Has anyone tryed a raku ceramic flute?

Irish Flute
1

Hi,
A friend of mine wants to buy a raku ceramic flute from Clay wood winds. They look nice.
Does anyone have one of these? Are they easy to play?
Jon

http://www.clay-wood-winds.com/flutes.htm

2

I had one, i think from the same maker. Mine played in the key of F. Very nice sound, not too hard to play. Mine one day divided neatly in 2 pieces, without any reason. It just did it. Somebody told me that raku does that sometimes.

3

Raku is fired at a low temperature and is not very dense as, say, porcelain is. The breakup may have been due to the porous nature of the stuff or to a hairline crack induced by the rapid cooling that raku is often subject to. I don’t really think raku firing is suitable for a flute.

Steve

4

Hairline crack is my guess, and i agree, raku is probably not the best method for a flute that you will actually play. Looks nice, though… I played that flute quite a few times, and that’s probably why it broke.

5

Thanks for the input.
He went ahead and got one one ebay for $28, will see how it holds up!
I guess all the flute owners (except delrin and silver) live with the fear of waking up to a cracked flute!!! :cry: Jon

6

In my case, it wasn’t as much fear as the reality of leaving the rehearsal with one flute and entering the gig with 2 smaller ones… But it sounded nice while it lived. I bought a replacement, but haven’t used it yet. For $28, he probably made a good purchase.

7

I actually own one of these flutes. I received it from my uncle. I believe it is set in E and it is a gorgeous looking flute.

If anyone wants to buy it, I would definately let it go for a good price. It comes with a wooden case as well.

8

Anyone ever hear of a porcelain flute? Porcelain is actually a pretty strong material and might make a fine material. You could actually poor it into a tapered mold and then fire it up. Problem is that you would have to do some experimenting to make up for the shrinkage and so on at firing. But just think of the great paint jobs you could have on them and the oportunity for expression. Being a glazed material, it should have a really pure tone. Do we have any volunteers?

9

I have two of this company’s ocarinas purchased at art stores, and a raku double whistle from another source. When I’ve seen this company in art fairs, though, they steadfastly refuse to let me try one out before purchasing. So I refuse to purchase. It simply isn’t a nice way to treat a customer, IMO.

The double whistle looks extremely fragile.