Hi guys.
I recieved my new M&E flute today. I have not played around on it much yet, just assembled it and played a little on it and then put it down again (even though it was kind of hard). I can already say that this flute is simply a remarkable piece of craftmanship. It is wonderfully sleek and flawless in it’s appearance.
This is a one of a kind flute. It is the Rudall and Rose modell with joint rings and five keys. The keys on it are not pakistani made like his normal keys but handmade by Michael Cronnelly himself. They are lefthanded, pinmounted and acctually very nice. A lot of people have complained about the M&E keys but it must be the pakistani keys that are bad, cause these keys are very nice. They are smooth and easy to opperate.
The flute also feathures a custom made Cocobolo headjoint, it is half lined (the first halflined headjoint he is selling, all previous ones have been fully lined) and it is such a remarkable piece. The wood is redish with blackish streaks, very smooth and absolutely beautiful.
I can’t say much about the sound on it yet cauce I have just played a few seconds on the wooden head, but the tones I got from it those few seconds was wonderful, very fat and creamy.
Hopefully I will be able to post both pictures and soundclips next week.
I can’t say enough good things about Michael Cronnelly and his flutes.
Henke, I’m so happy for you, I just got one myself, but I did not like the keywork that much, it was the Pakistani type, and the springs were way too stiff. It played really good, and it was hard to send it back. After I did, Michael wrote me that it’s easy to adjust the springs, and that they soften up withing a few weeks of play. Another reason was that I like my M&E keyless so much, I could not see sending that one back.
All in all, my M&E (and other M&E’s that I have played), to me play like the best of them, and I told Michael that I would be happy to pay more for better keys, because the flute is worth it.
Michael is a great person to work with and is not money driven.
eilam.
Another reason was that I like my M&E keyless so much, I could not see sending that one back.
All in all, my M&E (and other M&E’s that I have played), to me play like the best of them,
Eilam - Do I gather, then, that this is your favorite and most often played flute? Why is it that the M&E seems to be so “easy” to play?
BillG - my favorite, is my R&R, it has a very distinct tone, very focused and tight, but I play the M&E the most, and really like it, it has a deep dark woody tone, great bottom notes. this morning we played at an Art fair, out side, raining, I did not even think of bringing my R&R, the M&E worked great.
I’ve been playing on my new 6 keys M&E Rudall for a month now. Actually, because the flute was so long to arrive by the mail, Michael tought if was lost so he sent another one … but both finally arrived!
So I had the chance to try two (supposed to be identicals) flutes. But I realised there was huge differences between the two flutes. The first one was (according to me and my playing) quite out of tune (espacially for the D that was a way too flat). Also, big differences in the shape of the keys. They did’nt arrive at the same place under the fingers from one to the other.
I must say I’m really happy I finally got two flutes, and by the way having the chance to choose, cause the flutes are really differents and I like the second one A WAY MORE. The seconde flute is a lot more in tune, plays very powerfully and is very satisfying!
And by the way…I never heard of Pakistani made keys!!! How can you guess if the keys are Pakistani made or by Michael himself?
Hi Henke, please give me the senerio of deciding on a cocobolo head. Did Michael Cronnelly sugest it? Did you not want a metal head (from the acustics point of view, a lined head is a metal head)? The reason I want to know is because I have cocobolo billits (probably your cocobolo origionally came from me, I sent 4, 70 cm x 4 cm x 4 cm billets to Michael to try out) and a wood lath and on cold winter nights, I just might make me a cocobolo head joint. I told me wife that, and she thought I was going to go in my shop and smoke marjauanta. Not that I am not satisfied with my M&E R&R.
I, like some others here, bought a plane old M&E keyless before M&E started making R&R’s. When I got my 6 key M&E, I would leave both around the house and pick up one or the other randomly and play. The R&R definately plays better. There are a lot of little things that make the R&R great. E.g. if you brake or bend a key, it is easy to replace yourself, just screw it off and put another on. If you want more dainty keys, you could screw them on the same mounts. Another thing is that the M&E unlike wooden flutes can be kepted together. Therefore, you can take teflon plumber’s tape, rap on the tennen one small piece at a time. Twist it and get it warm, then repeat to where the joint is very tight. There is hardly a situation where you would want to bread it down. To ship it you can get a plastic water pipe, line it and use it as a case. It is not as much trouble to carry around as my rifle or swager stick was in the army. It plays as well with the end stoped up as hollow so you could put some kind of dildo thing on the end or a mace squerter for when you are in a hostal invironment or both if you are in a hostal female environment.
