He says he was taught how to make bamboo flutes by the same person who taught Patrick Olwell. While I suppose the burning technique is similar, the flutes are very different. They are not burn-finished, but varnished. Rather crude-looking, but that’s not necessarily a problem. The (oval) embouchure holes are VERY large. The high d embouchure is the same size as the Low C embouchure, which is large to begin with! This works for some thicknesses/lengths of bamboo, but not others. Some, like the F I received, are strong, but others, like the Low D, Eb and A, are weak, especially on the bell note(s). I liked about half of the flutes I got from him. The Low C was nice, but it cracked within two days of arriving. He has been a bit lax in answering e-mails (sometimes it has taken a month or more to hear from him), probably due to his travel schedule, but he said I could return the ones I didn’t like. I told him an exchange or a refund would be fine, and he wanted to do an exchange, because he wanted me to be happy with them. I sent the flutes back to him and have been waiting - the better part of a year! I just got an e-mail that says he put them in the mail this week…
Nobody better mess with the Fish
My experience with this maker are a little different then Jessies. When I first contacted him last winter I think it was, I told him I was looking for an Eb with a bell note that would rattle my windows. About a month later he wrote me that he had just made a batch of flutes and that he thought he had an Eb that was what I was looking for. When it arrived I realy didnt think much of the looks of the thing, and the embouchure was about the biggest I had ever seen. The wall thickness of the bamboo was thin and the tone holes very large. Ok so what did it sound like you may be asking. It is a killer flute. The bell note does indeed rattle the windows and it is amoung my favorite bamboo flutes. I bought one of his flutes on ebay about the same time that was made about 2 years ago. It is an F flute and playes beautifuly. So there you go. Of course you all know I am a hopeless flute whore who even likes his Eb east indian plastic 8 key which should help determin the size of the grain of salt you should use to determin the credability of my opinion. 
Tom
Though my exchanges with the flutemaker are pretty similar to Tom’s, Jessie’s predicament is a bit extreme. For somebody to neglect a client who probably made the biggest purchase he’s ever seen is outside of proper professional conduct.
The only reasonable excuse I can think of is that William Miller is busy on the RenFest circuit. After I had bought my Eb from him he said he would let me know when he had some Fs fiished but he was off to Florida for a RenFest and I never heard back from him (which is just as well because I have since downsized my instrument collection and even sold the Eb).
I hope a resolution is soon found.
Cheers,
Aaron
the same Eb on which i am happily honking away… thanks again, Aaron!
'Tis true. I’m glad the flute found you well.
Cheers,
Aaron
Update: I received the remaining flutes today, along with a CD of a recording in which he played these four flutes for me and told me that I am the only one to have ever returned instruments to him, so I must be very picky.
The flutes smell great and the A is REALLY good. The Eb is second, then the Low C and then the D. They’re all fine.