Hmmm… thats interesting. Short you say.
It it hallmarked wylde on the HJ?
I’ve just had a look and there is no hallmark on the headjoint. But I guess that’s not surprising as it will almost certainly have had a new barrel along the way… whether before me or with me I can’t remember.
The headjoint does seem to have been recut at somepoint, as there’s another embourchure hole on the lining opposite the current hole - as though the whole thing had been turned over. The repaired crack runs through the entire back - probably through what would have been the original embourchure. Clever and I would guess done many many years ago.
The Wylde I’ve got in my “pending” box (with nicely cracked-through the embouchure head!) has no stamp (they’re not “hallmarks” - those are technical precious metal-work things) on the head. The barrel, lower middle and foot have “WYLDE LONDON” and the upper middle has the full “Wylde from R&R 25 Villiers St. etc.”
I agree that they’re not “hallmarks” - but I was just sticking to Aanvil’s terminology.
Mine has a full engraving on the main joint - the seal which is very worn,
then
Wylde
from Rudall & Rose
25 Villier Street
London
and
Wylde
London
on the other two smaller joints.
I believe it dates from around late 1840’s - early 1850’s. Whatever, it’s a great flute to play. [edit - I’ve just been relooking at some notes on Wylde and he was at 25 Villier Street from 1838 - 1853.]
oooops - I’ve corrected the Wylde address now in my previous post - that’s what comes of not checking carefully! It is of course Villiers St., not “Berners St.” as I wrongly wrote (the latter was one of R&R’s many addresses…). There is no seal-type stamp anywhere on mine - not even worn away, just the address thus on the upper part of the upper body joint:
WYLDE
FROM
RUDALL & ROSE
25 VILLIERS St.
STRAND
LONDON
Practice flute: ebonite Hawkes & Son 8key. Wicked good player. Also 8key Boosey in Eb, ebonite, too
Session flute: Hudson-Pratten with Olwell HJ or RR large-hole boxwood or 8key Clementi-Nicholson
Stage flute: Grinter 8key in C ; RRC 8key in D ; Olwell 6key in Eb; Krof keyless in F
You can’t so much pay attention to a tuner as you do to what’s going on around you (though it’s good to know where the flutes sits on the spectrum before you sit to play). After awhile it becomes almost rote. I was so accustomed to rolling in on my A that when I played an Olwell at a session with Frankie Gavin he noted how my A was “oddly flat.” He was right, of course, and I grabbed a Rudall and was fine thereafter.
I have flutes whose C# is awfully flat, requiring venting of the long-C key to get it up there. That’s a design issue of the period (usually Prattens fall victim to this). Knowing this, you tend to recall while you’re playing what you need to do, such as flattening some notes with lip or fingers, or “lipping up” for others.
Pay attention to feel. Some flutes have a great body for the old ones (worn and aged wood feels so good in the hands) but the head joint is terrible. Fiddle around and swap heads here and there. Today’s flutes are often better because of the embouchure cuts they’re using.
I’ve got an old Hawkes and Son, and that’s been my main flute as of present, it’s got lots of power, and a great reedy sound. The only thing I could wish for is block mounted keys, but you cannot have everything. I also have a boxwood Rudall as more or less a collector’s piece. I think the main advantage of a new flute is that they are redisigned to play at 440, and often the keywork is a bit nicer. I have a few new flutes on order and when I get them no doubt I will play the heck out of them, but I still intend to take my old flutes out. When it comes down to it, it’s apples and oranges… I however like pears, so where does that leave me?
