Apparently Theobald Boehm preferred it
and what about
the 95%+ colour due to the head.
Hearty comments appreciated.
…the body is still not conical though 
I still wonder why classical wooden hj makers don’t do what Terry does: http://www.mcgee-flutes.com/images/silver_head.JPG
I’d also like to see where he got the 95% thing from…
An old thread on that subject: https://forums.chiffandfipple.com/t/irish-style-wood-headjoints-for-boehm-flute/8705/1
I think that the Boehmians have held something like that as common knowledge for as long as I can remember.
Not that I remember any specific scientific studies.
standard advise to the upcoming student on a budget is to buy a better head joint (assuming that the body of the student model flute is in good shape and doesn’t present any repair issues)
Boehmains can also go on for ages about the qualities of different metals used in the chimney and the stopper…well most anything really.
peruse the flute archives…they are subject to the same snake oil ah…experimentation and study that the Irish flute group is.
scientific studies are limited by known parameters.
Just cos something can’t be scientifically proven (yet)
does not mean it does not exist.
It may just mean that “science” does not have the means to prove it (yet).
It is claimed that Theobald Boehm preferred and recommended the wooden headjoint.
To prove that there is no difference in timbre due to material
- one would need to make two heads identical in all respects (including weight - yes, for weight affects the playing because it affects the player) except for the material (tall order 1)
- next they need to be played by the same person/s blindfolded and not knowing what flute they are playing when, over
- different duration performances
- the thing needs to be repeated under different climatic conditions and
- the thingie gadget that measures the timbre nees to be sensitive enough to catch the full range of harmonics etc in any particular note that a sensitive ear can discern from among the infinite that exist (tall order 2).
Actually, that doesn’t carry much weight (no disrespect intended to you or Boehm or any maker).
‘Proof’ is really a state of mind, evidence is not.
Identical and yet not identical. The flute maker as well as the flute players may be working towards a self-fulfilling prophecy. Each party may be un/consciously trying to make each head type sound the same or sound differently, thus skewing any fair comparison. Can there ever be a true double-blind test? The audience is the third judge. I guess what’s really needed is a triple blind. And because someone will invariably find fault with the overall test method, doubt about the results will never be entirely eliminated, which is why ‘proof’ will never come, except perhaps to those who got the test outcome they wanted.
I recently came into a set of concert flutes made by the same reputable maker, same design but from entirely different materials. My response above is partly based on my observations of these flutes.
Friends, I’m thinking plastic. All this talk about wooden headjoints, Boehm tapered headjoints, or old-fashioned conical bores is missing the point altogether. What we really need in this instance is to acknowledge the improvements of modern technology. Plastic is the modern material to consider for flutes. Better yet, I’m talking about cylindrical-bore pvc flutes with a certain wedge in the headjoint. In my opinion it doesn’t get much better than this.
Yes, an interesting one, Talasiga.
On the face of it, there shouldn’t be much difference, but I made quite a lot of Boehm flute heads in wood some years back (and still do very occasionally to replace damaged heads from period flutes) and I reckon they are pretty damn good. And it’s not just me who reckons that. I get emails from customers going back years who suddenly feel compelled to write to remind me how good the heads I made are. And I even got taken out to dinner in Boston by a customer who was trying to convince me to get back into it! Boston’s full of flute makers!
Now, before Dale writes this off as a Commercial Post, I should hasten to say I’m no longer offering them, and, further more, I reckon I have an angle on why they are better that perhaps no one thought of. It’s largely because the ones that came with the flute are generally pretty damn poor! And I think they are pretty poor for a good reason - they are fabricated, not excavated.
When you fabricate a flute head, you have to put in place enough stuff to be able to remove it where you don’t want it. A typical Boehm metal head has a lip plate, the tube, and a riser joining them together. All of these are very thin, so there isn’t much scope for working the junctions. When we wooden flute makers excavate, we start with solid, and so have complete and easy control over all facets. So, I think we start with a very big advantage.
I once came across a high end metal head where the maker had tried to work the junctions but had succeeded in actually cutting through the metal. It caused the most peculiar symptoms, which had apparently befuddled heaps of repairers before me - the owner had come to me in absolute terminal desperation. This expensive flute was for the trash-can if I couldn’t fix it.
