If anyone can tell me exactly what wood this is I’d appreciate it.
The flute is an annonymous German 8-key.
When absolutely dry (dessicated), the wood is a light to medium purplish color with a tan grain.
With oiling the wood becomes black and grainless under room lighting but in sunlight is a deep dark purple with a faint blood red grain.
The grain is convoluted and the patterns are similar to what you see in rosewood.
Thanks for any input!
–James
http://www.flutesite.com
Could it be tulipwood?
Kinda sounds like it. Does it have any particular smell (anymore)?
Stuart
There is no smell unless just a very faint sharp tang.
After you oil it, it just smells of oil.
And when it first came to me, it smelled of years of dried tobacco slime. It took months to get that lovely smell to fade away.
By contrast, blackwood instruments have a strong, clean, almost bitter smell to me. Rosewood also has a fairly strong smell…this wood doesn’t really smell like either.
One other peculiarity, even as old as this thing is, when you oil it and then wipe the excess oil away the next morning, the oil from the endgrain has a faint reddish tinge it’s absorbed from the wood.
It’s not vitally important what wood it is, I guess, but I have a long-standing curiosity since it is a bit unique. I have instruments of blackwood, rosewood, and ebony, and this doesn’t appear to be any of those woods.
Thanks for the input–I’ll see what I can find on tulipwood.
Best,
–James
http://www.flutesite.com
I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s just plain ol’ blackwood. I’ve seen blackwood with the purplish coloring you describe, and that distinctive blackwood smell goes away over time – at least I didn’t smell it on the old German flute I used to play.
I too think it might be blackwood. The Murray flute I own exhibits most of the characteristics you describe. It gets dark on oiling, almost pure black. However under sunlight or in a well lit room you do see reddish and brown graining in it, esp. when it is not recently oiled.
Additionally, I find my flute swab (a pad saver) gets a reddish-brown tinge from the wood after the first few swabs.
When I first received it I had thought that the flute wasn’t blackwood like I ordered because of the colour too. However I heard from some C&Fers that the red/brown graining will fade more and more over contact with air.
[ This Message was edited by: Eldarion on 2002-11-21 20:10 ]
If any of the above suggestions are not the case (which they very well might be) the two other woods that I know of with purple are purple heart and purple gidgee. Both solid woods with promising instrument characteristics.
Erik
It’s a German flute, right? If so, it’s definitely not purple gidgee. If it’s 19th-century, it’s almost definitely not blackwood. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a piece of blackwood light enough to be described as “light purple” when in light as he originally described. I suppose it could be purpleheart, though . . .
When was the instrument made?
(I guess I say definitely not gidgee since I don’t think there are that many people outside Australia using that timber, and I say not blackwood if it’s 19th-century since it came into vogue later . . . )
Stuart
I have a German flute made of a wood with a very similar description. I’ve been thinking (and calling it) rosewood, as it has a definite reddish cast to it, though it’s quite dark and looks almost black from a distance, and maybe purplish (but I’m color blind, so maybe not). Pretty grain when just oiled, then goes quite dull and takes a lot of oil (as opposed to blackwood or ebony). So, definitely not blackwood, or ebony (the typical German wood).
Another guess, as this is an unmarked (but fairly good sounding German flute) is that this one was made in the US around the turn of the century (20th), which might account for the oddness of whatever wood was used (as opposed to all the ebony disasters floating about).
I suspect our flutes are made from the same wood, possibly the same maker. Any ID on your flute?
You know, I’m dumb for not having mentioned rosewood. Yep, your generic rosewoods would also be a good guess.
Stuart
I have wondered about rosewood myself, possibly rosewood stained very dark to resemble blackwood?
As to the age of the flute, since there is no maker mark, the only evidence I have comes from Aaron Harding, who is now slightly over 40:
The flute belonged to his great-great-great-grandfather, who was a medical doctor in Louisiana. Aaron believes the flute to be pre-Civil-War, but this is due to the stories that have been handed down from generation to generation in his family about this flute.
The impression from Aaron I have is that no hard dates are known about his ancestor. The only other piece of information available is the man was set upon by thieves and murdered, as they drove a railroad spike through his forehead after robbing him. The story is that he lived long enough to crawl home to his wife and die in her arms, and she hung his wooden flute on the wall to remember him by.
As to the flute itself, the appearance is German with medium-sized holes and a largish, rather peculiarly-shaped embouchure hole (squared and deeply undercut). There are photos on my website but I should point out that the original touch for the long F was broken and lost long ago, and the flute has been repaired using a bassoon key.
The playing characteristics are actually quite good. Except for “flat-foot” syndrome, the flute is pretty well-tuned and can be driven to a hard-edged, raspy sound very appropriate for Irish music.
It doesn’t have the volume of other flutes I’ve played but I have played it with the band many times and it does quite well.
Also of note on this flute is to play in tune at A=440 you must pull the tuning slide out a little more than 1/2 inch.
Best,
–James
http://www.flutesite.com
Well, your flute certainly has a more interesting story to it than mine (to my knowledge. A previous owner COULD have had a railway spike through his forehead) but I just know I bought mine from Jack Coen, who got it from another man.
Mine’s not that old – maybe even early 20th century, decent intonation as well, 'cept on the obligatory flat F# and not too bad on the D. Also have to pull out the slide to about a 1/2 inch for A440, and, though I can play it fairly loudly, it’s a softer flute certainly than my Hamilton. But then, most other flutes are. 