Hi fluters,
I’m selling my antique flute made by Jordan Wainwright probably in the 1840s. The mark reads “Wainwright / London” on lower middle joint and foot joint. That puts it into the timespan before Wainwright left for australia to become down under’s first flutemaker. It has the classic eight keys with pewters on C# and C that actually worked without any repairs needed, which is quite special for a flute of this age. Holes are medium to large, F#/RH2 is about 9.5mm. Materials are cocuswood and silver. Headjoint fully lined. Tuning is good, a slide extension of 20mm puts it in the 440Hz area for me, as I’m a very strong blower most people will need a smaller slide exposure. Like on most flutes of this period A and B were quite sharp, I corrected their tuning (reversible). F# is a wee bit flat, as the foot is, but not too bad (see below for sound demo). Plays nicely over more than two octaves, I can get to high A and with proper venting tuning up there is really pretty good. Sounding length 579mm. Screw cork works flawlessly.
Issues: the barrel was cracked three (!) times and I couldn’t source a suitable piece of cocuswood for making a new one, as cocuswood is almost impossible to get here for more or less reasonable prices. So I glued the original barrel together and did my best to hide the cracks…however one of the cracks still has a superglue seam visible and there are superglue marks on it here and there. Nothing special and I guess the barrel will last quite a while, at least it did for me during the last year.
The headjoint also had a nasty crack, luckily not through the embouchure. So I filled the crack and polished it out. I opted against pulling the liner out and reaming from inside to retain the (more or less) original chimney height, as that is an important factor for tone production.
The footjoint has a hairline crack with a tiny glue seam on it. Has been stable for a year.
All pads, springs and lappings have been replaced.
As far as I know, this is one of two Wainwright/London flutes known to us worldwide. A one-keyed boxwood baroque-styled one sold here a few weeks ago. Terry McGee has or had one marked Wainwright/Sydney.
Here is a sound file: http://www.box.net/shared/lrit4boque9s8pz96hji
Recorded straight into Audacity without any effects added. I just played a few tunes that came to my mind and I used most of the keys, I think.
…and a photo:
I’d like 800€ +shipping for the flute. I’m in Germany. Contact me via private message or email.
Thanks for reading!
Cheers,
Gabriel