I thought I’d post an update: Jon C. did lovely restoration work, and it’s a beauty!
Before: http://www.box.net/shared/mt0y6crob9
After: See Jon’s photo below.
The aesthetics are very English (i.e. Rudall and Rose), but the the bore and finger holes are very small, in the American style. It’s very elegant looking.
In terms of playability, it has a lot of resistance–my Copley (nach Hawkes) feels like a vacuum cleaner next to it.
Before the Christman was restored, I took off rather a lot of thread and tried it with my Copley headjoint, which I preferred; the original headjoint seems a bit stuffy by comparison. But it has a focused, sweet sound and is capable of good volume. Intonation: flat foot, sharp A and B, and it seems to be happy around A435 (or maybe even lower; the C# to Eb measurement puts it a 430, according to Terry McGee’s chart.) If it’s A430, that seems rather low, given the date of manufacture–the address stamp puts it between 1837-51 or 1853-54. I thought that’s late for A430?
The pewter foot keys actually work, although the same can’t be said for my pinky using them in any musical context.
In anticipation of trying this, I re-read a good chunk of Ardal Powell’s The Flute to get into the 19th century mindset. This is the first time I’ve spent any extended time with a 19th c. flute, and it certainly is a different animal from the modern ‘Irish’ flute! Overall, quite fun to spend some quality time with an antique. Too bad purchase isn’t an option, as my finances and physiology limit me to one flute.
Yes, a real beauty! The chart does not hold true with the smaller tone holes. I didn’t think there was much of a flat foot as I recall. I need to get my Christman playing!
Well, another day, another tuning, it seems. With the slide fully closed, it behaves pretty well at A440. At any pitch, I certainly have to pay closer attention to play in tune than on my modern flute. Is this ‘flexibility’ a reflection of 19th c. taste–enharmonic distinctions, sensitive fingerings, etc.? (Proper venting also makes a difference–Christman presumably didn’t have whistle fingering in mind.)
