Hi everyone,
This is essentially a “for sale” post (for the attention of those who play traditional music on the Boehm / silver / modern flute)
, but… a little story for anyone who wants to hear it, afterwards!
for sale first!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=120565725763&Category=10183&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26its%3DI%26otn%3D1
There is all the information / reason for sale on ebay, so I won’t repeat myself here.
Now the story!
It was a couple of years ago, that Jem Hammond first told me about her. I mentioned I was looking for something like this, and that I didn’t even know if something like this even existed! Jem had carefully restored an old Rudall Carte flute, she was extremely unusual in so far as, she was a simple system flute on a cylinderical bore. It was just before a festival concert, in a small & remote Welsh village, that Jem first introduced me to the then ower Chris Bursnall, and her Rudall Carte flute.
Not because they were looking for a sale, but for some reason, Jem & Chris really wanted me to play this flute. Very kindly, I was allowed to borrow her (the flute!) to play and think about buying. I have to confess that initially, and for the first 2 months I found this flute extremely lazy and lacking an enourmous amount of life. It’s hard to explain. However, I don’t know what made me persevere with her - there was some kind of connection every time I played her. However when I reverted back to my Rudall and Rose design flute, it was instantly louder, more lively and what I was used to.
I had always heard Boehm flute players talking about head joints, and how this was extremely important for the sound - however in the world of wooden conoid flutes, in my experience was often overlooked in favour of various other factors.
So, this was a huge learning curve for me. As I mentioned, there was something that I can’t explain, which drew (and draws me every day) to her. I had a deep feeling that there was more to be found, more life to be roused and more colours to be unearthed in her. So… I took a big big risk, and decided to buy her. Thanks so much again to Jem, and Chris for introducing me to her.
The original head joint was a French style, overlapping head. To try any other head, I had to ask Robert Bigio, to do some fairly drastic flute surgery and remove the orginal! A bit drastic perhaps, but I was looking for a playable & working instrument, not a museum piece. Over the next few months, I tried many many different headjoints. Silver, wooden… with many different embouchure cuts and styles. Along the way, I’ve discovered many things and dissolved many flute myths (in my opinion & to my ears) about ‘classical flutes’ about wood type and embouchure cuts - relating to sound, especially to what we call a ‘traditional’ sound (Nicholson actually) and what sound we can (or are expected to) coax out of what kind of flute. This is another discussion entirely , however I did discover that ‘classical’ or ‘traditional’ tone (I don’t like to use these terms as essentially they mean nothing, but for now it’s the easiest way to explain), is something for the flute player very much more than the type of flute he or she plays. It’s usually not the case, however a flute player who plays a conoid flute can have a ‘classical’ tone, and vice verus.
Finally, after lots of searching, I eventually found the perfect partner for her - A wooden headjoint by Tobias Mancke. His cut of headjoints are very much to my taste. All the sounds and tones I was looking for, were opened up with this headjoint. It was almost like the flute was waiting for the right headjoint all it’s life! The massive risk of surgery and buying a flute that wasn’t quite perfect initially, payed off more than I could have imagined! I have at last (at the time of writing!!) found my flute.
So whilst this post is essentially a ‘for sale’ post, I would also like to take the oppertunity to encourage all those flute players who are searching for their ideal flute to keep going, and don’t give up! For those with unusual & strange flutes / ‘uncool’ flutes, made by unknown makers or with strange key configurations… or for those who want to play classical music on conoid flutes, and those with modern classical flutes who want to play ‘traditional’ music, and everyone else inbetween… go for it! There are so many myths / fashions with flute playing and people will talk until the cows come home about flutes and models / wood / latest fashionable maker / what flute was used on the latest popular CD etc… But… a flute does not play itself.
Don’t be a sheep… find your own way, be content - We are all different and diversity is what makes the (flute) world so interesting.
best wishes everyone, and well done if you got this far!
Calum
http://www.myspace.com/calumfrancisstewart
Thanks for the story, Calum - good to know how “she” is getting on. Any chance of some pictures of the new head both separately and assembled with the flute? I’m sure you’ll have some YouTube clips of you playing the ?ultimate? combo soon… 
