New 8-key flute, made by Dominic Allan

Irish Flute
1

Let me introduce my new love: a new small-holed 8-key flute made by Dominic Allan. I got it five months after placing my order. It is a beauty to look at and a beauty to play! And I love the keywork and use all of it, mostly for playing folkmusic of various traditions and sacred dance music.

Dominic gave me an eight-key flute on loan, so I had plenty of time to find out about the keys, and he made a number of small changes, mostly to accomodate my big fingers better. Dominic may be new as a flutemaker, but he is a top quality craftsman, who learned his trade as a clarinet builder. It was excellent to deal with him. I cannot recommend enough to try out a new flute first, at least for a week, better two. Ask the maker to send you a flute on loan, before you commit yourself to the order.

The flute is made of blackwood with boxwood rings, with nickel-silver keys, which are silver plated, with a final layer of gold to give it a yellow sheen, which looks great with the boxwood rings. The keys are very easy to use, sprung lightly, and placed very ergonomically.
I put together a page with many detailed photos here:
http://www.softflute.co.uk/Allan_flute/Allan_flute.htm
There is also more info about keywork, rings etc.

This small-holed flute may not be the strongest session flute, but it can play quite loud. I could compare it with a friends Wilke’s RR-type flute, and it played as loud as his. The Wilkes flute sounded a bit mellower, whereas Allan’s flute was crisper and clearer, with a fast response, just great for the Scottish music I like. It also required less air to play.

I also got a new keyless Eb flute from Dominic. this is a charm to play, with narrower hole spacing than the D flute, and a lovely tone. And I love playing in the flat keys. Eb is not the easiest of keys on an 8-key D flute, even with ergonomic key design! He made this flute in less than two months.

I recommend Dominic Allan’s small-holed flutes to anybody who is interested to play music from varying traditions, including early music, and needs good easy to use keywork. Dominic’s prices are excellent, and the waiting time quite short, compared to the well-known makers usually discussed on this forum.

~Hans

2

That’s a lovely-looking flute, especially with the gold-plated keywork next to the boxwood!

Could you post a sound clip? Your advice about trying a loaner flute first seems very sound.

Congratulations on your new flute!

Jeanie

3

Hans, that’s one beautiful flute!
do you know why does he choose to use Boxwood rings rather then say imitation Ivory? usually the ring material is harder then the body.
I like the look of the keys, very nice.

4

If I’m not mistaken, Eilam, I think he puts a metal ring between the boxwood and the blackwood to serve as the actual “load-bearing” ferrule.

Stuart

5

thanks Stuart, that would make sense, the work is so nice, I’d love the play one.

6

Hi Jeanie, Eilam, Stuart-

Dominic uses the boxwood rings for decoration, there is a metal ring underneath the boxwood rings on the sockets, for strength. He can also make traditional rings with sterling silver, or perhaps imitation ivory as well. If you look at the last photo on the link I put up in the original post you can see the metal rings.

I will try to record a soundsample and put it on my site.

~Hans

7

Greetings to Findhorn! (I wish I could visit someday)
Your flute looks absolutely beautiful. The keys of the foot are Boehm-style, as well as the G#. I guess they are very comfortable to play. At least more comfortable than those of my old Meyer-style flute. I hope you will enjoy playing this charming instrument.

8

Very cool. How about that dual-action long-and-short F key? And even the C key is cool. I love the Boehm foot too.

9

Oh god that looks beautiful.

10

Okay, I am doing the plunge and announce some small tunes as sound samples. Recording this was quite scary, and exposing myself this way is even more scary. I love playing the flute, but I would class myself only as intermediate player on my five point scale of players: beginner, intermediate, advanced, master and divine. Luckily I could ask my friend Rory to play me a couple of tunes, to give full justice to the flute.

So here is the link: http://www.flutesong.fsnet.co.uk/tunes.htm

Hi Claudine, greetings to Luxembourg! Maybe the Scottish scenery can tempt you to visit, see the photos on my website!

The keys are really easy to play, I was looking for a while for a flute with modern ergonomic keywork, and I was lucky to find this maker.

~Hans

11

Hans hi.
I’ve looked again at your review of Dominic Allan’s flute, how do you like it, now that you had it for a while?
I like the tune you have: Snowy Path (slip jig), I can’t seem to find the notes for it, do you have the notation for it?
thanks, and best wishes, eilam.

12

Here it is.
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display.php/104
Jon :slight_smile:

13

thanks Jon.

14

Hi Eilam,

thanks for asking, the flute performs very well, and I like it more and more since I learn to play in different scales and use the keywork more. It just is getting better all the time.

The snowy path is a great tune, and it sounds good both slow and faster, a goood tune for a slow session, and now also seasonal :smiley:

All the best!
~Hans

15

Hi Hans, the flute looks, geometry wise, like the one I just got in the mail. It is a 1850’s Meyer type supposedly. the diameter is about 3/4 that of the R&R. It tapers down to about 1 cm at the small end. The embochure also looks the same. I hope mine will sound as good as yours does. So is your flute a “nach Meyer” type? Next summer I am going to Inverclyde to football coaches school, I hope and will bring the “nach Meyer” to compare.
I just got it and put it to soak in almond oil. Every body told me I should but they did na tell me for how long. I wish someone would.

OT: Yesterday I was going through a new house with a real estate guy and he kept sticking his head out the window in every room we went into and would cry out, “Green on top.” I said, “Why are you doing that?” He said, " I have a couple Scotsmen laying sod."

16

Hi Nelson, Dominic Allan describes my flute as modelled after a “Card’s Improved” flute.
There was a short thread here in summer which I missed: http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?p=241075.
I can’t find any information what a Card’s Improved flute is or what Card’s system is (presuming the two are not necessarily the same).
Maybe Dominic can explain more from where he modelled the flute.
To me it seems it has French ancestry, rather than German.
See some nice 19th century French flutes here: http://www.oldflutes.com/french.htm

17

I know Andrew has a Card flute, maybe we can say a word?

18

Okay I asked Dominic. He says his S1 model is loosely based on an old Card’s flute he found in a junk shop. That flute had RH ring keys like a clarinet and various trill keys. The keywork Dominic uses is not based on the “Card’s system”, and even the bore is not the same but got altered in the development process. So there is only a very loose connection between the Card flute and the S1-model flutes Dominic makes today. Maybe it would be better to acknowledge the flute as Dominic’s own system.