Last week I took delivery of a new Jay Ham keyless flute in rosewood. I wanted to spend a little time with my new flute before posting…
As a long time woodworker, I am blown away by the high level of fit, finish, and craftsmanship this flute exhibits. The shaped rings, the metal engraving on the crown, the bead on the barrel, the footjoint’s contrasting wood inlay, and the slide are all the work of a skilled artist. It is really something to behold–simply beautiful. The rosewood, highly polished, is gorgeous.
Jay’s design, based on work from Rudall and Rose, has medium sized holes (barely smaller than my Olwell Nicholson), and plays like a dream. I came back to the flute (after short break in periods of play) thinking my excitement had gotten the better of me. But no, this flute has continued to amaze. It plays extrodinarily well, easy to fill, very responsive, strong warm and reedy tone with great power. The upper end is sweet into the third octave and the low end all the way to the bell note is strong, reedy and vibrant. The embouchure cut suits me very well. From my first blown notes I felt this flute made me sound better!
In my opinion, Jay’s flute deserves the highest praise. I’m now on Jay’s list for a future keyed flute.
I couldn’t be happier with my flute purchase.
(I can email pictures to anyone interested–or someone with the technical prowess might post pictures here for me…)
I’m one month in on my new Jay Ham and I’m really loving this flute. It has a bit of back-pressure, fills easily and is so very responsive. I love the sweetness of the upper octave and powerful lower end. The low D is superbly edgy. It is really a joy to play! Jay is a master of his craft.
Would you say it takes about the same air as your Olwell Nicholson? I have both Nicholson and a Rudall-small Olwells and the Nicholson takes quite a bit more air than the Rudall-small model. Thanks, Chet
Chet, really good question. Those two flutes (Both absolutely amazing flutes!) have much in common: hole spacing, general size, volume… The Ham fills a bit easier and has some back pressure, which I really like. The Ham also, as a function of tone hole smaller size and slightly more bore taper, I’m guessing, is a fractional touch quicker to respond–ornaments seem to pop a tiny bit more. The embouchure on the Ham I find to be excellent, for me, as it lends itself to lots of flexibility and tone color and edgy low end. Playing back in forth between the two, I would say they are very similar in how they fill and play–volume and such. My impression is that the Ham is ever-so-slightly thinner in profile.
So, in answer to your question, it does take less air to fill than the Nicholson, if only very slightly. I would guess the Ham would fall much closer to your Nicholson than to your Olwell Rudall.
Funny you should ask… I was reading Jem’s Flute Embouchure help sheet in which Jem discusses the idea of “filling” a flute. Jem says, "Let me first state that I’ve never much been a believer in the whole “it’s an easy/hard flute to ‘fill’ " thing.” I’ll quickly admit that Jem has MUCH more expertise than I on all things flute, which causes me to rethink my backpressure and flute filling statements.
I guess the sensation of filling a flute could be more of function of embouchure hole size and cut than of flute bore diameter/volume (to be filled…). However, I won’t attempt to speculate. I do note, keeping the air stream I emit constant, some flutes sound louder, fuller, and easier than others. I interpret this as relative ease of filling the flute or efficiency of airstream with a particular flute.
As an explanation of what I was trying to describe: back pressure with a flute is the slight sensation of pressure that resists my blowing into the flute; I feel it on my lips and against the air stream I’m creating as I blow and increases when my airstream is MOST efficient and focused. Jay Ham’s flute has what I would deem to be slight back pressure. If you hold your index finger parallel to your lips and move it until almost touching as you blow, you feel pressure. This is similar to what I am experiencing.
I took a swing at it… I’m curious to hear Jem’s impression of what I’m experiencing.
By the way, Jem’s Flute Embouchure help sheet is very much worth the read! Excellent material.
