I had the chance to play a Swayne flute, and immediately fell in love with it. The flute suited me, my hands, and my playing style.
I want to know if there is anyone out there that has a Swayne flute. They seem rare, and I hope getting one will not be too hard. I called Jon up and ordered one, which should take about 8 months. I hope he does make one for me. Jon said his flutes were based on a R.S. Pratten…I have played other Pratten based flutes before but his “took the cake” (for me anyway).
I’ve never played one, but have owned a few of his whistles, which were fantastic. Out of curiosity, what wood was his flute? He was only working in boxwood for whistles when I contacted him – which was fine with me.
The flutes he makes are out of African Blackwood, which I think makes the best flutes. But then again, I have never played a boxwood flute. I think African Blackwood is one of the easer woods to care for. I can hardly wait to get the flute, I was so smitten by the one I played.
Doesn’t he have a website?
By doing a search, I could only find his email but no website.
8 months for the flute? It’s quite fast since I heard of people waiting for 4-6 years for a whistle.
I tried a Swayne flute at the Saint-Chartier festival in France, it was a marvellous instrument for a very nice price! He also makes bagpipes (English and continental style), a friend of mine owns three of these instruments and they all are of immaculate quality. As far as I know he has no website.
For some reason I went for the polymer M&E flutes (in D and F). Very happy with them.
Bart
Not to kick a dead horse, but I want to get a great wooden whiste, and was looking into the Swayne whisle. Does anyone have any updates on those (low d in particular) about tone, shifing octaves, imbalance between low an high octave, responisiveness ease of play, etdc? I greatly appreciate some current assessment since these are pretty pricey at over 300 GBP.
But now, I’ve actually become more drawn to his wooden flute, which is pretty reasonable. How do they sound, say compared to a M&E or a Burns folk flute? Responsiveness, tone etc. also very important, Does anyone have any more experience to share, or recommendations? Or could you point me to a resource evaluating and comparing th Swayne to other flutes?
Many thanks,
Jaydoc