Jon C, McGee and M&E, the story of three awesome Rudalls

Irish Flute
1

Ok, here we go.
I have three gorgeous Rudall and Rose model flutes here with me at the moment. I feel so blessed right now. One is my old, beloved and trustworthy M&E R&R, which I will never part with. Alas, the other two are not mine, merely tour flutes. But what wonderful tour flutes they are.
A Jon C cocobolo flute which I have just recieved. More on that one soon.
And a McGee Blackwood (I think it’s his 5088 model).
I thought I’d wait to post this until at least later this week, since I’ve just got the Jon C yesterday. But I couldn’t wait. Rather, I’ll post my first impressions and tell you all more about it when I get to know the flute a bit more.
Now I’ll share a few pics of these beauties.

First the Jon C flute

And the McGee

The head ends of, in order: McGee, Jon C, M&E. (You’ll se the difference in colour from new Cocobolo on the Jon C and older Cocobolo in the M&E head)

The tail ends of , in order: M&E, Jon C, McGee

All three in line, this pic is a little small and dark. Sorry about that.

I sat down and played all three flutes a while today. They are all a bit different and all wonderful instruments.

The McGee is a great flute. Good, solid craftsmanship. There is absolutely nothing to complain about here. The design of this particular flute is very minimalistic, no extra fuss at all, not even a long foot. It plays very good as well. Loud, clear voice, easy to fill and effortless to play. I find that this flute is almost too perfect, both in looks and the way it plays. And considering where the price tag of this flute sits, I would not buy one, even though it probably performs better than any other flute I’ve tried. I think it lacks in charm.

The Jon C on the other hand has loads of charm. It is marvelous both to look at and to play. The craftsmanship is great. Very nice details, beautifully engraved rings and sculptured endcap, and it also has little protective metal rings on the ends of the tenons. All in all a very solid flute, it has thick walls and it’s pretty heavy. I like this about it. I don’t want my flutes to feel like they are made of paper. Give me a good, solid heavy weight champion, like this one, or my M&E. This flute plays great as well. Lots of bark, lots of charm, quite easy to fill. Lovely voice. Don’t be surprised if the next flute I’ll buy is a Jon C. I love this.

I don’t think I need to tell you all about what I think of my M&E, at least the ones who’s been around here for more than a few weeks knows what I think about this one. The M&E with the Cocobolo head has a unique voice that I haven’t heard anywhere else. When I played all three today I played a reel where I really pushed them all hard. All three can be pushed to play very loud, but the McGee is slightly louder than the rest (of course, this is not entierly fair to the Jon C since I’ve played it so little, but I can usually adapt to a new flute pretty quickly. Still all three of these flutes will grow on me, the McGee and Jon C’s flute in particular). All three gave me a slightly different sensation when they were pushed. The feeling of the McGee is pretty much as normal, but louder, the Jon C felt like a big steam locomotive, and the M&E feels sort of like a blizzard or a thunder storm.

Feel free to ask questions. I’ll probably share more opinions later.

Cheers

2

Interesting! Lovely looking flutes, all of 'em. I’d love to hear soundclips if ya get the chance :slight_smile:

DO you recall what type of embouchure is on the Terry flute? Some Conventional wisdom seems to be that that more “old school” (IE closer to elliptical or even round) the embouchure, the more “character” it contains.

I ask because I have a Terry on order, to add to my good ole plastic MERR.

3

The McGee looks to have a Rectangular embochure.

I have two very nice Rudalls and will soon have a third. Right now I have a Geert Lejune Blackwood large holed which has a very nice tone which is mellow but it still has volume I have out powered Prattens before using the right embochure and push I actually usually play this way but it is not an aggressive sounding Flute due to the Round Embochure which is not easy to play on but I have really mastered it and it has a great tone but takes a lot of blow. I also have my trusty Poly M&E R&R which needs not introduction. I will soon have a Bleazey Ironwood (or Mopane) after Phil gets my Whistle and payment he will send one out for me.

