Below is a copy of my last email with McCarty Instruments:
When I wrote your company and asked about the origin of your instruments, I was told "Regarding our instruments and where they are produced. Our Flutes and Bagpipes are produced in my brother’s workshop in Ogden Utah. Our Lever Harps are produced in South Ogden Utah in our employee’s small workshop there. We are in the process of training someone and having another workshop in Miller Creek Utah. ".
Subsequent emails I have sent show striking evidence that the above statements are false. Please familiarize yourself and your employees with with the laws regarding advertising the manufacturing source of your products (http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/adv/bus03.shtm). Of interest is this paragraph:
What kinds of claims does the Enforcement Policy Statement apply to?
The Enforcement Policy Statement applies to U.S. origin claims that appear on products and labeling, advertising, and other promotional materials. It also applies to all other forms of marketing, including marketing through digital or electronic mechanisms, such as Internet or e-mail.
Language like “produced by McCarty Instruments, the parent company of McCarty Bagpipes” should be avoided along with any emails that imply or make statements like the ones excerpted from your previous email.
I will be watching your postings on eBay and your sites on the internet. If they include any more advertising that mislead the public into believing you produce your own instruments in the USA, I will file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission and eBay. My complaint will include copies of your eBay listings and emails between myself and your company.
I think you lit a fire under them! I just got a message on E-Bay from “Mr. McCarty” wanting to know what was so wrong with the flute he built…Sigh. I spelled it out. Anyway according to “Mr. McCarty” all sales of the McCarty brand flute have been suspended on E-Bay until the issue can be resolved Somehow, I don’t think my one bad report on E-Bay prompted that! This is actually getting interesting! Thanks!
Late one night, when my thinking was not as clear as it should have been, I completed an ebay auction for one of the keyed ebonite flutes, supposedly made in India. I didn’t expect much, but I was curious whether the reality of the flute was anywhere near the glowing description on ebay. I did have a bit of good fortune with this flute purchase, however. My good fortune was that I never heard from the seller, and I never received the flute. Since I had paid with paypal, I filed a claim and received all of my money back.
His website has changed so that the pictures from the Pakistan manufacturers are no longer there.
To be clear, there is a “Mr. McCarty”. He really is in Utah. I find his past behavior unsettling. Certainly not what I would expect from a traditional musician (bagpiper), a licensed family therapist, and a chaplain.
Hopefully going forward he will conduct his business with more transparency as to the true origins of the instruments he is selling. To do otherwise is of questionable morality and unquestionable legality.
Well. Wow. I got a note from Mr. McCarty. I won’t reproduce it here because it would have to be removed due to the swear words. To be fair, he mistook me for someone he knows personally so maybe that’s how they talk to each other.
I will included my response, though:
“It seems you have me confused with someone you’ve met before. I’m sure we’ve never met. I don’t want you to hold a grudge against the wrong person.
I can’t respond to most of what you say below because it is directed to someone else but on the subject of the Pakistani harps, I feel qualified to disagree about their quality. In 20 years, I haven’t seen a good harp come out of Pakistan. It has nothing to do with their religion or ethnicity. It is more about the standards of work in that particular industry in that region.
On the subject of flutes, I went back to those that said your flutes were from Pakistan and I defended you on the boards after April responded to me. After your last customer said in that same board posting that the flute was inferior and unplayable, I researched myself and found the photos of the imports on your site, I understandably thought I had been lied to. Also your ability to produce flutes so quickly is very different from other flute makers, especially if it’s a part time job. The few weeks turn around, as opposed to a few months or few years that it takes other flute makers to fill orders seemed suspect.
On the subject of breaking the law, the law is very clear. If you are importing items from another country and lead people to believe they are American made, that is against the law. If you are not, then it’s not against the law. The link to the FTC in the original email goes into great depth on the subject.
My very first email I sent to you was to let you know that the Irish flute community was making noises that they thought your flutes were Pakistani imports. I wanted to alert you because, based on you listing, I wasn’t sure that was true and I didn’t want you to be treated unfairly. I was doing what I thought was the right thing.
In closing I would like to point out one more thing that seems a bit off in this situation. As a family therapist and a chaplain, I’m surprised that you weren’t able to control your anger better in writing the email below. Seeing a customer complain because (for good reason) they believe they’ve been lied to and interpreting that as messing with your sister and family name isn’t a healthy response. Neither are all the curse words and the thinly veiled threat. I even had to look up REMF.
I hope we can put this incident behind us. I would surely like to put it out of my mind. Good luck in your business ventures.”
Terry, you have exactly 999 posts on here right now!
Don’t post here ever again or you’ll mess that up…
I wonder how many countries these Pakistani flutes are being sold in now…Anybody seen them on sale in Italy, Spain or France, for example…or Argentina or Chile…?
As I mentioned in another thread, I’ve seen attempts to sell them in Brazil and with the spread of interest in the music, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them showing up in other places too.
