I’m curious about Lehart’s flutes…reading archived posts nets a good impression, but I’m wondering about some more specific details.
What kind of embouchure do these flutes best respond to?
How good is the key-work–spring tension, action, quality of post-mounting?
For those who have experienced both, how does a Lehart compare to a Copley in terms of sound, playability, and volume?
Thanks for any insights.
M
Keyed Lehart flutes are extremely good value - the key work is lovely, and the tuning excellent.
As a small person, however, I found my Lehart had a high air requirement because of the large oval embouchure and large RH holes. So, horses for courses… I moved on to 19thC 8-key flutes, which suit me better… but I also have to work much harder at my tuning!
hope that helps,
pamela
I have a 5 keyed LeHart and last evening I got a chance to play it and my new to me Eamonn Cotter in a small ensemble.
The Cotter has better (louder) volume, but the tuning on the LeHart is much superior. This is real importance when playing with other instruments in a group of harp, guitar, recorder/whistle.
My ensemble companions indicated that the LeHart was a much better blending instrument and that is the one they preferred.
I like them both - they are like children - both are good, both are different.
If you are selecting only one, my choice would be for the Lehart
Chuck
I disagree. Eamonn DeBarra (Slide) told a friend of mine that rule no 1 for a learning player is: Don’t blame the flute! You can blow the best instrument out of tune if your embouchure is not adapted to it. You say the Cotter is new to you. I recently changed from a Cotter to a Copley. Now guess what happend: Did my intonation improve or deteriorate? I screwed up every other piece when I played it with my group for the first couple of times. I have to re-program my embouchure. There is a huge difference between Cotters and Copleys (I have to blow much more down the flute on the Copley). Similar things definitely apply for LeHart vs Cotter. Don’t make your judgement too early. Your friends could only tell that YOU sounded better on the LeHart at that special moment. Time will tell.
As I live in France I tell you what I heard of Lehart’s flute with my experience. (I do not own but I tried it some times)
-The flute sounds exellent… Almost everyone agree with that. You may find some famous fluters who play with the flute. (Veillon, Barou etc)
-Key works are not good. It is only bad thing about his flute. He uses guitars cords and it is not modified since- more than 20 years or so. (and personally I do not like his copper rings)
-The embauchure hole is quite large, so in order to play loud, you may need to cover the hole with your lip little more than usual but the notes are just and lovely.
-For the cost-quality performance, it is not expensive at all and you do not need to wait something like more than 2 years.
So if you are looking for keyless one, why not?
I have a keyed LeHart which I like very much and which will, in time, become my number one D flute. At the moment I spend more time playing a Casey Burns standard unkeyed on loan to me because, as a relative beginner, I find it easier to blow and I find it easier not to bother with keys, even though I also play Boehm system flutes. I’m very happy with the LeHart and, for the price, it would be pretty hard to match I think. It’ll be a while before I can do it justice though.