Good evening… I am selling a Wilkes Keyless D that is a little less than 6 months old and in perfect condition. I’ve compulsively oiled and played it in, and would rather sell it to someone here than resorting to Ebay. Please PM if interested… thanks - Toots
What an opportunity to get a flute by the best living flute maker!! I have one otherwise I’d jump at the chance, but I don’t need two, one’s more than enough. Has it been sold already?
tootman, check your PM 's please
Mmmm, nice piece.
Rich, sounds like I’m gonna have to pay you a visit some time!
Loren
Thanks for all the interest… a sale is pending… I’ll post if it becomes finalized or not - Toots
Just a note to let those interested know that the flute has been sold… thanks - Toots
Good for you Toots and thanks for offering the Wilkes here on C&F instead of E-bay. I told a couple of flute players here in Sweden about the flute. Did someone here on the list buy the Wilkes?
How is the new owner getting on with the Wilkes? Can you post your thoughts?
I love it! I haven’t put it down in two weeks. I already own an Olwell, which I love playing too, but I’m enjoying the wilkes more at the moment. The Wilkes was a bit more challenging to play at first, but after a day or two it was sounding great. Playing the Wilkes makes playing my Olwell even easier. Though there something more satisfying about the Wilkes. Or, maybe it’s just that I prefer a Rudall style over Pratten style? We’re going to become very good friends over the years to come 
I love it! I haven’t put it down in two weeks. I already own an Olwell, which I love playing too, but I’m enjoying the wilkes more at the moment. The Wilkes was a bit more challenging to play at first, but after a day or two it was sounding great. Playing the Wilkes makes playing my Olwell even easier. Though there something more satisfying about the Wilkes. Or, maybe it’s just that I prefer a Rudall style over Pratten style? We’re going to become very good friends over the years to come
“Playing the Wilkes makes playing my Olwell even easier.” Winded
Yes, it’s possible that the Wilke’s is more demanding initially but more rewarding to play in the long term?
I was having a trawl through the archives today (first day back from holiday, I’m sure you all know what it’s like!) and came across this thread which I found interesting. I had the opportunity to play a keyless Wilkes last week and several things struck me.
First off, the Wilkes was a complete joy to play - a real belter! There is a definite spot that it likes to be played, and I wouldn’t call it an easy flute (well, it was fairly easy once you hit the spot). Which brings me on to one of the things that struck me.
I have had a Clementi-Nicholson (made by Prowse) for about 18 months now, that was substantially overhauled and given a new head joint by Chris Wilkes. Now again, it’s not an easy flute to play but it sounds great when you hit the spot. I also have a Hammy and had been playing it almost exclusively over the last 9 months or so. The point of all this rambling, is that in playing the Hammy I had found the correct way to blow it, but my blowing was not correct (it that makes sense). Over the course of last week I altered my blowing style and played both the Prowse and the Hammy. Lo and behold, the Prowse is singing, but the Hammy is starting to sound a bit hollow and empty.
As Steampacket alluded to in the previous post, flutes that are challenging initially are nearly always more rewarding in the long term. I might add that flutes which are immediate (as in the case of the Hammy), can often lead to long term disappointment. Maybe disappointment is too strong a word - the challenging flute keeps on giving as you improve, the immediate one is less likely to.
What all this has reminded me, is that blowing is without doubt the single most important factor in playing the flute well. I would rather listen to great tone and bad fingering than poor tone and great fingering. (The other combination of bad tone and bad fingering can be heard at my house on any number of occasions!)
Cheers
Graham
Graham is being far ( or is it Farr ? ) too modest. He is an excellent player finger and mouthwise.
I have just had the great pleasure of hearing him play many of my flutes, and he made most of them sound very fine, which they are !! (And great thanks to him for a splendid bottle of malt whisky, which I have been using medicinally since his departure I find it reduces the pain when I fall over having had some.).
If anybody wants to ask him how good is a fully restored ( Wilkes restoration ) Prowse I expect he will enthuse over it as he did when he played it. I am prepared to sell it, or perhaps a superb immaculate Hudson Siccama ( again Wilkes restored ) to get me on an even financial keel, having bought far too many old flutes recently, and flute cabinets !
(I have two similar Siccamas, which is too greedy ! and should
diversify,fond as I am of both of them ! ).
If I can manage to re-establish the connection between my camera and my computer ( when I tried to install a Nikon driver it wiped out my broadband modem driver ! ) I may sell a good violin or cello, and carry on hoarding old flutes. I shall have to get a big vat of Camellia oil to dump them all in from time to time !
The flutes seem to be taking over the house and life in general !
To this I would heartily agree Graham, but I would also offer the argument that just because a flute is easily blown in-tune and loud right off the bat, does not mean it is incapable of being as expressive, or as subtle as a ‘harder-to-play-flute’ over time. Just different techniques required to maxumize each flute’s potential according to its design and intended playing environment\repertoire. Also what the player desires to sound like is a bigger factor still, I think.
An example would be a flute which Winded himself owned for several months (or was it a year, Mike? Please chime in if I’m wrong!) and while it was a gorgeous flute and I thought he sounded fantastic on it, it lacked that intangible ‘something’ to him even though it was responsive and loud (if he wanted it to be) right off the bat. I think I remember him specifically saying that he felt somehow that it sacrificed tonal complexity or something simliar for being easy to play. However, a another local flutist who makes his living playing the Irish flute plays a flute from the same maker finds the flute ultimately expressive to his playing style and sounds incredible on it.
I guess my point (or observation, rather), is that different flutes give that certain feeling of satisfaction when paired with different players, not that an ‘easier’ to play flute is neccessarily less capable of great things than a ‘harder-to-play’ instrument. Although a harder-to-play flute perhaps better highlights inefficiencies of our embouchures in a more starkly audible fashion, so improvement in efficient embouchure is exercised more immediately on a hard-to-play-flute, hmm… :roll:
Cheers,
- Ryan
Excellent point, I agree. As is often said on this board when discussions arise from new players wanting to know whose flute sounds best, it is by far the players ability and style which shapes the sound of the instrument
Your comment about one persons view that tonal complexity was being sacrificed for ease of playing is pretty much where I was coming from. I talked about my Hammy and surely it would be churlish of me to say that it is anything other than a great flute. However, the way my blowing has evolved it’s just not giving me the same feedback as the Prowse. Without dropping any names, I have heard (second hand, mind you) a similar comment from a well respected professional flute player regarding flutes from one of the current top-dogs. (Yes, I think that’s vague enough!)
Hmm - I should have saved all my typing and just quoted this paragraph which, I think, sums things up nicely.
Cheers
Graham
Ah, but your Prowse has evolved as well with the recent touch of the Flutemaster , Graham.