I have a borrowed flute I am progressing with, very slowly…very very slowly… and I don’t know much about flutes at all…I’d like to know more about this one, but I haven’t got very far with research…thought maybe it would click with someone.
The flute is in D, plays an A 440 with the tuning slide pulled out as shown (in the lower octave; higher octave is out, but I figure that is a newbie embouchure issue). Definitely a conical bore, the holes seem quite small, tenons are wrapped with thread. The lining and tuning slide seem nicely done…three cracks in the headjoint by the way; I’ve had tape on them until I get it repaired, that’s how it came to me, and it plays. I can get a two octave scale out of it now, although the lowest three notes are still very weak (reckon that’s me as I couldn’t even get a low D a couple of days ago).
It was sold as ‘a traditional Irish blackwood flute’, but I don’t think it is blackwood…I’m not a flutemaker, but I am a cabinetmaker and instructor with an interest in lutherie…to me, it looks like rosewood, and I’m wondering if that is the reason for the bronze lip area (all the metal was previously plated with something brighter but it’s almost all gone now).
Any ideas? Band flute? English, American, other? Worth having it worked on? Ideas on where to focus my search? I’m looking at new flutes now too, as I’ve gotten far enough with this one that I want to keep going, but at some point I’ll get someone who knows what they are doing to make this one all it can be. Thanks for any info.
interesting…I have no idea
I’m used to not having one, is okay.
Any leak will make the bottom end weak to unplayable.
There is a cork between the end cap and the blow hole,
If the 2nd octave is flat the cork needs to move toward the blow hole, if sharp then away.
(note: do not move it any more than the minimum possible before trying it again…a little makes a big difference)
Find someone soon and get it fixed up to be all it can be. It is frustrating enough to play flute with an instrument in good working order. Anything less is just limiting your progress and growth.
Cheers, Arbo.
It is keyless, yet it doesn’t look like a reproduction without keys. It doesn’t have the bottom two holes, has a tuning slide, and just seems like a mix of things.
Thanks for the responses guys. Yeah, I think it looks cool too, but can’t seem to find any brothers and sisters out there. I did go back to the flute and start looking more closely for leaks (looked at some old threads on leaks also, where a post from Pat taught me how to do a suck test)…on tightening up the tenons, the low end improved considerably, and everything is louder… Still can’t get an O’Grada low D, but it is definitely much better.
The swell in the turning below the embouchure reminded me a little of the flute in the other current thread, but nothing else much. The case it came in is just a cheap black wood pistol case; no marks anywhere, or on the flute. I’ve worked some in museum conservation, and I’m confident it has some decades on it, but how many I don’t know. If someone was to tell me it was Indian or Asian in origin, it wouldn’t really surprise me.
What do you think of the small holes, or are they not unusual?
As others have said, it looks to be an odd beast. I can’t help with the ID, but it really looks like a flute made by a baroque/rococco flute maker. The wood really appears to me to be ebony, unless it’s stained. Looks can be deceiving in a digital photo, but ebony is also more susceptible to cracking than blackwood or rosewood, and three cracks is a lot. Ebony was the other wood (besides boxwood) that was popular during the baroque era, and it makes a fine flute (other than the cracking thing). Lots of baroque flute makers still work with ebony, although they don’t generally put slides on their flutes.
Signs of extensive wear are usually excellent omens when it comes to vintage instruments, because they mean this was an instrument worth playing a lot. Vintage finds in ‘as new’ condition are frequently disappointments, because they often mean the instrument was a lemon even when new.
I don’t have any thoughts about the maker of the flute, but I do have a comment about the metal rings. It was mentioned in the original post that the rings were originally plated with a bright material but that the plating has worn off. However, to me they look like brass or bronze rings that have become tarnished with age. The place on the lip plate where the lower lip would rest is the place where you would expect the most wear. The gold plating on my Chinese boehm flute is completely worn off at this spot. On the pictured flute this area is the brightest part of the metal rings (matching the tuning slide), just the opposite of what you would expect if the rings were plated.
I’m pretty sure it isn’t ebony, although you’re right in the digipiks it does look just like ebony…there is an underlying red tone that doesn’t come out in the picture, with a different grain pattern. I’ve wondered if it might be cocus, and I know that was sometimes stained, but I’ve only seen pictures (had never heard of cocus before getting interested in flutes), and this is the only wooden flute I’ve had in my hands.
There is some wear, like on the metal parts, but the wooden components are all in excellent condition. The bright brass on the tuning slide…I’m assuming it was closed up tight in a box for years, there is some oxidation but not much. It was given to a friend of mine by a suitor, then her husband who is a playing buddy passed it to me…that may be twenty years right there where it never came out of the box.It may be a lemon; I’m not a good enough player to tell. It sounds a lot better than it did when I started with it…it has some volume, and the tone is nice. I wish I knew a good player here who could evaluate the intonation. The cork seems to be in roughly the correct position at 18-19 mm. Lots of operator error when I check it on my wee tuner, but getting better.
I’ll have a better look tomorrow, but there again the picture is deceiving…the greatest wear is exactly where you suggest, where the lower lip would rest, then the next greatest wear is on the other side of the embouchure…sure looks like it was played. The rest of the rings show less wear; may just be tarnishing and would polish up although there seems to be some lacquer or something involved. The one bright area is on the bottom ring; may not be plated after all, I’ll have to look more closely.
That’s interesting that the bottom ring might be slightly different. I was going to ask about this…do all the rings look alike?
To me, the bottom sections is really odd with the bottom bulgy bit being asymetrical unlike the part on the barrel. I was wondering if the bottom section could be a replacement. If so, the original may have had an Eb key which would seem appropriate for the small holes.
Then again, this could be an early modern ITM flute made by some unknown maker.
Well, Jon certainly has more experience with old flutes than I do, and the rings of this flute may well be German silver, tarnishing to a golden color. However, the owner of the flute stated that the flute had been stored with the tuning slide not extended. Since the tuning slide is such a bright golden color, it makes me think that this may be the original, untarnished color of the metal, visible on the tuning slide and where the players’ lips have touched the lip plate. The other surfaces of the rings have darkened from oxidation.