Previous repairers had assumed a mechanical fault in the flute itself and the flute had been re-padded numerous times to no avail. I repaired it by building up under the lip plate with plastibond, and smoothing the spot where it exuded into the airstream. Plastering over the cracks, if you like. It was a lesson to me about how important detail is in flute making - the ship (or sheep) spoiled for a ha’penny worth of tar.
Terry
ah yes, Terry, now we may be getting to the nub
which is where Doug’s plastic position
may be relevant for discussion?
In terms of being excavated, rather than fabricated, thus being eligible for the benefits ensuing? Yes, on the face of it, I’d say so. There are a few extra limitations on the “plumbing pipe” flute maker that the wooden flute excavator doesn’t have to face, eg the finite range of sizes available (unless willing to get seriously into turning and boring). And the appropriateness of the material (density, fineness, stiffness, workability, etc). But providing one does something (eg a wedge, or some swaging) to get the acoustics (tuning, tone and performance) up to scratch, and one can find suitable materials of about the right diameters, one should have almost all the freedoms that excavation from solid can bring.
And one might be inclined to think therefore the responsibilities! But the real-estate caveat of over-capitalisation probably kicks in. An attraction of plumbing-pipe flutes is their very reasonable price. The wooden flute maker and the boutique Boehm-flute head maker can afford to spend a long time tweaking the embouchure of their creations - that’s a major part of what the customer is prepared to pay for. Lump that wages bill on top of a poly pipe and sales are more likely to plummet than skyrocket!
None of this incidentally should rule out metal fabrication as a starting point - the fabricator would just need to use a really thick riser, or ideally, a riser cast integral with the lip plate that already incorporates a lot of the shaping needed. I imagine top-end mass-produced metal flutes do. But they’re not the ones boutique head-makers stalk!
Terry
I think the origin of that scientifically proven Böhmian law that 95% of the sound comes from the headjoint is located in the fact that the Böhm bore and tone hole positions are basically the same on every flute, there are only minor differencies between different flutes. On the concical/tapered bore wooden flute, there’s not only the headjoint, but also the entire bore and tone hole placement and their undercutting. And if one unifies the entire design save the headjoint, the headjoint is the change in shape that makes the sound different.
Materials have a certain influence on tone, but to my knowledge and (limited) experience it is the shape that makes the real difference.
My friend plays a silver flute with an Abell head. It sounds excellent, and it is an easy player.
I hope that everyone knows that my previous comments about plastic as the material-of-choice for “modern” flutes was merely my feeble attempt at satire, written while under the influence of the grape spirits. There seems to be a place for all kinds of materials (some very new) and all sorts of shapes and designs in flutemaking. However, Terry, I do think that “excavating” is a humorous word for the process of machining the flute bore. If you are serious about the excavating process, though, please forgive my laughter.
I thought humour was your angle, Doug, but I’m actually serious. I wasn’t thinking so much of excavating the bore (that would be analogous perhaps to digging the Thames Tunnel), but of excavating the embouchure hole down to meet the bore (the venting stack on the Thames Tunnel). Our metal flute friends fabricate all this, sandwiching a riser between the tube and the lip plate, where you and I excavate it out of solid stuff. In my experience and hypothesis, that gives us more freedom than they.
And as to the powers of spirited and fermented licquors …
Come guess me this riddle, what beats pipes and fiddle
What’s stronger than mustard and milder than cream?
What best wets your whistle, what’s clearer than crystal
Sweeter than honey and stronger than steam?
What’ll make the dumb talk, what’ll make the lame walk?
What’s the Elixir of Life and Philosopher’s Stone?
And what helped Mr. Brunell, to dig the Thames Tunnel
Sure wasn’t it the whiskey from old Inishowen?
Terry
Intention does not prove/disprove merit, Doug.
Even if you weren’t serious, there is merit in considering whether Boehm would have crowned wood had he had the benefit of considering the versatility of plastic as we know it today.
http://www.sideblown.com/
David Chu makes some nice wooden and bamboo heads too.