Can anyone here shed some light on the matter? I realize that it has a lot to do with personal preference. I like the reedy buzz the flute can produce, and I know that it is just as much the flute as the player, but how does a lined or unlinded headjoint factor in?
I’ve read several flute makers sites and find some do and some don’t line the headjoints and they have their opinions on the matter. I’ve played bohem system flute for years and it seems to me that a fully lined headjoint would give you pretty much the same sound (I have no experinece) I’ve only played unlined wooden flutes for about the last 2 1/2 years or so.
I know I’m asking for a lot of personal opinions, so I’m prepared!
I played both and, to be honest, I don’t care at all. My current flute has a lined headjoint, the previos one was unlined, the next one will be lined again - I liked and like them all, no matter if lined or not. I also can’t track down the subtle differences in sound to the lining. Embouchure and bore shape are bigger factors.
this might be potentially dangerous but, according to tom aebi when I was discussing this, he recommended me to get a lined one because this would be louder.
this was three years ago and since then I don’t care anymore as any flute is plenty loud when played well.
This could just be me, just a subjective personal thought based on some personal experience, but I think a non-lined head tends to produce a mellower tone while a lined head can be more edgy. Maybe I’m just using faulty “common sense” in thinking wood is more woody and metal more metalic, like thinking ships can only be made of wood because wood floats whereas metal just sinks. FWIW.
Forgive my question, but as english is not my mother language, I might have missed some point.
In my mind, lined headjoint means that the embouchure hole is lined up with the tone holes. Am I correct?
We mean by a ‘lined headjoint,’ one that is entirely metal coated on the inside, often in silver,
sometimes in brass. Unlined would be just wood. Some headjoints are partially lined,
so that there can be a slide, but most of headjoint is unlined–which may give
the flute a ‘woodier’ sound.
I recently acquired a flute with an Abei hj which is partially lined. I am liking it quite a lot! Until now, I have always played flutes with a lined hj. I personally feel that it is a little quieter, but then again, the flute has smaller holes and bore, than my other flutes. Other players sitting across the table from me seem to think it is loud. Is that just me? I dunno. What I do know is that I like the sound and I seem to get that same reedy buzz from the partially lined hj that I do with the fully lined ones. Check out some the clips on my podbean acct. The Firth, Pond & Co. flute has the partially lined hj. The other tunes are recorded on my Hudson Pratten with the fully lined hj.
Arbo
Hey, INI, just listened to some of your clips…very nice. To my ears it sounds like your style is coming together, tightening up. Excellent. I like the Firth sound a lot. Interesting how we all sound about the same on whatever flute we play, just a matter of degrees between different axes. Same is true of lined or unlined I’m sure.
Thanks very much. I am still not sure what my ‘style’ is however. Any thoughts.? Just curious. I am not saavy to the regional styles really, though I do know I have a very different style than a good friend of mine who plays with that really huffy-puffy, pulsating technique!
Arbo
As funny as this is, it has no basis in fact - most antique flutes used for ITM had/have lined heads (old German flutes, certainly, and the majority of English do, too, to my knowledge.) Right now, modern makers split it pretty evently (non-scientific survey, done in my early morning, tired brain); maybe 50% wood (partially-lined), or completely lined. Great players can be found using either, to no remarkable distinction beyond the playing itself.
My blackwood flute with a partially lined head has a far brighter sound than my flute with a lined head, which has a more focused, darker sound. The former is louder, because it’s a Pratten body; yet the latter, a Rudall-style, is quite loud enough. Both have a wide frequency range, if the embouchure is hit correctly, which is my job, not the flutes’.
It’s counter-intuitive, but a wood head barrel will not necessarily be more mellow than a lined head, nor more “woody”. Boxwood tends to be mellower than blackwood, if left unlined, but - beyond that, IMO, more involves the embouchure cut, whether the flute is a Rudall-style or Pratten, and, yet again, the player’s personal embouchure. These seem to be the same factors that decide most of these threads, regarding sound.
Nicely put, Gordon. Pre-supposing what a headjoint will sound like based on the presence or absence of a lining is bound to color your perceptions once you actually hear/play the instrument. Embouchure cut and, well, embouchure have so much more to do with tone than do either wood or lining. As for lined heads being louder, the single loudest sound I’ve ever heard come from a flute-playing human without benefit of amplification emanates from Michael Hynes, wielding his 6-key, left-handed Murray with a half-lined headjoint. He likes to bang out a preliminary low D before lighting into a set of tunes; if you aren’t looking, it’s liable to make you jump right out of your skin when it goes off. Cheers,
You’ve been reading Terry’s site, haven’t you? I always feel that too much is made of this issue; for every cracked lined head, there are untold thousands that haven’t cracked. Plus, a poke 'round on Terr’s site will produce a pic of a half-lined head that cracked wickedly. No liner whatsoever? Not interested. Got to have that slide.
Yes, Clarke, you can bring it up to make some uninformed newbies aware, though if they’ve done any homework on the matter, they have probably already found it’s really a non-issue if you take reasonable care of your flute. So then, it’s not an issue at all. But you can bring it up if you really want to.
My current flute has a lined headjoint, the previos one was unlined, the next one will be lined again - I liked and like them all, no matter if lined or not. I also can’t track down the subtle differences in sound to the lining. Embouchure and bore shape are bigger factors.