I wonder how many countries these Pakistani flutes are being sold in now…Anybody seen them on sale in Italy, Spain or France
I remember seeing those in the italian ebay (and also pakistani-like flutes coming from india i think), but today I checked and I couldn’t find anything
Can’t find them in the spanish ebay also, but they are on sale on the french ebay…
That sounds like they’re probably on sale throughout western europe then and likely to be making inroads further to the east too…Not good. It’s only when an internet forum for flute or pipes gets going in the native language that they begin to get identified for what they are.
I didn’t even know people from Utah knew how to cuss. I wonder if he treats customers this way. I wonder if the Attorney General of Utah or the Better Business Bureau of Utah would like to have those e mails forwarded to them.
Here is a link to Celticforceindustry’s current listing for an Irish flute. I think it is clear from the seller’s home page that the seller (in Utah) is merely a USA seller of imported instruments, namely the McCarty brand. I think that I would take exception to the McCarty quality statements, however. “At McCarty Instruments Each Instrument is Produced to Exacting Quality Standards Using the Latest Techniques in Manufacturing. At McCarty Instruments we are passionate about music and want to share our passion by providing customers with instruments of outstanding quality which will last for generations. While we began our business producing bagpipes and have a special place in our heart for the pipes we eventually expanded our business to provide quality instruments of all kinds to retail establishments throughout the world. We produce Lever Harps, Irish Flutes, and a host of brass and woodwind instruments as well. We believe that music has the unique ability to enrich human life and we strive to provide quality instruments which will touch the life of each musician and perhaps even those in his or her community.Our websites include mccartyinstruments.com which lists some of our instruments and mccartybagpipes.com which has free online music lessons for the Bagpipe, Irish Flute, Tin whistle, and Bodhran as well as links to free Celtic music and our recommendations for other producers instruments.”
I think that it is rather humorous that all of Celticforceindustry’s ebay ads have this exclusionary statement:
“Every once in a while we will get a box in the mail with flutes or bagpipes from a company who wants us to sell their particular brand. This flute was mailed to us from Pakistan and it is in key of D and measures 23 inches. As with the other flutes from this maker the embouchure hole is a bit off but with some adjustment I was able to play it. Since I paid nothing for this flute I am selling it for quite little. This is an opportunity to play a simple wooden flute known by many as an Irish Flute for very little.”
$39.95 is the price of the smaller high Bb flute in the ebay ad. The low D flute is $49.95. I wouldn’t say that Celticforceindustry is dumping the cheap Pakistani flutes because they don’t come up to the exacting standards of their McCarty instruments. I suspect that their McCarty brand is also made in Pakistan and is of similar quality. $49.95 is the going ebay price for Pakistani flutes of this quality, as evidenced by a similar flute offered by a music store in Denver, who at least is straightforward about the origin of the flute they are selling. ebay ad
I did finally get a email from Mr. McCarty offering to send me a new flute, as he was convinced that the one I received was “unfinished and a mess” and whether I sent the old one back or not, he was going to send me a new flute… I basically said “bs” in more polite terms, and told him I wasn’t giving back the one I bought as I had too much time in it. I haven’t received a new flute in the mail despite his generous offer and it has been several weeks now. Surprise Surprise…
Oh wait, I made a mistake. That’s couldn’t be him. That’s another flute seller called Great Basin Folk Instruments…who also sells bagpipe uniforms…in Miller Creek, Utah…with the same photographs that McCarty uses…of the same identical flute.
I know this is an old link, but I wanted to follow up anyhow. Most of the comments I have seem so far seem less than favorable, although I am seeing mostly posts from folks who have not had “hands-on” with on of the McCarty flutes. I have had a pretty positive experience with this product, so I wanted to weigh in in favor of Mr. McCarty
I just received the “Hickory Wood Irish Flute” Mr. McCarty was posting on ebay. I can not vouch as to whether or not this was hand-crafted by Mr. McCarty, or imported from Asia. I will, however, attest to the fact that is seems to be a solidly built flute, decently crafted, and quite playable.
The item I received was a conical bore flute with a tuning slide. Tuning seems fine, holes are a bit smaller than what I am used to, but no issues there. I noticed no issues with leaking joints, as reported in an earlier post. The flute has a pleasing enough tone, although it is difficult to get much volume out of the low D/Low E. The upper register plays very smoothly with good volume and a nice, woody tone. It is also surprisingly easy to reach into the third octave on this flute.
I will admit that my opinion is not a well-seasoned as many of the posters here, but I do have the benefit of having one of the flutes in my possession on which to found my opinion. Probably wouldn’t consider this a pro-quality flute, but it is well-built, quite playable, decent sounding, and pretty easy to get a good tone out of, which should appeal to the beginning flute player on a budget.
I would be willing to post some shots of construction details if there is interest. If there is a more experienced flutist in the Orlando area that has enough morbid curiosity to take a closer look at the instrument, I would be willing to entertain allowing him/her to evaluate the instrument in order to provide a more critical and informative opinion.
Somehow, I don’t think my one bad report on E-Bay prompted that! This is actually getting interesting! Thanks!
