Which keyless all wood Olwell would you choose?

Irish Flute
1

Hi. I’m about to send Mr. Olwell a deposit for an all wood flute. I plan to order a blackwood Nicholsen, but wondered if anyone thought there was a better choice?

I really like flutes with short D foots, but Pat said the long foot gives a slightly better response in the 2nd octave, so I’m going to trust his judgement on that.

I have small/medium hands, and that’s the main reason I’m thinking about the Nicholsen model, but I am tempted to go with the Pratten and see how far my fingers can stretch…they’re not thin, so if I can make the stretch I can probably cover the holes.

I had also considered going with the rosewood model just to keep things as cheap as possible, but I do like the look of blackwood. Do you think blackwood is $100 better sounding than rosewood in an all wood flute?

Anyway…feel free to post any thoughts you might have.

-Brett

P.S. While I’m waiting 12 months or so for the Olwell I plan on getting a low-D and attempting to play it exclusively for a few months…see how it works out at sessions, etc.

2

I haven’t done a side-by-side comparison of the two flute styles, so I’m not much help there. But I do have moderately short fingers and have no problems playing the Pratten. I have not however got the hang of playing a low D whistle, so I would worry that if you have trouble with the low D you wouldn’t be able to play the Pratten.

I haven’t played the low D near as much, so that’s probably the biggest factor.

Getting comfortable with that stretch on any flute took a while for me, I found the Olwell to be no hard than say the Copley or Seery, but I haven’t measured the differences.

3

A year or two ago, Eilam sold me an Olwell keyess, all wood, pratten design blackwood. It’s a powerful flute with a great, reedy sound. I don’t find the stretch difficult and I have relatively small hands.
Paul

4

The stretch on Olwell Prattens isn’t that bad, but if you’re used to small holes, there will be an adjustment to simply covering all the area of the Pratten holes.

I have an all-rosewood Olwell Nicholson. I absolutely love it. I think it’s Brazilian rosewood, which is very oily but also low-density, so the thing is incredibly light. (I won’t comment on that vs. blackwood, because I just don’t like blackwood.) I like it so much that I’ve ordered a keyed duplicate, which Patrick should start in, oh, 6 or 7 years.

5

Maybe not, but blackwood is more dense and might be considered a tougher wood.

6

Hi Bretton

Being a cheapskate Scot (who likes the look of rosewood), I would say go for the rosewod flute and save the $100.

David

7

I vote for blackwood. I like rosewood too,
but I think blackwood has a darker and
more complex sound. Rosewood is sweeter
and it sings, IMO.

The hole spacing on
the Olwell Pratten should be no problem.

8

Blackwood is less likely to induce an allergic reaction than rosewood. Might be worth to consider.

9

Is that true? It’s certainly true of cocobolo, but I’m not sure if it is the case with Brazilian or Honduran rosewood. I’ve never heard of an allergic reaction to those, but it may just be that there aren’t that many flutes made from them.

10

Rosewood does tend to have a lot of oils. Some guitar makers use solvent to remove much of the oils prior to bending sides and assembling the guitar.

Kevin Krell

11

Agreed, but blackwood is one of the oily rosewoods, which is why it makes good woodwinds.

12

One thing to consider in comparing the Nicholson and Pratten models is that the former comes with a joint between the right and left hands and the latter does not, except by special request. I have owned both models and find the joint allows me to play more comfortably as I like to roll the right hand “out” somewhat. In my case, this feature is absolutely essential.