Hi,
I was wondering if anyone knows anything
about this flute.It’s called the Five Key Pratten
Style Flute,it’s made of ebony,it only costs
$375.Is it a decent instrument?
I’m waiting for my flute from Casey Burns,
which I’m sure is a better instrument.It’s one
of his standard flutes with one key.
I have a silver flute and bamboo flutes.But one
can never have too many flutes,right?And I don’t
have a Pratten style flute yet.
And I’m only 16,so now is the time to buy instruments,
when my parents are paying for stuff like food.I can
spend my paychecks however I want.
Another thing, I’ve heard Lark in the Morning called
“Shark in the Morning.” This does not bode well,it
seems to me.
Anyway,if anyone knows anything about the flute,
or about Lark(Shark?)in the Morning,let me know.
Thanks!
I say don’t do it. I bought one and got it to play, but it ruined me for better flutes until I retrained my embouchure. Mine also played rather sharp. Had to pull out the tuning slide quite a bit. It looks good on the wall, now, though.
Kelly,
Those flutes aren’t so great…if you need a keyed wood flute, you should pretty much go with a top maker.
Stick with your Casey Burns flute–you should be pleased.
As for the whole debate around multiple styles of flutes, yes, they have their differences, but more or less you will always sound like yourself, regardless of which type you play. In other words, the player is the real determiner of tone.
Micah
they’re made in pakistan, I get them wholesale for $210, even at that price they’re not that great so I quit selling them. that said, they are better than the cheap keyed flutes on ebay right now, they’re also made in pakistan but they’re much worse quality. I had two of the keyless ones and when you’d try to play an E in the second octave you’d get something more like an Ab.
could be anywhere: ndia, China, bornea, papua new guinea, thailand, burma, laos, cambodia, tajikstan, kajikstan, ukraine, georgia (the country, for all you confederates out there)…
the wood can come from all of these countries.
I got a keyless Yark about 6 years ago and all the rings fell off it the first week. Being in a wooden flute vacuum at the time, I didn’t know how vital those were to holding this particular flute together (I don’t think they really season the wood, so maybe it’s a lot more sensitive to temp./humidity changes? I’ve never had these problems with the “good” flutes I’ve purchased since) – so before I decided to just glue the stupid things back, it developed a HUGE crack in the headjoint & barrel, rendering it pretty much unplayable.
[Although I did do some ‘modification’ to it this past weekend – and I have to say with about a gallon of SuperGlue, 15 feet of Teflon tape, and half a roll of ROYAL BLUE electrical tape 'round the barrel, it now plays pretty nicely for what it is. And, once it’s played in, I STILL like it better than the polymer.]
But. I think you should stick to your Burns, then get on a list or shop the used ads for a good keyed one – as you’ll see, there are lots of opinions about from whom to buy, but just get the best one you can, because a bad flute can really turn you off.
