crikey.
glued together…
given enough fingers
and a powerful enough embrashure
what note would that be??
The maker is not the consumer. The player is the consumer. Buy a second flute but only play the same amount and you double your consumption. Buy a flute on a whim and don’t play it - a complete waste.
If sustainability is a concern don’t we need an estimate of how long a flute will stay playable and still be played ?
“To change the subject altogether, I have retirement savings in an IRA account and a retirement annuity from Hartford Templeton Chase…” Doug T.
Retirement savings in an IRA account doesn’t sound like a good idea Doug, especially these days considering the Irish economic situation 
Okay - what about some of the other makers out there? Doug, how much plastic pipe have you used? Terry, how much wood?
Another thing that would be interesting is to calculate what all of these modern made flutes would look like, stretched end to end. It also gives one an idea of how many flute players are out there.
I am sure that there are a lot more guitar players - given the number of shops that sell these, compared to flutes.
[quote=“Casey Burns”]
I saw a tree today, some sort of pretty African mahogany resembling Honduras that Edensaw Lumber in Port Townsend sells. It was a large log 3’ in diameter and about 30’ long, slabbed into 2" thick boards, and kiln dried, ready to use. Its popular among the boat builders in the area. It was great to see something in one place close in size resembling my theoretical flute production tree.
/quote]
Just think how much time you could have saved if you’d just made one big flute. 
Doc
PS Anybody that hasn’t tried one of Casey’s flutes yet ought to do so. They’re amazing.
At $15/lb (10 years ago), Miles Gilmer says “thank you!” Along with a lot of other things… 
And turning squares are a lot more $$$$ than that price, which was for whole logs.
financialsense? Gotta love that theme music they use, swiped from the movie Broadcast News. Haven’t listened for a while, bunch of AGW denying goldbugs. Should see if they had a special after Matt Simmons kicked the bucket, poor guy.
Well, if we’re gonna start calculating things, I’m always wondering how many musical instruments are sitting in closets that haven’t been touched in too long. I think there should be some statute of limitations that after an inordinate amount of time, an instrument should get to be able to walk out of a house and leave and find a new owner. And I think guitars and pianos would make the top two. And people would be glad to see the piano leave the house except at the holidays when they need a place to put the manger scene or hurricane candle.
Not all of them (FN folks) are corporatists or anti-global warming. But they were spot on in predicting the collapse of the housing bubble. I usually follow only a few of them such as Martin Goldberg, Gonzalo Lira and Jim Willie. Elsewhere, James Howard Kunstler, Shadowstats.com, stockcharts.com.
The economy seems to be hitting my flute world finally. People are only ordering my least expensive flutes, usually just the Folk Flutes. Am not getting the usual holiday rush although there will still be a few who contact me on the 21st or 22nd asking if they can buy something and have it overnighted across the country. I might actually have some for them - but will charge a surcharge as I hope to be done for the year a week from Saturday when my daughter shows up. They can also get something from Dusty Strings in Seattle - Dusty usually keeps 4 or 5 of my Standard models in stock, so that people visiting Seattle can see my flutes there in a music store setting without having to navigate the ferries to this side of the water (not to mention require me to spend the day before making my usually messy shop safe and presentable!). Dusty Strings Music Shop is a fun place worth visiting if you come to Seattle.
At the rate people are ordering flutes I’ll catch up to my queue by spring and start making inventory then. From what I am hearing and observing, many instrument makers are experiencing this slowdown.
Been at this point before. During the George H. B. Bush recession in the early 90s, orders slowed to the point that I worked only a few days every month on flutes, and spent the rest of the time building my house, doing all the carpentry, plumbing, wiring, heating, finish work and cabinetry. Right after Baby Bush was elected I lost several orders to cancellations - something like 6 months of keyed flute orders vanished in January 2001. At that point I began my nonrefundable 25% deposit policy. Work has been steady for the last 8 years with 2006 being a peak in terms of my queue, thanks to the introduction of the Folk Flute. Its been slowing since, partly from the economy but also from the proliferation of new flute makers, places and ways to buy used instruments, and generally increased competition.
2011 will be interesting.
At least people won’t have to wait long for one of my instruments and I might have time to innovate.
Meantime, Silver is something some of us flute makers have to buy for keys and rings. Others use Brass or Nickel etc. For years Silver floated around $4 to $5 dollars an ounce. It was shocking when it rose to $9 once. Gold stayed around $32 until Nixon took us off the Gold Standard. Today, Silver closed above $30 an ounce (source http://www.kitco.com/market/ ). Its expected to settle somewhere around $36. Last February it was $14.78. Am glad I got some then so I don’t have to buy it at today’s prices. But then, I may not need it if all people are ordering are the inexpensive keyless and ringless flutes.
Tomorrow will be interesting with the “Global Bank-Run Day” when people are planning to withdraw money en masse in the Eurozone mostly and use it to buy Silver, among other things.
Casey