The point is that I am the origional adult ADD and own a youth soccer club with wall-to-wall Atention Defficate Disorder kids around all the time. I will be getting a wooden 8 key soon, but I will never be able to take it out of my parlor.
An article in Nature Vol 231, # 6, pp 160, 2003, was a study that showed that 99% of all Celtic flute players who chose M&E R&R flutes as their first choice, all had IQ above 140. The other 1% with IQ above 140 chose Seery flutes.
Hi again guys. The pics and soundclips are on the way soon. The friend who was going to take the pics and host them have had some trouble. Will hopefully get them up next week.
Leonard. I also had the opertunity to compair my new flute to my old keyless. I found that they match almost exactly tuning-wise but the new one is a bit longer and has a wider bore. Interestingly the playing characteristics are not very different, there is some differences but they are very subtle. And re the Pakistani keys I have obviously not tried them so I can’t compair, I just know that my keys are handmade sterling silver and work nicely.
Nelson. I came up with the idea about the wooden head myself, I acctually asked for Blackwood but he hadn’t got any in stock so he offered me a Cocobolo and after reading some stuff about the wood I decided to give it a shot. I wanted the new head just as a variation, that’s why I asked for it unlined aswell, because it’s different.
I’ve had the time now to play it a little more and obviously I’m in the playing-in period of the wooden head so haven’t had the chance for real extensive playing time but I can already tell you that it’s tremendeous. The volume is about the same as the polymer. I can’t tell you which one is the best. They are different, but I don’t think any of them are better than the other, they are both so nice, and I guess that’s my latest contribution to the wood vs. polymer debate. Michaels polymer is just as good as equal wood, so there! But because they are different I suppose it’s a matter of opinion aswell, I just like them both.
I emailed Michael Cronnolly with some questions about his wooden flutes and he told me Cocobolo is the only wood he is using. Right now he has no instrument-grade blanks of Blackwood and doesn’t have a source for more as of yet.
Is Cocobolo always so high contrast? Can it be rendered a little more monochromatic?
Yes Nelson, I got two heads for the flute. The idea initially was that I would just send my old flute back to Michael and get the keys mounted and he could make the wooden head to fit it aswell. As it turned out he already had a leftahanded keyed flute in stock becuase a guy didn’t have the finance when it was ready so he mounted the rings on that one and made the head to fit it and sent it to me as a sample. I love it and I’m sending back my old flute and paying for the keys, head and hardcase.
Aaron, I have 12 or more nice cocobolo billets. I sent 4 to Michael Cronnolly about a year ago because I thought I was going to have him make me a cocobolo flute. 2 billets for my flute and 2 billits to him as a present. It cost me $50 - heavy stuff. So if you are going over to Scotland and decide to go look at Michael’s cocobolo flutes, you might want to get a billit from me to take over with you.
Ask Jon about the different colors of cocobolo, he goes to the market in Californlia and picks his own billits. He says some are red and black stripes and some are yellow and black. Look at his cocobolo flutes on flute porn, page 17. Ask him if the stains if dark it will look more monochromatic.
For some reason they make highland bagpipe chanters out of cocobolo. I’ve seen explainations on a piper’s site a year of so ago.
PS I will be receiving in about a month a cocobolo R&R a la Chris Norman from Johnie Gallagher, then I will be able to play as well as Chris Norman.
Here’s my latest batch of flutes, just getting ready to drill.
The four in the middle are cocobollo, you can see the color difference. The second cocobollo looks curly (can’t wait to see what that one will look like…) the top is a wood called Brown Ivory from Tanzania. The bottom one is cookstown Ironwood that Eilam gave me. Maybe one will be a international RAF…
I have found that there is a lighter colored cocobollo, it starts out orange yellow and turns red/black, then there is a darker red black that will probably turn very dark red black.
I’m having to much fun…
Aaron wrote:
Is Cocobolo always so high contrast? Can it be rendered a little more monochromatic?
The darker version doesn’t have as much contrast, and a straighter grain.
Hi. Here are some pics of the flute. They are not really the best pics, the light and angle and everything is pretty bad, but hopefully they will give you an idea of how the flute looks. I might be able to upload better ones later, and I’ll try to post some sound samples when I get time.
