Hello, I have just acquired a couple of traversos. One is a generic late 18th century model with a brass key, and the other looks like a copy of an Hotteterre, with a blackwood body and the typical Hotteterre joint, cap and footjoint in boxwood, It’s a beautiful instrument, but it seems a little short measuring 363mm Would this be because it is 440 rather than 392? Any other ideas gratefully received.
On second thoughts, it looks like a cross between a Hotteterre and a Rippert
I’ll be receiving the instruments next week, but I can supply a photo if anyone would tell me how to insert one from my desktop
The Hotteterre flute is about 650mm long. Couldn’t it be a baroque piccolo a=392Hz ? Something like this one: https://www.flutes-melzer.com/piccolo.jpg
That looks more like the proportions. I receive the flutes sometime next week. Do you know how to post a picture?
Harry
Thanks Skap for your reply. The end cap of my flute looks a little too ornate compared to Hotteterre instruments. Do you know of any other makers contemporaneous with Hotteterre who made piccolos?
thanks,
Harry
As I understand, there are no surviving piccolos from that period. The picture in my link must be a scaled down copy of the big flute. Martin Wenner’s piccolo is designed as a small Hotteterre flute (when at a=392Hz) according to his website (https://www.wennerfloeten.de/en/products/transverse-flutes/m-wenner-piccolo/), but there are no pictures of this particular version.
He could probably improvise with the end cap, since it’s not really a copy, and other makers could have the same approach.
It would be interesting to see the photo, of course. You can use a free image hosting service (normally no registration needed, just google “free image hosting” and use the first one that comes up), upload your image there and the service will generate a link that you can copy-paste here. Regards. Alex
It won’t let me upload the picture as it’s a JFiF file, but I converted it. I’m sorry but I’m getting more and more dense with regard to technology every day!!
Thanks for sharing the picture, Harry. Looks beautiful, indeed. I hope you will give more details when you receive the instrument (eventual pitch, any clues about the maker/year).
I received the flute today and it appears to be an apprentice piece. It is indeed very well made, it plays a little flatter than A440, and the intonation isn’t too bad except for the upper reaches of the second octave. I’ve found that the foot has to be extended about 1cm to help its intonation. The cork position is adjustable which may help.
I will sell it on as an ornament/project, as it may be worth the effort to someone who has the right tools and inclination
Hmm… The length of 363mm must be a typo then. Or is it an F flute ? (But the fingering chart in the photo is for a D flute). What is the real length ?
The total length is 635mm. I have listed it on Ebay along with the other flute.