don’t he might just keep it to sit in his shelf to collect dust
It’s much darker than Boxwood but much lighter than any antique cocus I’ve seen.
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Stained boxwood which then faded a bit? Is it paler round the holes?
I would love to try to restore it, but I don’t want to pay more for it than it’s worth
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Apart from the Clementi flute which I paid a fairish price for , my calculation with junk flutes is to pay a fair price based on x+y+z-y
where
x={the case/box//disgusting 100yr old grease pot germ colony primeval soup} and
y={the flute or flute parts}
z=the cracks and holes
After all, it’s easy to tell whether x is any good! If there is no x , offer a fair price for z-q+r
where q is the cost of having them repaired by A Famous Repairer
and r is the cost of a tube of superglue.
Junk dealers seem to be either “get rid of it for peanuts and get to the pub by teatime” or " this unprepossessing tube is probably a museum piece , but I can’t be bothered to research it, but I’m not taking any chances and some stupid tourist will think the same even if I’m wrong". The former are probably down on their luck and it is unladylike to haggle with them. Walk away from the latter having told them you are an expert and the flute is worth £80,000, for Michael Flatley has one just like it.
[quote=“andrewK”]Only trying to breathe a bit of fire into you, Dragon.
Plenty of old flutes out there going begging, and you know what you are doing.[/quote
It would have read better had I put " if you know what you are doing ".
I think you should make the trip to London, Dragon,
Caves are all very well, but perhaps you should get out more ? Out into the Big Wide Mud.
" Mud, mud, glorious mud
Nothing quite like it … "
a little at a time…slow work…don’t want to soak the wood at all ! Maby that would give you a more desirable finish right away ??
