edit:
Thanks to everyone who inquired, and thanks to cocusflute, Ronbo, and Blackwood for the kind remarks. The flute is sold pending funds. If the deal should fall through, Roebuck is next in line.
I hate to let go of this flute, but my number is just about up on Patrick Olwell’s list and I really don’t need an extra keyless flute.
This is a keyless Pratten style flute made by SC Hamilton. Its born on date is the last week of August, 2007. It has a beautifully sculpted embouchure capable of a warm, powerful tone. The toneholes are among the most beautiful I’ve ever seen on any flute, smoothed and rounded and a joy to feel under my fingers. There are no scratches, scuffs, dings, cracks, or blemishes of any kind on this flute. Its condition is immaculate in every way. I have pampered and babied it with regular oiling. It has always been stored at 60% humidity or higher. It’s completely broken in and has no issues whatsoever. In short, it’s the best keyless flute I’ve ever owned, and in the top 3 of flutes that I’ve ever owned. Included is a wooden, leather-covered case also made by Hammy.
The new price for a keyless D flute directly from Hammy is 850 Euro, which is about $1303 US as of today, plus wait time. I’d like $1000.
Here are some links to pictures. I’d love to paste them directly into the text but I’m on a Mac and not too sure how to handle it (the thread about posting pics is from a PC standpoint).
I also have some clips. The jig in my signature was played on this flute, and here are some other clips, recorded last night at an impromptu recital. Please excuse the bodhran.
It sure does sound a solid player. But I am sure that the player himself has “nothing” to do with it. If I had the spare I would get it. Someone could do worse than that flute.
i love to tone you get out, i’d love to play like that, i know i have already wrote this to you in a PM, but the tone that i have in my head and am aiming at is very much like how you sound.
very tight embouchure?
great !!!
Also, i think the Hammy is the Pratten that i like the most, as far as tone.
great price as well !!
Since everyone’s lips are shaped differently, it’s hard to say, “Just do xyz, and you’ll have a great tone,” but basically, for me, getting a strong tone has to do with finding the exact position between the front edge of my lower lip and the embouchure hole, and then blowing at the right angle. Sometimes I just try to find a strong B1 note, and once I’m there, the rest of it just sort of falls into place.
Be picky about your tone! I’ve been in Eamonn Cotter’s class at Willie Clancy before, and he gets a tone like a freight train out of his flute. And he’s practiced, and practiced, and practiced, and been incredibly conscious of his lip position and blowing angle, and it’s paid off for him. There’s a great interview with him on Brad Hurley’s site where he says about the same thing in his own words.
If you’re getting a thin, weak, wispy tone, then think to yourself “What can I do differently than I’m doing now?” Always strive to sound better and don’t be satisfied with less than you know you can do.
I wish I had a more consistently strong tone. I’m always a bit self conscious about it when I meet players like Blackwood, who has superb tone, or Eamonn Cotter, or Matt Molloy, or whoever.
But thanks for your kind words, Eilam. Keep at it, as MM would say.
I’m so with you on that; fell across it on my own just recently after hating my tone right around the B1 zone for a long time and deciding to focus on it.
Anyway, congratulations, have fun, and SUPER playing! I thoroughly enjoyed your clips, and it’s such a treat to hear someone really find the Hammy in a Hamilton.
I’m playing a keyless D, so I am assuming that when you say B1 you mean B in the first octave XOO OOO and D1 would be XXX XXX, right? If we are speaking the same language, I usually try to find a strong G1 to get started on. When I get a strong G1, my embouchure feels dialed in. I’m wondering if there is a reason that both you and Gordon try to get dialed in on B1? Just personal preference…?
The main difficulty I am working on currently, is being able to maintain a strong, rich tone in the lowest notes after playing quite a few measures in the high notes, say above G2. In tunes that require me to play up high for a while and then suddenly drop down low, I usually have trouble maintaining a strong, focused tone in the lowest notes then.
I can’t speak for LineyBear, but me, yes, I’m talking about that first-octave B.
It seems that’s what “dials in” my embouchure better – I always felt I had a nice solid G as well as the rest of my low register, but my tone around B seemed kind of muzzy and unfocused – too “squashed”-sounding; no character.
