About a month ago I bought a one year old 6-key flute by flutemaker Thomas Aebi. It had long been a dream of mine to get to try one - so I was very excited to see one turn up for sale, to witness myself transfering the substantial amount of money and to receive this wonderful instrument in the mail
Iāve been playing this flute as much as baby and other obligations allowed for the last month. No break in period has great advantages!
I was going to write about how I have played a 6-key Cotter flute for the last 3Ā½years and how I was curious to try a copy of a Rudall & Rose. How the Cotter is a great tool for Irish music and has that open and direct sound that is typical of many of the āmodernā flutes I have tried. I could have commented on how the Aebi is different in nature and that now that I can fill it properly is quite capable of producing that ābig Irish soundā but also has a whole other range of colours.
But all that would cause so much controversy on this board that I would rather just post some pictures for your enjoyment
The parts
Larger version of separate parts, with grey background
Whole flute
Me in the Aebi Cupkey (reflection in the key)
The Crown (screwcap stopper adjustment - really cool)
Embouchure closeup (with the brass lining visible)
F-keys
The fine little G# key
An finally the foot joint with the blocks ready for the C and C# keys to be added. Iāve always wanted an 8-key flute
Also shows Tom Aebiās logo, which is stamped on all the parts
The flute plays as good as it looks, if not better. Iām really enjoying it!
Jessie, heās not really a small baby any longer.
Vincent is 6 months old now.
Not less demanding though.
au contraire
His sister is 3Ā½. So with those two sweety pies, a full time job and lots else it is sometimes a miracle I get to play the flute at all.
Flute playing is my therapy.
So this flute was a health investmentā¦ yeah, thatās what it wasā¦
You sound like my husband! Our daughter is 2 1/2, and Dan had paternity leave (technically), but he was working (on conference calls and e-mail) the entire time. He played the piano for a total of about 10 minutes.
It is by now possible to say straightforwardly what you
think the aebi sounds like without starting a ācontroversyā
on the board. Several folks have done this sort
of thing without any resulting drama. Your impressions
are welcome, in fact.
Congratulations Jeroen on your new flute, looks to be a fine one. Prehaps youāll have it with you at the Copenhagen Irish Festival next month? Weāll try and get over for the Saturday at least. Morten Holm says thereās a good chance that Chris Bayley will be there too. Lisa who lives on Gotland has just got a Grinter 6 key. There will be the first autumn session at the Bishopās Arms this Sunday in Lund, 8th October, 18.15
Yes, thereās been too much holding back on posting impressions for fear of someone not liking it. Some have gone as far as removing their impressions they posted of a new flute, just because they donāt have the ācredentialsā to have an opinion. That is a shame.
First impressions might not tell all, but they are probably helpful, and at least, interesting reading. Post away! Damn the torpedos!!!
Iāll post this impression ā¦ at Augusta I had the pleasure of sitting next to a fantastic young Italian flute player named Immanuel ā¦ ? He is terrific, and the sound he got out of his six-key Aebi was absolutely epic. You could have broken glass with his hard Ds. When I tried it (for all of a minute), not so much , but with Immanuel behind the wheel, holy smokes! What a combination!
Me and my McGee Pratten felt puny beside him. So ā¦ No question about that big open Irish sound pixxy was talking about, at least not with that flute and that player!
Congratulations, pixxy. Youāll have a great time.
Thanks for posting the pictures of your flute, and for giving your impressions of its sounds while pretending not to!
Iāve had my keyless version for about a month. I love the accurate tuning, the projection, and the relative ease of getting all the notes. I also like that it readily gives a dark tone with some edge.
Have fun with your child, both the wooden one and the live one.
Cheers everyone for your well wishes, comments and jokes.
The above smiley should have had itās tongue in cheekā¦
I was just having a bit of fun. My impressions, in very brief, are like I obliquely posted. Iām just not into writing lengthy analysis of flute comparisons - I get confused reading these long posts some people are capable of knitting together
Since I like to see pictures and hear soundclips myself, I thought of providing some for other who enjoy that (soundclips will need to wait though).
Not that I donāt like babiesā¦I love the squishy little rascalsā¦I mean I 've had 13 of them (9 adopted and 4 homemadeā¦we do have a TV set after all) but there seems to be a law of diminshing returns with babies that I donāt find with futes.
Currently have about 80 flutes in the house. But no Aebi. I feel a certain emptiness about that.
, but with Immanuel behind the wheel, holy smokes! What a combination!
