I have had a hard decision deciding on wether to part with this great flute, but needs must,
its a Thomas Aebi flute in D with three keys made of silver (f - nat ) (G#) (Bb ) the flute is made of a lovelly boxwood, 5 sections fully lined head joint, lined tuning barrel three piece body with short foot joint, the flute is a rudall copy in the style of an Astor flute, beautiful sound, the tennon rings are in immitation Ivory and I have just had the threads re-threaded, there is the smallest chip on the flutes lowest tennon joint, but it is very strong and does not effect the connection or sound and is not weak at all, I only mention it to be totally transparent about the condition.
the keys are block mounted and have been cut from a solid piece of silver not cast, and they are also in the style of an astor flute (flat ) keys of that period, the flute is really nice to hold and has a lovelly lightweight feel, as far as I can see there is no warpage, I have a few images I can e-mail, but need a day or so to take more detailed pics, I paid £1200 and the new price on the Aebi site with the three keys is £1800, I am looking to recoup at least £1000 ovno, i’m based in the UK, I can ship worlwide, although on previous occasions the cost of postage has always been an issue with overseas sales, but I am willing to work with any prospective buyer to achieve a good cost effective delivery, if based in the UK you are welcome to try out the flute I am based in west sussex, but can meet up in Billingshurts, guildford, or brighton.
my flute repair guy is doing the small repair to the chip that I mentioned, it should be back with me tommorow,
had a few enquiries, no firm takers as yet, the price is negotiable, I have a few quotes on postage, a silly one for Australia,
so I would count that location out, at the moment Europe insured is around £49, again this is a rough guide as it varies the further it is away, the USA is variable but with insurance it’s about £70 up to £96.
I’m guessing everyone is skint, I am open to any offers or trades on the Aebi boxwood flute, it’s a great flute, genuine reason for, I have been having very intermittent Violin
lesson as of may last year, and really want to step up my game, so I have block booked quite a few hundred pounds worth of lessons, and have pre-paid, there is nothing
like paying in advance as an incentive to not lose your money, so I am open to any sensible offer…
I just wondered as your flute looks like an early 19th cen. instrument, and not a typical Irish trad timber honker, although you say it is tuned as a Rudall. Is it high pitched?
its only designed in the style of an astor flute, its a fuly fledged medium holed rudall in all other respects and is tuned to
A440, its not baroque in anyway, the previous owner was Mat walklate, a pro fluter and harmonica player, I do have a soundfile from mat which i can e-mail if anyone would like, i won’t post it here unless i can contact mat first.
I’m guessing everyone is skint, so I have decided to withdraw the flute, I had loaned it to a great flute player friend last week, he is also skint and plays an Olwell as his weapon of choice, but after hearing him blast this flute and seeing what its capable of, it would be a shame to sell
it for less than its real value, which is were I was heading just to cover my violin lessons, it has some real deep character in its tone, and if you dig deep it really is very growly and honky especially for a Rudall copy, I didn’t really play the flute in anger, but blowing steeper into the embouchure and covering slightly more than half of the hole it’s a different flute altogether, so the lack of interest has actualy done me a favour.
