There’s a used Olwell blackwood keyless flute in D with C joint on Ebay just nu. Pratten model. Starting bid 2,600 USD (flute’s in Florida)
Item number: 270918524691
cancelled due to my mistake.
Watch yourself! I had a ridiculously long thread resulting from a similar question. Olwell is revered on this site, and I’d be the last to impugn his reputation, but I’d be less than honest not to agree with you.
$2600 for two top-quality flutes from a top-quality maker? I think it’s worth it! Somebody else does, too, since it has a bid.
Oh yeah, I thought we weren’t supposed to question prices on this site, btw…
Pat
and how do you know that the seller is not a board member?
(we do have a “FluteDude” member, not that I think they’re the same)
A D/C setup from Patrick no waiting? 2600? Doesn’t sound too bad actually.
Rescinded–didn’t see it was 2 bodies. A fine deal. Just thought it was one flute for that price. My mistake.
It does have a bid, but why show your hand at the beginning of the auction? Some people have more money than they have good bargaining sense.
Doug, I can think of so many reasons.
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Perhaps they have a price in mind, whether they have bid their maximum yet or not. They know if anyone wants the flute it can’t go for less than the opening bid, so it’s probably worth more to them anyway. And perhaps they’ll be upping their bid later anyway (maybe even sniping).
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Bidding lets them know if they are blocked by any of the Seller’s Buying Requirements (such as bidder’s country of registration, # of items they can buy from the same seller, # of unpaid strikes or other violations, or on the seller’s blocked bidder list). For instance, I’m in the U.S., and might want to know if I can bid on a UK auction (when the seller does not list ‘Worldwide’ in their shipping options). If I can place a bid, than I might bid higher at a later time. Some sellers deliberately put certain competitors on their Blocked Bidders List, to avoid any drama, or auction interference.
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Placing a bid also puts some restrictions on the seller. The Seller can’t change the starting price (such as to lower it for me to consider - keeps out the riff-raff). They can’t end the listing early, unless they sell to the current high bidder, or cancel the bid and go on their “permanent record” with eBay. If the bid is still there when the auction has less than 12 hours to go, the seller can’t cancel for any reason.
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A bid also puts in place restrictions regarding modification of the listing ( http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/revising_restrictions.html ), though I don’t see the strategy in this particular case. It prevents the seller from adding a Buy It Now or Reserve price.
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Also, having already bid might smooth any communication with the seller by this bidder.
Well, for what it’s worth, I’ll join the politically incorrect… Olwell makes great flutes, but this price is absurd for a keyless flute by any maker.
Yes, I see now. We live in a complicated world. Thanks, Kevin, for reminding me.
most of two flutes 
I think a new Olwell D keyless with slide is 1400 USD, so with a C body thrown in too, and not having a year’s wait the price is normal. Pat’s flutes are quality instruments and for hardcore Irish traditional tunes you won’t need keys anyway, you have a flute for life 
I’d hardly consider an additional $1,200 “thrown in.” I will confess, though, that I did not realize it had the added C. I’ve not seen flutes sold that way, and personally would never go for such a combination. I’d rather have a keyed flute that can play in C, but if that’s what someone wants, I suppose you pay the price. I’ll be interested to see what the winning bid is.
God, I’m glad I’m not in the market for a flute!
!
I admit, I’d missed that, too. Still, a second body shouldn’t be worth the same as most keyless, with a second head… But I’ll stay out of this one from now on… 
Alan, it’s called a “corps de recharge” (sp.?) . Quite a common way of kitting out a flute with a greater range of keys. Very long history of doing it.
BTW. D and C flutes… not the same even if you have 8 touch keys on your D.
All this grousing about the cost.
Go price a wooden Powell… or a 14k one for that matter. Talk about crazy money. We are lucky.
I met a guy who was playing a wooden Powell at session once. He didn’t want to let me try it…
Oh, I know all about it. The first person to work on my flute showed me a clarinet he was working on for an orchestra player. It had various parts in it so he could play in tunings other than 440. As you know, simply going in and out at the head does not retune the instrument uniformly. Keyless flutes by contemporary makers aimed toward the ITM market are not usually marketed this way. That was what I was referring to.
I’m also aware that a C flute is not the same as playing in the key of C on an eight-key. My point about preferring a keyed flute to two keyless flutes in different keys remains the same. Just stating a preference, not advocating it.
Finally, with regard to cost, we are indeed lucky to be able to get world-class instruments relatively cheaply. I only grouse about the cost of Olwell flutes in relative terms. If I can get an equal flute for less and sooner from another maker, wouldn’t that make sense? The debate, of course, is if that is possible. I ponder the subject in the abstract amongst you all here because I am interested despite not being in the market for a flute of any stripe.
So (given the choice with unlimited dosh) how about two keyed flutes in different keys? 
