What a day! Early this morning my daughter has crashed my car. The only important thing is: she wasn’t hurt. However I had not planned to buy a new car right now. So I felt a bit unhappy after that shock.
But then at noon something positive happened which saved my day. The postman delivered my new flute. It is a real beauty. Sam Murray has added a few extra gadgets on it which make it look quite pretty: engraved silver rings and ivory top and end. As a kind of reparation for the extra delay he offered me these for free. I had been rather nervous lately about this endless wait for my flute. But now I must say I am more than happy. Fair play to Mr Murray
After all the excitement of this day, I have just played it for 10 minutes. As this is my first keyed flute, I must adapt my right hand position. Anyway, the embouchure being different from my former flute’s, I will need a while before I can give a valid comment about the playing quality. So I just post these few pictures, just in case anyone needs something to drool on
That’s certainly a fine looking flute Claudine, congratulations.
I got used to my Murray just about straight away and found it very easy to play. I don’t know what flute you’ve been used to playing before? The flute I have can be quite powerful/loud if you drive it hard, and it´s capable of a variety of tone depending on how you blow into the flute. I´m still experimenting, but as mentioned, from the get go it seemed very familiar and comfortable to play.
I notice the end of your foot joint is flat whereas on mine it´s rounded and the hole is irregular. I´m thinking of sanding it down flat as I think it looks better, I don’t think it will affect the tuning or would it?
A shame about your car, but good that your daughter was unhurt
Hey Claudine
Sam came through for both of us in the end didn’t he?
Your Flute is truly stunning!
At first I thought your car was a VW bug, but its a Citroen isn’t it?
You don’t see those in the US…
Ben Shaffer
Wow, that is very pretty Claudine, congrats on the flute arrival, and at a time when you needed a bit of a lift too! Sorry about the car, but good to hear about your daughter being OK from the accident.
Enjoy getting to know the new baby, and getting the old one fixed!
That’s a wonderful looking instrument. If it sounds anything like it looks I’ll bet it’s fabulous. Looking forward to hearing what you think after you’ve played it a while.
I’m guessing from my own experience that yours might just be the lightest, most well-balanced flute out there, what with the Boxwood, keys and unlined HJ. (Is it unlined, in fact?)
It took me about a week to get my fingers comfortable around the bottom-hand blocks on my Murray. .. now I don;t notice 'em at all.
Gabriel – - - the tuning on my Murray’s keyed C is in fact a bit flat. . . I’d love to hear what Claudine says about the intonation on hers.
The head is unlined. No idea where the ivory came from. The whole flute is very light. It is also very responsive, I can feel the wood vibrate under my fingers when I play. The sound is nice, but it is still too early to say much about it. Same for the tuning. I was used to correct the tuning flaws of my former flute, and now I must adapt to the new one. That will take some time. Generally I think that the tuning is good, but I just need to break the flute in and spend more time playing it before I can make a valid evaluation.
“Same for the tuning. I was used to correct the tuning flaws of my former flute, and now I must adapt to the new one. That will take some time. Generally I think that the tuning is good, but I just need to break the flute in and spend more time playing it before I can make a valid evaluation.” Claudine.
I find it easy to play my Murray in tune. I tune to an A, adjust the head joint later when the flute has warmed up, and the flute is very in tune with itself in both octaves. My partner who plays the fiddle remarked on this saying she preferred it when I played the Murray as opposed to the Wilkes, as she says I play the Murray in tune (not sharp) in the second octave.
