Well ??? are we going to take it ??? no !!!
I propose we all stop playing music till G delivers, who else has owned and played flutes by most the top makers???
common G,
stop working all the time and deliver the review we so deserve !!!
Or we all will boycott Grinter figuring the flute was a disaster ( I know you love the flute), better yet, email him, telling him that an order is on hold till’ G takes five minutes off work. 
I can not get enough of Eilam. The guy is such a star. My review of a flute pales in comparison to the stuff that guy makes. You all need to check out his art and work on his website, then you’ll know what I mean.
But on to the Grinter cocus 8-key. In regards to my review, I am beyond the point of over-glorifying the flute that I have as a means of personal justication of buying a particular and expensive flute. I like good flutes and will call it to task if I feel there are deficiencies or does not match my style of (bad) play.
#1: The wood. Oh man, if you have not seen a new cocus flute, you’ll love the grain and the color of the wood. While each of the 4 joints was constructed with different pieces of cocus, you can see a variation in grain and color of the wood on each piece. All are lovely, but he really chose the headjoint piece well–amazing grain and color! Red-brown hues abound. Gorgeous!
#2 The Craftsmanship: Outstanding. I am VERY picky about small things in crafted flutes. And I told this to Mike every two months for the last 18. I like a nice glass-like bore, no reaming marks, perfect keypad settings, and precise finishing and silverwork. No scratches. Mike has completely delivered. I’d give him perhaps one point more than Noy, who is also impeccable as a craftsman. I like the anal craftspeople.
I wasn’t sure if I would like thread vs cork, but I do find it more flexible in easily adjusting the fit. And I don’t have to worry about cork compression when storing the flute with the lower two sections connected (just like the rudall). The case is very nice, economical, and again, just like the rudall case…and Mike even turns a nice greasepot for the case as well. Cool.
My only beef is that shanghai is more humid than Victoria, so the wood on the key blocks may have swelled a bit in transition, making the keys too tight to play quickly. They’re not light-touch, like my Noy. But there are no leaks and I’m letting the flute settle for a few more weeks to see how that goes. The wood is more sensitive to humidity than my blackwoods and rudall original. the silver work is precise and just like my Rudall.
#3 The Tone: Awesome tone, really. Better than my rudall original–strong, rich and harminic low register, all the way to low C. And the richness of the tone is the one reason I wanted a Grinter, and he has delivered a beautiful tone! I actually enjoy letting the tone speak for itself as opposed to the finger vibrato I would use on other flutes for certain parts of other tunes. I cannot say how much of that tone is due to the wood or the flute craftsmanship, though.
Low D? Wow! Lovely and strong. This flute can produce a better hard low D than my rudall original. Love that. With very nice volume. But you have to work at it to get your embouchure and fingers coordinated with timing. My Noy is a slam dunk with the hard D, even on faster tunes. But this one is just great and more harmonic when you get your body tuned to the flute. I am surprised with such a strong low D, given the long c foot joint.
The second register is Rudallesque all the way. Until this one, I’ve never played a Rudall knockoff that can imitate with such precision the tone and responsiveness upper register of a best-in-class Rudall speciman. Just lovely and surprisingly harmonic. And the volume? For all I’ve heard about Grinters and volume, this baby has fine volume, louder than my Rudall and sooooo rich! I love that. I don’t play in sessions, but one would have no issue for sure with volume in a session.
#4 Responsiveness. Wow! You’ll love cuts, rolls and crans with this flute. Especially cuts that use the tone hole above (ala Grey Larson’s method)–very harmonic and quick. And I have a much greater feel for cranning on this flute than with my others. The Noy is great in tone and volume, but it’s cut responsiveness is a notch below this one–just different flute character. The Olwell I had did well in this regard also, but the character of that Pratten-like design was also very different. No under-the-wool-blanket with the grinter.
#5 Allergy to Cocus. So far so good. No reactions. The wood smells and tastes so good, I’d eat it. But then that would be one expensive meal, and I might choke on the long F key. I’ll settle for sucking its liver out, like Hannibal would want to do.
So, overall. Well worth the wait, and I’d wait another year or so for this kind of flute. But then again, this is an EXPENSIVE flute, compared to others in its class. You can buy a Rudall original for this price, but for me it was worth the wait for a phenomenal flute. I would easily buy it again.
I can’t speak for those who have noticed some varying quality among Grinter’s flutes of late. this one is a gem. And it should get better with my embouchure tuning and the ageing of the cocus. Go for cocus, if you can get it. It feels very different than blackwood.
G
G- thanks for the great review and the kind words.
I changed an order I had to Cocus after talking to you.
I think Noy’s flute for Irish music is a contemporary design, kind of his session model, while his R&R model may be closer in similarity to your new one.
As far as the keys, if the wood continues to move, you could have the keyways lined,
or use bore oil which would better seal the wood, and depending on the pad material, may be better for the longevity of the pads (if there leather, almond oil is fine).
Well - were off on a two week road trip - hope to play music every night on the trip!
take care, eilam.
hi eilam:
Actually, the keyways are lined on all Grinter keyed flutes. So the swelling must be ever so slight. Anyway, we’ll see how that goes in a few weeks.
Happy travels to the family, my man.
G
Oh, I forgot. Yes, the Noy flute is a different character of a flute. Volume and session quality, but with fabulous tone. My Noy is, truthfully, still my favorite flute. As of today… 