OK - Before you think I’m totally nuts (I am at least partially certifiable though!), I saw this $39.95 “Irish Low D” flute over on eBay being sold by Music Brokers. I know it’s a quality instrument because they only have 58 of them which shows the love and care put into their production
Actually, I am tempted to buy it for the following reasons:
There is a 7 day post receipt of flute full refund policy.
It’s coming from an established business so I’m pretty sure they will honor the refund policy.
It could be fun to tinker with the thing (provided it comes in anywhere near in tune) to see if I can get a decent sound out of the beast.
So the big questions I ask of you wise folks on this board are:
Anyone ever do business with Music Brokers out of Phoenix AZ and will they honor their return policy?
Any halfway reasonable chance I could get a Pakistani flute near enough in tune I could fine tune it myself (I’m willing to enlarge hole sizes and re-cut the embouchure myself)?
Should I be locked away far from my credit card???
Thanks in advance!
[ This Message was edited by: Jayhawk on 2002-11-25 08:14 ]
I don’t know if you are a flute player yet, but my advice is to spend $10 more and buy a PVC flute from C&F’s own Alan Mount. I have one: the tone is beautiful, and it’s a relatively easy instrument for a beginner to play compared to other flutes I’ve tried. Listen to the sound at his website:
Carol - Thanks for the reply. I already have a PVC flute (actually CPVC) that I made myself and have been constantly fine tuning and rebuilding for several months now. According to the wife and friends, it sounds really nice…but it’s just not wood.
The “wood thing” was not an issue until I started playing a Ralph Sweet fife again instead of one of my tin whistles, and then I began to notice how much more I liked the look and feel of a wooden instrument. My CPVC is fine for travel, practice, and inclement weather, but I’d like to try something wooden, preferably cheap, and see if I can make it better.
The key issue for me is that I don’t want something so terrible I can’t tweak, fiddle, file, recut, etc…and get a decent sound. I’m not expecting to come out with an Olwell or anything like that, but if it was in tune (after tweaking) and had half way decent tune it would be fine with me. Also, it would allow me to explore the possibility of making my own wooden flute in the future.
I figured that with a good return policy I could send it back if it seemed hopeless from the start (before my attempted improvement). Then I’d only be out the 7.95 postage and handling.
Consider an Olwell bamboo. They kick @$$.
You are almost certainly going to end up with a bad Pakistani flute, but if you’re really just in it to have something to modify and see if you can get it to play right then it might be fun. Keep in mind that while you can cut extra bits out of the holes and embouchure you can’t add to holes or an embouchure that are too big or misshaped.
Chris
I decided today to go ahead and order it and see if there is any chance of working with it and making it playable. If not, I’m only out the $7.95 shipping and handling if it comes in as obviously unsalvagable from the start. I would definitely not risk even the measly $40 if it didn’t come from a business with a return policy.
I’ll keep everyone posted with the progress of my tinkering. I think this could be fun…or at least entertaining!
Don’t worry everybody, Jayhawk isn’t interested in getting a decent flute. He’s interested in getting a flute he can tinker with. Go for it Jayhawk it’ll be fun. Maybe you can start the first website on how to tweak crappy flutes.
Well, since it sounds like you know what you’re gonna get (or rather, what you are NOT gonna get), and since it seems to be some kind of “science project” for you, I’d say go for it. After all, $40 isn’t a fortune.
On the other hand, if you’re looking for a nice, cheap flute, I’d agree with Chris that you should go for the Olwell bamboo.
Doc is quite right. I see this as a science project. Would I do this with a cruddy $125 Pakistani flute? NO way. But heck, for $40 max (don’t forget it’s only 7.95 if it comes in SOOO bad I won’t have any fun), it’s worth it.
I learned when building my CPVC flute I had as much fun tinkering with it as I do playing it. Sadly, I’ve got it to a point where I can’t think what else to do with it.
Therefore, this cheapo Irish flute gives me the opportunity to play with a wooden flute. What would you all think of me if I ordered an Olwell or Healy and decided I’d “tinker” with it to make it better?
As for a bamboo flute, I plan on buying some bamboo from this nice garden store we have, and I’m still looking for local sources for fresh bamboo I can harvest in the spring. Instrument making is fun! I don’t want an Olwell (even though his bamboo flute are incredible per this board and sound clips I’ve heard), I want to make my own.
Everyone talks about how wood is so much more responsive and “alive” than ploymers and other non-wood materiales, well, I think the most “alive” flute is one you created yourself (or renovated/recreated)!
You could try doing a split embouchre on your PVC flute. M&E does it on their flutes (see website). Also Healy does a diferent sort of embouchre cut away. There’s a photo on his site too. Have fun!
Doc - I’ve seen the M&E split. If I recall it is supposed to help the lower notes. I have not tried it, but I should. I’ll have to look on the Healy page at his embouchure, too.
I’ve given my CPVC flute 3-4 different head pieces with differing embouchures, and so far my favorite is a massive, slightly larger than 1/2", embouchure that is raised (think coupling joint over the pipe & the embouchure cut through the two). I can get different tones from reedy to deeply resonant depending on how I play, it gives a nice strong low D, too, and allows for the slight “lipping up” to the higher notes that is necessary on a cylindrical bore flute.
Now, if only I can wait for my allegedly conical bore toy to come in the mail…
Gordon - I think I’d probably drop dead from shock…I mean really, how could a $40 allegedly Rosewood flute play well?
However, what if master flute makes secretly spend their vacation time in Pakistan and other economically challenged nations? There, in pure anonymity, they fulfill their lifelong dream to mass produce flutes! They throw aside their perfectionisms and produce 3 flutes per hour…some masterpieces, others simply “nice”. No stress, no worry anyone will complain of bizarre wood alergies or that the tone is not just right. Then, the Crystal people take them home…
BUY THE FLUTE! I did a couple of years ago and made a nice lamp out of it for my music room. A wood base with a metal threaded rod running up the middle and out through the top. I put another small peice of wood on the top and attached the light and shade set (get from any hardward store). Just be sure the base is heavy and wide enough so it doesn’t fall over… I put some lead in the base.
Clark - Was yours the exceptionally cheap $39.95 model or did you buy the pricier $125 semi-cheap model? If it was the really, really cheap one, could you even get a note out of it, much less a scale? Did it crack fairly quickly? All I really want is a wooden body with hole placement close enough I can tinker with it for fun, and I consider at least the ability to produce sound a minimum requirement…
As for your lamp idea, I like lamps, they provide light and all which I find useful, but I think I’d return the flute for a refund prior to going down the lamp path…unless it plays better now in lamp form than it did before
[ This Message was edited by: jayhawk on 2002-11-26 16:03 ]
Sorry, I’ve been away from the forum for a bit… I got the cheap version and yes, I could get a scale out of it. I don’t know what scale you would call it (not one I’ve ever heard before), but there were notes over two octaves. As for the cracking… well, I live in Hawaii and flutes with cracks already in them close nicely in our constant warm humidity.
It might be fun to play with this, but at least the one I got does play better as a lamp. The internal tuning on mine was painfully off! My recollection was that C# was about 50 to 75 cents sharp. C natural (0xx000) played a slightly flat C# and it got more odd from there, but I don’t remember the particulars. Now I didn’t fuss with it because from the start I never intended to play it… just wire it.
as you can see from the other active thread, mine apparently came in with better tuning than yours. Well, maybe not better tuning since the scale I played was funky, too, but salvagable tuning.
Like I said in my other thread, I agree it is attractive enough to make a nice lamp!
