Maker Mystique

Irish Flute
1

Hello all, I’m just now back into wind instruments after setting aside my UP several years ago due to repetitive strain. Pursuing flute now being wiser and more aware of how to avoid the sins of my past. I’m hoping you folks will be gracious enough to candidly share your thoughts about what contributes to reality or lore of ranking contemporary masters of the wooden flute. Previously I had just assumed that certain makers have developed a mystique, sometimes aided by the personal preferences of famous musicians (Olwell/Molloy), and that people got on waiting their waiting lists even if they have never themselves played one of that makers flutes.

After all of the reading, listening, and hands on trials I have done, I cannot yet grasp what it is that might differentiate these craftspeople and their work in terms that would lead someone to sort them into tiers. Certainly everyone has personal preferences and all makers have their personal styles, designs, and innovations, but how does this manifest into the existence of top makers? Perhaps also there a cultural significance, desiring a locally crafted flute, coveting something you must wait 10 years for, certainly some pride of ownership of a hard to acquire brand.

So, is there a difference in the quality among the contemporary masters of the keyed wooden flute? Does mystique play a role in the reverence shown for Grinters and Olwells?

Thanks

2

to use the hackeyed phrase (and thus make it even more hackneyed): One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

Nevertheless, each maker has, indeed, found themselves placed in the ‘heirarchy’ of makers worldwide. Sadly, that list is created by the beholder, catering more to a person’s desires and knowledge than all other things.

There’s nothing scientific about it.

what is seems you’re attempting to do is create is a way to decide, based on that information, which flute to purchase so that you dont’ have to go through the exhausting and unpleasant trial and error of buying/selling/buying/selling/buying, a never-ended process.

But you can’t. Unfortunately the best way to know a maker’s flutes is to spend time with them – certainly more time than the few moments you might have in a session with one, borrowed on the promise of doing it no harm by making a concerted effort at a strong/hard low D (why does everyone need to make that note?).

Terry McGee did it wisely years ago with the advent of his Embassador Flute (this I know because I had a heavy hand in getting him to do it and helped track its first few journeys with an online map…sort where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?). That gave people their first chance to try his flute…but sadly it was only his flute. It would be the same for the other makers had they tried it – and of course had a way to boost sales – and i’m sure it made some wonderous sales for McGee – but then you’d have to wait to try them all before ordering.

Some makers are best known for their Pratten-based designs (large bore, large holes, large sound, single-piece body) while others were better known for their Rudall/Rose efforts (although which Rudall that is can vary very widely…they should advertise which serial number they replicate).
Still other makers have their own take on classic designs (pat olwell is very much in this vein), and others can be extremely strict on replication of the originals (chris wilkes’ copies are so precise you’d have to look at the maker’s mark to be sure what you’re playing).

Some make very large embouchures which are incredibly accessible to the beginner (though can lead to a weak, unfocused “flabby tone”) while others make a very steep chumney that’s best left to the experienced player.

Others stay completely focused on which player is using which maker’s flute ("What is so-and-so playing?) Others prefer the makes of their local countrymen.

Some are more affected by waiting lists ("oh, i’ll buy one from the known makers as long as it’s not too long) and others prefer to toss as much money as is necessary to acquire an instrument rather than deal with a waiting list.

So, Grizzle…there is no real easy answer since each maker makes more than one flute style. You’lll just have to spend a lifetime like the rest of us testing them all out!

The best I can offer is to buy the best you can afford and which reflects your performance experience best. No need to drive a brand new Cadillac when you’re learning to drive; a Subaru witll do fine until you have the knack and don’t mind the attention. Then move up.

My first flute was a two-piece Ralph Sweet purple deal that cost me about $100 brand new, a lot of money for me at the time. Then a boxwood Monzani that I played for years and always with the intent of an honest-to-goodness Rudall & Rose.

3

David thanks for your feedback. I have some nice flutes, on a waiting list, am actively purchasing an antique, and yet another flute being actively built, but as you mention I’m certainly not unique in that regard. Everyone seems to be moving to and from flutes as they go.

I’m just genuinely curious as about how the market works and what drives marker preference. The workmanship of all the current masters is exemplary, I can’t detect any significant variances in the craftsmanship in wood turning, key work, tuning accuracy. Just variances of design, style, voice, innnovation, etc, and yet some makers inexplicably (currently to me anyway) seem to rise up above the rest.

I’m a business development consultant by trade and how the flute maker market works is just fascinating. Its also interesting how this is compares to the markets for other traditional instruments, I don’t see quite the same reverence for makers in the other instruments. No preference in fiddles, maybe some for bows, none for harps, more for concertinas, a growing preference for pipe makers. I suspect this is partly true because in all other instruments the antiques still hold the highest “rung” of desirability, where the performance of the modern flute often exceeds the antiques.

4

Well, ‘masters’ are the very best makers, one would think. But if you count the professional makers, all of them, I do detect
significant variances in craftsmanship and finishing, as well as variances in design, style and voice. The latter features are
of considerable importance, of course. The makers who rise above the rest are usually the ones who combine extraordinary
craftsmanship with an uncommonly good design and voice. Not to say that mystique plays no role, but sheer excellence
and aesthetic vision chiefly explain why the ‘masters’ rise above the rest, IMO.

5

even more curious, then from a marketer’s standpoint, is that none of these high-brow makers advertises…certainly not like rudall&rose did in their day, compared to boosey who actually purchased and printed a publication with that in mind.

impressive, no?
but not unlike in the old days, when it was quite customary to provide a noted performer with an instrument, such is the case today.
Mr. Flatley is best known for playing is (brightly lit) Olwell as well as a few original Rudalls.
Mr. Molloy made Pratten a known entity again after he played a Rudall for a long time. Now he’s playing an Olwell.
Mr. Crawford makes quite the mark playing on his Grinter (in various pitches).

In the day…
Mr. richardson played on a well-appointed Rudall
Mr. Pratten played a Rudall, switched to a Siccama, then performed on his own model (for which Boosey eventually bought the rights and manufacture and also the craftsman, John Hudson!)
mr. Rudall performed on a small-holed boxwood flute of his own until he got his very own Boehm.
Mr. Nicholson played an Astor and a Clementi

So you see, who plays your flute…then and today…makes a hill of beans for who is purchasing.

6

No preference in fiddles, maybe some for bows, none for harps, more for concertinas, a growing preference for pipe makers. I suspect this is partly true because in all other instruments the antiques still hold the highest “rung” of desirability, where the performance of the modern flute often exceeds the antiques.

I think in a lot of these cases availability plays a large role. The availability of decent fiddles is immense as is the variety of makes available. The availability of top range concertinas is much more limited with a distinct preference for a number of old makers, Jeffries and certain Wheatstone models, and a few contemporary makers, notably Dipper, Suttner.
Pipes are a distinctly more difficult area where only a few top range makers are catering for an (until recently) expanding market, leading to waiting-lists exceeding a decade in some cases (for the casual buyer anyway). While the availability of instruments for beginners and medium level instruments has picked up and several very promising makers are waiting in the wings, the really top of the range pipes still come at a premium with distinctly different styles for different styles of players. There’s always a bit of a ‘flavour of the month’ sort of preference running through it all though with some people feeling they should only be seen playing make X Y or Z. By and large though, a lot of pipers outside the top level play a particular make because it is what they could get their hands on.

At the end of the day though, serious players will choose their instrument based on what it has to offer them, how it suits their playing. Mystique doesn’t really come into it.