I am hoping to have two silver keys-- G# and Short F – retro-fitted to one of my flutes. Post mounted would be fine. Does anybody have suggestions?
I am interested too, I am looking for a G# key, block mounted…
David,
I’d have to assume this flute’s maker can’t or won’t retrofit (or is long deceased), because the maker would be my first choice.
I’ve been thinking about adding keys to my Seery, so I know Desi does post mounts (although I’m not sure if they’re sterling or nickel silver) for 150 euro per key. Casey Burns also does post mount retrofits at $300 per key.
Doesn’t LeHart also post mount?
Those are the first folks that come to mind.
Eric
John Gallagher might do that sort of thing.
http://www.tallgrasswinds.com/JohnGallagher.html
Snazzy way to do post-mounting.
Maurice Reviol does the keywork for Martin Doyle I believe. From what I’ve heard, some nice keywork.
Well unless the blocks are there they will be post mounted how can you put a block on when there isn’t one? The maker would be the obvious choice, lost of makers are afraid of putting keys on a Flute by another maker.
Dominic Allan www.woodflutes.co.uk (UK) makes all the keywork himself, in excellent quality, and is very approachable.
Marlene Boegli (Dave Copley)
http://www.celticlands.com/page3.html
Afraid? Hardly.
Hi David,
The key maker for “'Lauben Oboe’s” is John Skelton, the workshop is at 638 central ave, peekskill, ny, John has done work for me on numerious acasions
and is A1 as far as matching existing keys etc, I hav’nt had anything done in the past couple of years but i believe John still works with the company,
you can call him at 1 914 737 3778, You can tell him i referred you,
All the best, John,
I could’nt contact you in ireland, i misplaced the # and spent some time trying to get your # in clare but could’nt,
i did play one night in o’connors bar in doolin.
Ask them see what they say, it will probably be some thing like “I have never seen one of those in person and might ruin it” or “I do not know how to put keys on that particular Flute.”
Not necesarily true. I think Johnny Gallagher replaced a broken block for Dave Migoya. I also think Terry McGee has retrofited keys blocks and all.
Doc
Gallagher masterfully replaced an entire foot block for me on an original Siccama flute.
He replaced a block, masterfully again, on a moder-maker’s flute…but ONLY after I obtained that maker’s permission for John to do the job.
John is incredibly sensitive, as he should be, to the work of others and only agreed to do the job when the maker knew who it was doing it and agreed to have John replace the block. Drilling new holes into their flutes is not something he’s likely to do. Getting him to do it on original antique/vintage flutes is a certain no-no for him.
Hope this clears up any confusion.
dm
Dave thanks for saying what I was noty able to.
I’ll second the nice keywork on Copleys.
And for post mounts, George Ormiston does a super job.
Well, I don’t need to ask them, since I am one 
If a maker makes comments like the one’s you’ve listed, then either a) they aren’t much of a flute maker, or b) they simply don’t want to deal with it.
Now, having said that, I’ll go back to my original comment and clarify: Typically, it’s not a matter of being “afraid” to add keys, it’s a matter of it not being worth the maker’s time and effort (assuming they have the skills, which most makers worth their salt do), that is to say, it’s not cost effective.
To break it down further - It sounds as if we are talking about two different things here: A) The original poster (if I read his post correctly) is looking to have replacement keys to be made that would be mounted on existing blocks or posts. This is relatively simple for any maker who makes his/her own keys - one who has the silver smithing skills. In this case makers who have the skills will often decline because they can’t justify time away from their normal production (backordered instruments) to make some keys from scratch, or if they did, they’d have to charge more than many folks would be willing to pay, and they know this.
Now we get to the more difficult situation, which I think you were thinking of situation B) Someone has a keyless flute that they want keys added to. Very few makers will do this sort of work on flutes made by other makers. Why, because they are afraid? ( In french accent: My name is Jacques Coustau. Today we are chasing zee giant killer squid. I am sending my son Phillip into zee water, because I am afraid.) 
I don’t think so.
So here’s why makers decline this work : Typically our “irish” flutes use block mounts for the keys, these mounts are not big chunks of wood, glued on after the flute is made. They are part of the original piece of wood used to make the flute - that is to say big rings of wood are left on the flute as it is being turned down, and then the excess is milled away, leaving the block, so… if you have a keyless flute, and ask a maker to add block mounted keys… well, no can do shamu, unless you make a whole new body from scratch (which is what makers like Hammy do when you send him you keyless and it comes back keyed, he didn’t add keys, he exchanged flute parts.) Blocks CAN be glued onto a flute, but this is typically only don’t as a last resort for restoration of broken blocks, because it’s wicked time consuming, and quite frankly, a bit of a pisser.
If we are talking about post mounting, then this can be done after the fact to a keyless flute, but since many makers of “Irish” flutes don’t do post mounts on their own instruments, they may not have experience with post mounting and so decline. Or, they realize that post mounts can cause cracks and leaks, now or later, when retrofitted to an instrument not designed for this sort of mounting system (that is to say the wood is too thin), and so they would decline because it’s not a wise idea.
That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.
Loren
So, would it be complete blasphemy to try to get someone to put keys on the Olwell? Does he do block or postmount? Would John Gallagher be the best choice if I decided to get someone to do it?
Matt
By the way, very excited about my new Aebi flute coming in a few months–he’s made a practice flute to send along this month (hopefully!).
I’ll let you all know what I think (though I’ll need a few months/years with it to really know I reckon.)
So, what do you think, is it blasphemy to ask someone to put keys on my Olwell? Would you risk it if you were me?
Wouldn’t it make more sense to buy a keyed one and then sell the keyless? I’m thinking it would probably be cheaper and you’d get a much better job done of it.
You’d also be able to play your keyless while you’re waiting for the keyed one.
Not that i know bugger all about keyed flutes. 
I wouldn’t say it would be complete blasphemy to get someone to put keys on your Olwell. Just partial blasphemy, like if the doctor has only given you a year or two to live which means you’d die long before you reached the top of Patrick’s waiting list, then I suppose you could consider it. But I’d be very careful in choosing the surgeon for this operation, otherwise the flute could have even less time to live than you would. (Could be mere seconds less actually, since you might just off yourself right after the flute surgeon very solicitously tells you he did all he could but was unable to save the patient…)
With that said, the backfitted John Gallagher post mounts in the photo above on this thread do look awful nice. Maybe Gallagher would be the rare surgeon to which this risky operation could be trusted.
BTW, Patrick does block mounts on his flutes, and when you upgrade from a keyless Olwell to a keyed one the process is a trade, as Loren described. (You trade Patrick a stack of greenbacks, your keyless flute body joints, and several years of your life for one sweet keyed flute. I did it myself, and it was definitely worth it!)