New to me anyway. There was a long wait time to get this baby. Probably about 20 minutes or so. I had to take a large arm full of sticks into the tryout room and weed through them to find “the one”. One was too mellow, another didn’t feel good in the hands, another was just blah, but then there it was… a nice reedy tone, ergonomics that felt good in the hands, everything just clicked. After taking out a loan and parting with $299 USD, I carried it off in its plastic and crushed faux-velvet lined case.
Now here at home I’m looking for identifying marks on the barrel. Let’s see I can make out a “B” “U” “N” … is that a “D”? and then a “Y” I believe. Oh and whatever it is, it’s a Roman numeral II so there must have been one to come before it. It has keys… 17 by my count, but I could be wrong. My vision is blurred by its shiny, almost mirror-like finish. I have to remember to keep it out of the sun. It has huge, (and I mean HUGE) holes and is able to be played very loudly.
It doesn’t look like an Irish flute at all but it seems to play Irish tunes pretty damn well. I like it a lot. Perhaps more than I should. If I take the keys off and paint the body satin black I wonder if anyone will notice that it’s not what it’s supposed to be.
Yes, a very inexpensive Bundy student model. I couldn’t resist the temptation after all the talk about how they’re not particularly good for playing ITM. Or at least they don’t have that sought after “Nyah”. I’m a real Devil’s advocate no matter how much trouble it gets me into.
We have a large music store here that always has at least 20 or so used Boehm flutes in stock. They’ll literally let you load up like you’re carrying firewood and go to the tryout room. I tried an Armstrong, an Artley and a Gemeinhardt and they all sounded kind of like I expected having a much rounder mellower tone than sought after in Irish music. Then I grabbed a Bundy and much to my surprise it not only felt better in my hands but it had the closest thing to the “Nyah” than anything else I tried. I can get a really dark and powerful sound out of my Forbes Pratten and this wasn’t that far behind it. Of course embouchure is a major factor in anything you play so that’s a big part of it. Anyway, they had about eight of the same Bundy model because they rent them, so I had the luxury of trying a bunch and getting the pick of the litter. It really sounds much better than I expected.
It’s not meant to be a replacement for the wooden keyed flute that lies in my future, or for my Forbes for that matter but it’s definitely fun to play. I can’t put it down right now.
Cheers,
Kirk
P.S. This is NOT one of those reviews that takes place 20 minutes after the flute arrives. I’ve had the flute for a good 24 hours now.
Oh, dear. Now you’ve gone over to the dark side 
