i recently listened to a sample clip of anthony quigney from wfo2 where he plays a boosey, sure sounds great to me, but it comes out at a452. this peaked my curiousity about these flutes in general which i have had for some time now. anyone know of the intended pitch of original pratten perfected flutes (hudson or boosey), was it uniform or did it vary flute-to-flute, are they suitable for today’s a440 w/out too much fuss. if not, does a modern hj do the trick nicely?
I overhauled a friend’s Boosey Pratten a few years ago. No idea what vintage it was. It plays just fine at 440 with an average-ish slide extension, maybe needs just a tad more pull-out than e.g. my R&R, but I can’t now remember offhand about comparing (let alone measuring) sounding lengths. I don’t see the owner very frequently, but will try to remember to make a comparison. Whatever, it certainly isn’t a significantly HP flute.
What I see in flute solo recordings is that many times the player likes to push the slide all the way in to make the sound brighter and more responsive.
well i stayed up late last night researching the archives and terry mcgee’s site, nothing earth shattering discovered and gathered that in general the pratten’s perfected flutes would:
tend to be pitched a little on the sharp side but w/ good internal tuning
the later boosey models being more sharp in pitch
flat c or c# (i forget which)
large oval emb. require alot of air and people tend tire
an olwell hj would fit “as is” no problem onto the body (of at least a couple models)
folks have used both olwell and wilkes hj w/ success on their flutes
apparently perfection is a subjective experience
corrections welcomed, anyone have more info?
I thought that the bore of Olwell flutes was a bit smaller than the overage Pratten (thus the hj too small?). About Wilkes, must be the hj of his pratten model (his rudall is more popular I believe).
Really stupid question, but you have ruled out the sound system/recording? Not likely, but simple to check.
I have two Hudsons and a Boosey here. (most booseys are pretty much dead-on in design to the Hudson originals, which did not vary and I’ve had 4 of the 8 known extant).
What would you like to know?
Yes: I’d like to know how many flutes you can play at the same time David? 
So did anyone here buy/win the Hudson at the Gardiner Houlgate auction today?
Some Irish bands of the 1980s used pitch shifting to “enhance” their performance/sound i.e. wind it up in speed and therefore pitch. Some people “went to town” on it if you get my drift.
H
all those talkings about pratten perfected flutes, Jem, you just got a new one yourself? 
What makes you think that? I a) have no money at present and b) haven’t even tried to buy a flute of any description or price level for some months!