Anyway, I haven’t been happy with it.
So I started zeroing in on B and found that to get a good B, I had to have an entirely different embouchure shape. When I started transferring that embouchure shape to other notes through exercises like B-A, B-G, B-E, B-D – then back up to B again; then on up thru the scale from B i.e. B-c B-d, B-e, B-f, etc. I started liking my tone on those other notes better, too.
It just seems freer, more edgy – and basically, more like what I want. And the embouchure shape required to give me the good B means I can’t push the flute too hard into my jaw like I sometimes want to when I’m trying to get a good lower register – that to me contributes to a dull, dead tone, and makes bounding up to the second octave notes much more of an effort.
But that’s just my thinking this year, of course. Actual results may vary – wildly.
I just spent some time trying the B1 dial-in thing, and I see what you mean, especially about not pushing the flute so hard into your jaw. As you know, I,m so new to all of this that I’m constantly trying different things at the moment, but tone is my absolute number one priority. I know my stumbling fingers with eventually find their way, but I think tone is a life long project.
I have also been playing with how far inward I turn the headjoint. Up until a few days ago, I was turning the headjoint inward to a point where the outside edge of the embouchure hole was lining up with the middle of the L1 hole. But, it seemed like my tone was still too fuzzy down low. Now I’m back to only turning it inward a fraction off center with the L1 hole, and my tone seems to be more consistently focused and centered.
I think someone posted recently that it was imperative to turn the headjoint inward significantly in order to get good tone on an Irish flute. I guess YMMV is the only truism with these things!
Probably the main reason I target the B1 (1st octave B) is because I’ve usually found that to be about the easiest note to sound on most flutes I’ve owned.
Oddly enough, for me, the high notes have always been easy. It’s low D and E I have to fight so hard for.
I’ve never felt any need to play with the headjoint turned in. I play with all the holes lined up and never felt like my tone was suffering because of it.
Depends on the hole size and how much you cover it with your lip. I have a feeling turning in the hole just naturally forces one to cover more and focus.
Its what ever you get used to I suppose. Everyone has different lips and different flutes. If you can get the sound you want then I suppose thats the right way to do it.
Oh, and I’m not happy with my tone yet either but its getting there.
Bob, don’t worry… theres still plenty chances to build bad habits.
I’m wondering if I didn’t roll mine in too much; I’m working more straight-line myself now (after 10 years, that’s a REALLY fun one to think about). I’ve never had any trouble hitting notes or having them be plenty solid, and I generally seem to play in tune, but — EWWWW! When I hear recordings of myself, my tone overall just seems kind of stuffed-up-sounding; almost, I hate to say it, constipated.
And it seems worse when I roll in too much (I think I also push harder when I roll in, trying to hold the flute there, I guess?).
Anyway, my goal is a nice flexible embouchure that lets the flute vibrate appropriately and sound like a flute (instead of, say, an English horn which is where I keep seeming to wind up). And as of now, getting a good B1 seems to put my embouchure into that shape better than the other notes.
The playing I love listening to seems to be able to accomplish that lovely edgy lively flutiness; playing that explores every corner of the instrument – and Gordon, your clips are among them! – so I’m happy to hear I might be stumbling along a useful track.
No, you’ll simply not play a flute long enough to build in really good habits for a given flute. Joke all you want, and suck all you want
If you admire a player’s tone, ask him/her how much flute hopping they did while developing that tone. Most will tell you they were sticking with one flute for a while when they really got good tone. John Skelton would tell you he spent, what Cat, a couple of years learning how to get the most out of his Olwell? John S. plays far better than you ever will Bob (no offense) and if it takes him a good while to get the most out of one of the easiest flutes to play, then how the heck are you going to learn what 3 or 4 different flutes have to offer if you’re trying to play 'em all and adjust to all of them at the same time?
But hey, most folks here would rather spend thousands on a bunch of flutes rather than hundreds on lessons, even though for the cost of a good keyless flute one can take enough lessons to improve far more than any new flute could ever make you, so go figure.
If I had the spare I would get it. Someone could do worse than that flute.
