Thoughts on German Flutes

Irish Flute
1

I’m a total newbie and need some advice. I’m desperate to start playing the flute, and I’m partial to the sound of a good blackwood flute. However, I have to be economical at the moment, and don’t want to pay more than $150. I noticed Lark in the Morning had some German flutes in the “Vintage” section of their website. Any thoughts on how they might work for Irish music?

Thanks!
Kumquattery :smiley:

2

I like oldies (own nothing but) but most of the players here don’t care for German or other designs. New made flutes for Irish music are after English designs, which are (in general) louder and have a different tone than old German/French/American flutes. Often you’ll need to have repairs made and in the end you may spend enough to get a new keyless flute that very well may play better than your antique.
Some of these oldies work very well, though, and I’ve been satisfied with the amount of volume I can get in whatever kind of session.

3

HI the ones I have played, have been way out of tune. They also have a tendency to be very high pitched. But if you are not going to play with fixed instruments like accordians, just to have something to practice on, it wouldn’t be bad. You might be better off getting a Casey Burns folk flute, for a little more money. Or as is oft mentioned, the Olwell bamboo flute.
Cheers,

4

I have a German Nach-Meyer (1880), low pitched flute. I have worked on it some to get it in tune with itself. I’m not really qualified to do such work, but since I didn’t pay a lot for it I figured, “what the heck?” The flute when warmed up plays just under A=440. I still have to blow it into tune when I play. The F# was way flat, and it has a series of other tuning issues. I have enlarged the embrochure hole as well as several of the tone holes in an attempt to raise the pitch of the instrument., The tone by the way, is wonderful. I can get a hard ‘D’ out of it, and it has a strident quality to it. It definately does not have the wonderfully sonorous tone of My R&R, or Hawkes flutes. I do play the Meyer out at session when I’m not up against concertina and box players!

Arbo

5

I wouldn’t bother if I was you. The ones I’ve seen haven’t been up to much soundwise & the tuning can be off. OK, it’s true they can be purchased cheaply, but I think you’d be better off playing a Generation whistle and learning some tunes whilst saving your money for a decent keyless timber flute.

6

I’m in the same boat. I’m using old german and french flutes as excercises in repair and tweaking. I’ve got one in good shape, but I prefer my Tipple and homemades when it comes to actually playing tunes. I just succumbed to temptation and bought a Pakistani “flute”, and its intonation is better than any of my antiques. That’s not saying much.

7

Thanks everyone for the great advice! I guess I’ll just save up for a better flute.

Oh, the waiting… :cry: