http://search.ebay.com/7362638921
What do you think of this? Could be high pitch, but I’d like to try a Siccama styled flute one day.
This is a cylindrical flute, so while it uses the Siccama-style keys, it combines them with Boehm’s bore. In my experience, such flutes usually have a body which is tuned somewhere around modern pitch, but a head length that only supports high pitch. The head slide is too short to get it down to modern pitch, but when you put a new head on them they work very well. A strange business. Anyone contemplating purchase would be wise to ask for some measurements to confirm the pitch.
The cracks in the head yet again support my view that enclosing metal in wood is a recipe for ultimate disaster - note that the cracks are only at the lined end of the head.
Terry
So if I buy it, I’d probably have to ask you a new headjoint 
But I decided not to buy any new flute before my last acquisition (a Wrede) is playable…
The keys (I’m missing one pad…L3) and rings are exactly identical to the conical version I have here. This one, however, has a slide, fully lined head and a (quite long) barrel.
McGee reference length = 245mm.
Unmarked, so no idea of the maker. Cracked the length of the head, right through the embouchure.
The cracks in the head yet again support my view that enclosing metal in wood is a recipe for ultimate disaster - note that the cracks are only at the lined end of the head.
Terry
This may be true in some circumstances, ie leaving the flate near a heater or leaving the flute in a very cold (freezing) area and then warming it too fast, I have a Rudall & Rose flute made about 1838 and the headand barrell which are lined are in as new condition with no cracks whatsoever,
I believe most of the players who played these old flutes over the years never swabbed or removed the moisture from the flute after playing. and then put the flute away in possibly a cold area of the house in winter, the first area that would crack as a result of this would be the headjoint or barrell.
there should be no reason for these heads to crack if they are taken care of in the right manner, and i dont believe the metal liner has anything to do with the cracking,
The problem is that if you observe ancient flutes of the 19c almost all the lined headjoints are cracked, and almost all the unlined ones are not. Of course, we will always find uncracked lined flutes (I also have one) but statistics on old instruments strongly support Terry’s opinion.
Yea, verily, it is thus. Indeed, if we needed any further proof, a Mahillon (London and Brussels) flute came in today from Japan, the one-piece body in perfect condition, the lined head cracked from both ends, terminating at the embouchure (but not lining up), the lined barrel cracked end to end, and a crack at the foot socket, because the socket was silver lined in the French manner. The double-ended head crack is unusual in French flutes, as usually they have only partial slides and partial cracks - this one was fully lined so had full cracks.
Certainly one comes across occasional flutes with liners but no cracks - the reality is of course that one is holding a time-bomb - the piece is under great stress and will one day give in unless treated appropriately.
Probably one of the most dismal (but exciting!) places to visit is the Dayton C Miller Collection in Washington. Almost all lined sections seem to be cracked (I haven’t surveyed it but that’s my impression having spent over a week there). Miller mentions somewhere in his notes that he heard many of the flutes crack - the notes mention where he acquired each flute and many came to him directly from England. They were probably safe there at that time (early 20th century), before central heating became common in the UK. But take them to the US, Australia or anywhere dry and they were doomed.
There is no doubt whatsoever in my mind - lined flutes will crack unless kept in an environment as moist as the environment in which the flute was made. The evidence is overwhelming. To argue otherwise successfully would require coming up with a plausible alternative reason for most of the lined sections cracking, while most of the unlined sections (including 18th century flutes) remaining unscathed.
Terry
matt
i’ve got Siccama flute #472 that plays at 440
it is the loudest and strongest playing flute that I own.
no kidding.
i’ve always believed terry’s studies of Hudson’s work on the Siccama flute would inevitably unlock the “secrets” behind the Pratten flutes.
The siccama plays wonderfully, down to C, even with those odd two keys. They’re sort of fun to play…and no finger stretch.
Interested?
PM me about it.
By the way…it’s got the COOLEST case! (still smells of roses from the rosewood?)
dm
I have had several Boehm system flutes by Rudall carte, Boehm & Mendler,
and quite a few made in the USA, all with unlined headjoints and all with headjoints cracked, so this is the reason i believe it has nothing to do with lined or unlined headjoints, i believe the change in climate from one area to another is the main reason for cracking,
I have also seen quite a number of boxwood flutes which have warped as a result of the change in climate.
Terry, in the past two years I sold two 19c R&R boxwood flutes. Each had lined HJs. Neither had any HJ cracks. Lined HJs will only crack if they are poorly looked after. With the proper care there is no reason why they should crack. And, in fact, most HJ cracks do not impair the playability of a flute (unlike barrel cracks).
John is absolutely correct. Cracked HJs generally reflect poorly on the owner. Unlined HJs might or might not be better than lined HJs with regard to the sound. They are certainly easier to make, from the makers’ perspective. But to claim that they are better because they are capable of suffering neglect is a poor argument for them-- especially in light of the advantages of a lined HJ: better tuning, clearer, more focused sound (though not as complex), and a much wider range of tuning.
Wood used in an unlined HJ does not have to be as free of knots or have grain as straight as in a lined HJ, which will be stressed more. But that too is more of an advantage to the maker than to the player.
The real argument should be addressed to the player: to take care with his flute. Not to say, “Oh, no problem, be as careless as you like.” I travel between different climates, in and out of airplanes, central heating, woodstove heating, radiant heating. I have never had a flute in my care that suffered a cracked HJ.
Depends entirely on what you mean by proper care. There is only one precaution that can save the lined sections of a flute from eventually cracking, and that is maintaining the moisture content of the wood approximately as high as when the flute was made.
I don’t think we should confuse the issue with discussion of whether lined, partially lined or totally unlined heads are best from a performance point of view - that is certainly subjective and possibly dependant upon other matters. It certainly isn’t the argument I’m running here. I just want to impress on people that wood imprisoning metal (or anything else unyielidng) is poor technology - whether current or 19th century, and whether to do with flutes or other objects. The file handle that splits because the wood shrinks with time while the file doesn’t. The resonator board on our English-made carillon practice clavier with metal tubular resonators set in holes in the board.
We can all point to a few examples of old flutes where that has not yet caused breakdown. I have a few in my own collection. But we cannot ignore the thousands of examples where it has.
Terry