I think I know the answer to the question in the title. I have only ever come across two F Pratten Perfected flutes in my time. In this case both have eight keys, I’d be interested to know of any others.
The two pictured here are known to this site but this is the first time they have ever been pictured together. The top one is the (now famous) flute used on Tom McElvogue’s flute recording; The Long Hard Road; http://www.tommcelvogue.com/index.php/home-page/music/new-cd/
It has been copied by Ian Corrigan in 2015 (six key to become an eight key shortly - photographs to follow). It was copied a few years ago by J Gallagher (I loaned it for this purpose)
Beautiful music - are these F and D styles different from your own reproductions of the original Boosey & Hawkes?
I have a Boosey keyed Pratten Perfected in D (just me…useless right hand can’t cover toneholes without keys) and Siccama grasshopper footjoint (no pewter plugs). I guess they aren’t rare since someone in Australia has compiled a serial number list for the D key Prattten Perfecteds. It has a very sonorous thumping tone, and I must say…is incredibly addictive to play compared to a Rudall Rose reproduction which has its own sonic characteristics! I wish more makers made these gorgeous Pratten Perfected style with the Siccama keys for the lower range.
Love the rounded cap and foot of the F key. Only tried a Boosey non-Pratten Perfected in F. I couldn’t get on with the narrow finger space between the short F key and D space.
Nice to see a UK flute maker here too. I quite like the modern reproductions over the vintage disasters which need a lot of painstaking restoration to get to playing condition
Hi Norman,
I have a vague memory of a website called Heathery Breeze which advertised a boxwood (4-6key?) Pratten F flute.
This was many years ago.
I’d imagine it was like a bigger version of this f piccolo I recorded from eBay a couple years ago that was marked C. Boose
Prattens Perfected: http://irishpiccolo.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/on-ebay-lately.html?m=0
I also remember seeing a photo of Jean Michel Veillon with an F flute with foot keys? Perhaps a Pratten.
(Unless this is one of the ones you have?)
I once owned a rather later cylindrical flute with plateau keys also lableded Prattens Perfected.
H&Mc have only ever made a Rudall copy, we still do occasionally but not often & usually just for players we know. We did plan on making a Pratten copy but thus far we have not. Thanks for the kind words on the music.
I am helping Ian Corrigan develop a full copy of the F Pratten, it is at a very advanced stage and we have a fully functioning six key version at hand which I am working on the tuning. Photographs and sound clips will follow.
dunnp; Yes I remember that piccolo form an earlier posting, very interesting. I don’t know of the F flute the JMV plays. I saw him a year or two ago and he didn’t use an F flute on that occasion.
In the interest of keeping things tidy I’ll post that excerpt & photograph here;
It does look like a Boosey Pratten Foot (ignoring the Hawkes as mentioned) but it may well be a B&H F Flute
Jean-Michel certainly normally plays his Lehart F flute. The caption to the linked photo from his website actually states (in French) that it shows him playing a Boosey & Hawkes F flute lent to him for a 1990 Barzaz gig by another Breton fluter, Claude Morice. (There are no specific instrument credits on either Barzaz album, BTW.) So, there you have it.
Edit: Ahem. Norman beat me to it by adding the photo from the English language version of J-M’s website…
There hasn’t been a lot of evidence of existing Boosey (or any other make) of Pratten Perfected flutes in F.
I mentioned that Ian Corrigan and I are making a copy of this flute. We are on tuning it at the moment but it is already better tuned than the original so I’m happy to post this photograph and sound clip. This is a six key model but we are on making a foot joint to make a full eight keyed model soon. This prototype is in Mopane.
Its tuning sounds reasonable - probably better than all the old 150 year old models..! I presume the rounded end caps have just not been finished in the mopane (?) prototype, since all the other Boosey & Hawkes Pratten Perfecteds have rounded crowns and foot endings.
Great to see the smaller manageable toneholes, although surely this isn’-t the reason for making a Fkey version
Just as great to see a UK luthier restore the extant model back into existence…I hope it works out! Will it go for the band flute market, or just a one off? Curious minds want to know
I’m the owner of this Boosey in F copy(with some changes to optimize tuning and playing) by John Gallagher. It’s a real screamer and after years of wanting a good flute in the key of F I found it all that and more in this one. The mopane has since darkened considerably and the tone has gotten even better. This one I often leave assembled since I like to pick it up and play it a lot.
That’s a lovely copy, I suspect that it is a direct copy of my F Pratten original as I loaned it to John Gallagher so that he could make a copy for David Migoya. David went for pewter plugs/pads on the keys too. I prefer leather as the original and pewter on the foot (when we get to it) but if it works then I’m sure it sounds as lovely as it looks.
I have photographs of David’s M’s F (Gallagher) Pratten, I’ll post them eventually.
(edit to reply to Tonehole too)
It should be noted that F flutes are great for song accompaniment they also allow a different timbre and register which helps make a solo flute album far more interesting and lively; as in Matt Molloy’s solo albums and Tom McElvogues Long Hard Road; http://www.tommcelvogue.com/index.php/home-page/music/new-cd/
Many solo flute albums by other players have a variety of flutes in different keys for this reason. I’d say that any serious working flute player would need at least an F and an Eb for song accompaniment, playing with others in hard to reach keys (Eb, Bb, F etc) and variety of “colour”. We are doing a large hole copy too but the tuning starts to get vague but we are working on it.
Yes, that is indeed the copy John made for me, Norm, based on your original, and many many thanks for your generosity in working with me on that!
I commissioned John a year beforehand to do the project, and supplied him with lovely boxwood from friends of mine in Spain who make the gaita bagpipe for Carlos Nunez.
The Hudson-plug look to the padded key cups was John’s idea and was a lovely flourish.
The flute is indeed a blaster and I love playing it very much, ever since I heard Tom play yours, Norm, on his recording.
I have several copies of Boosey/Pratten advertisements of the 1800s that show the availability of an F flute (in cocus and in boxwood) but other than yours, it’s the only one I’ve actually ever seen. They are fabulous flutes (or…it is a fabulous flute…i should keep it in the singular!).
My gratitude (and John’s of course) for loaning it to us for that very special project!
Oh I see… I assumed that they were pewter, I take it that they are made to look like pewter plugs but in fact house a leather pad? Nice touch indeed. I’d misunderstood
The key cup style wasn’t my request, that’s John’s main style now. It’s a neat look, it reminds me of some of the very early Rudall flutes. The foam pads work great, I very much prefer them over leather pads. They seal better, you don’t get that clicking/sticky sound, and I don’t have moisture issues.