4

Wow, that was the longest sentance I’ve seen on C&F since I signed up! Congrats! :party: :smiley:

By the way. I think the McGee is a rounded rectangle embouchure and eccentric head. Don’t know for sure though. I’d definately go for a two semi-circles embouchure and cylindrical head if I were to buy a McGee, just based on my experience from the tour flute.
I don’t think McGee is a bad choice, he is an extremely skilled craftsman and he knows his flutes alright. I just think that somewhere along the road with all his discoveries and inventions, he’s lost the soul. And he’s not cheap.

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Grammar…psh

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Hi Henke, the keys on your M#E look like regular old R&R keys. The ones on mine are great big heavy clarinet-like keys. Did you get special order keys?

Nelson

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My keys are handmade sterling silver keys made by Michael himself. When I asked him about keys he found out that the company who usually supplies him with keys doesn’t make lefty ones. So he had to make them himself. He didn’t even take any extra charge, he charged me according to the list prize. Also the headjoint of that flute is one of a kind, the first and to my knowledge only, unlined M&E headjoint in the world, and with an embouchure shape that usually doesn’t come with M&E flutes.
My flute is custom made all the way :sunglasses: :stuck_out_tongue:

I can’t say enough good things about Michale Cronnolly of M&E flutes. He’s one of the most generous, kind, and all together wonderful people I’ve ever talked to. And he makes a great flute!

8

wow henrik…you surely are having fun with those guest flutes.
I sorely miss the jon c, but it’s on the shortlist.
will also, like many others on this list, be interested to hear some mp3’s or the like , same tune played on all three flutes by turn.
will make interesting comparision, no?

cheers
berti

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Henke - i totally agree with you, Michael is among the most generous people i have ever came across, and his flute is still one of my favorites.
eilam.

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Jeez Henke, couldnt you have waited a month or a month and a half to do this. I am such a bad waiter. I think I bought 3 flutes while waiting the 6 months for a flute from France. Now you plop a picture of one of Jon Cs flutes infront of my eyes and not only that you have to talk about how wounderful it is. I mean I just cant take it. I just about had control of myself, and put out of my mind the fact that my mopane Pratten by Jon wouldnt be ready until Jan. or so. Now I must start over. Must put it out of my mind. Try to think of what flutes in my stable I can live without, try not to think about my apprehention as to whether I can even play a Pratten. Thankyou very much :boggle:

Take care

Tom

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Dear Tom. This is why we have AF meetings. They don’t have AF in Alaska? Good luck anyway. :slight_smile:

Berti, and all others who want soundclips. I could record a few clips and post them. I thought about it, and I decided to wait. The reason is that I only have my cheap computer mic here. It can record, and it can capture some of the sounds. However, I feel like it’s shaving off half of the characteristics in the sound. All flutes will sound more similar than they do in reality. And also, the sound will not do any of these flutes justice.
If you keep this in mind, and still want to hear soundclips. I can record some and have them up by the end of the week hopefully.

Let me know.

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OOPS, forgot to change my profile.

Tom

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Jon, I think you need to start putting your name on your flutes. Maybe start going by Cochran flutes or something…engrave them with silver or gold etc. Then charge about $3000 for a flute…maybe add an amber edge and then everyone will take your flutes seriously.

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I knew you’d like Jon’s flutes…now I’m deciding on which delrin flute of his I want. I’m going to be selling one of my M&E’s (the standard) soon because I just keep thinking about that delrin R&R he made for Bang. It was such a sweet player…

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You mean something like this?
They use silver inlaid dots, I like the key design also…
Maybe someday…

17

awwwww what sheer beauty…is that mine, jon? :wink:
berti

18

Jon,
Interesting G# key (is that a lined keyway)? Also the low C, C# arrangement using blocks. Who is the maker, and as I’m still looking for flute photos of that sharpness…

Kevin Krell

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Hi Kevin,
Sorry, I forgot you made the flute… I put a email to our “banished” flute expert, as Andrew (remember him?) showed me the flute, and I lost the site. Maybe he will reply.
I liked the keys, rings and the silver dots, that spell out the maker.
The G# key is very cool, I also like the C#/C key on the foot.

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Kevin made the flute? Nice work…I want one. :laughing:

Eric