You may recall that a while ago i posted about a flute on ebay marked J. Flenz - German Scale, it sold for £195 and there was some discussion regarding whether or not this flute was of pakistani manufacture or was in fact an early 20c german instrument.
Well it’s been relisted, it has been repadded, in the first auction the pads were white now they are brown, interestingly the lister is selling “AS Seen” because the flute “doesn’t play very well”, I suspect it was returned, in addition there are some new photographs which may help to shed light on the mystery; I’m now opting for pakistani made - what do you think?
Old flutes -if this is one- need to be played, dry wood needs water to expand again to reach the “playing state”. And vintage instruments have their “tuning idiosyncrasies” too…
After these points are considered, who knows if this flute could be a nice one?
Before putting too much moisture in that flute, I’d oil her down quite well inside and out, let it sit a while, then oil it again if I has sat around and dried out for 100 years or so. It may tighten up the tone a bit too! There’s probably a reason it was re-listed. Those tiny bored old German flutes don’t have much volume, and are usually out of tune to A=440 (though it may play in tune with itself, once you adjust the slide, you’ve got some problems.
I would avoid a Pakistani flute at all costs, unless you get to try before you buy. Have you read the posts on Pakistani flutes? There are better options out there if you want a low priced well playing D. You can visit my site if you’re thinking of going the bamboo route. Doug Tipple makes a nice low priced PVC that will play better in tune as well. If you must have the keys, I’d wait and save up!
There seems to be a bit of a misunderstanding here, I have no interest in buying this flute, I’m more than happy with my blackwood Copley.
When previously listed there was some discussion, and very civilised disagreement about whether or not this was a genuine german flute or the latest offering, complete with authentically cracked barrel, from pakistan; given that there are some new photographs I was wondering if any of the original posters would change thier minds.
