Hi, I’m still dithering over what flute to get as a beginner (have exchanged emails with the very helpful Doug Tipple), and today came across a rather lovely flute in a local music shop. It’s a keyless Williams Irish Flute, refurbished, felt and sounded gorgeous to me - but I know nothing about flutes except where to blow. It’s actually well beyond my budget, but…
If that’s Dave Williams, he sadly died in an automobile accident five or six years ago. I’ve never tried one of his instruments but I’ve heard folks speak of them fondly. If it sounds and feels “georgeous” to you, you might consider stretching your budget a bit (if possible) with the expectation that you should be able to get your money back on resale if it didn’t work out.
Best wishes.
Steve
Dave Williams made fine flutes… 
Thank you. I was sort of hoping you’d tell me they are total rubbish, so I could get it out of my system… They do an instalment payment programme at the shop…
Installment payment program? Done deal. Buy that one.
Rob
The one DW flute I’ve played was very good.
What they said. And if a Dave Williams uilleann pipe chanter or other Dave Williams pipelike object shows up in that shop, PM me immediately. 
If it’s in good working order this will be a flute that’ll do whatever you need it to do, and very nicely.
Absolutely buy that one. You’ll be ‘a long time catching up to it’.
Treat it right and there will always be a line to buy it. . .
Bob
I’d ask what ‘refurbished’ means though. If anyone fiddled with any of the holes or ‘improved’ the tuning I’d steer well clear.
Yup, check it is a Dave Williams and that refurbished means just that, no more - and buy it if the answers are convincing. I know a Dave Williams 4 keyer which is superb.
Thank you so much for all the answers. How can I tell if it is a genuine Dave Williams? Are there any maker’s marks to look out for? The guy in the shop will probably only go by what he’s been told (they’re selling the flute on commission for its owner).
How much do they want?
You may be able to find a picture of a Dave Williams flute on this board.
Also it’s hard to believe somebody made up ‘Dave Williams’ when selling
the flute. Where would they get the name? And there are better known
names that would work better in a scam.
The OP indicated that he’d been told it is a “Williams, keyless, Irish flute”.
I introduced the possibility of it being a Dave Williams instrument only to suggest that it MIGHT be a good deal. The OP should perform due diligence to ensure who really made the flute. If he/she has a friend who is a flute player, it would be good to get a second opinion on whether it really “looks and feels gorgeous”.
Best wishes.
Steve
Each section should have the name “WILLIAMS” stamped on, in quite small letters, as far as I remember.
Quite right, Steve. A keyless flute must by definition be modern and I don’t recall hearing of any other makers by that name, but that doesn’t prove anything. The flute I know, belonging to Ceri Rhys Matthews, is stamped, but I don’t recall details of DW’s marque. I may be able to check, though. You should also ask the shop to get any further provenance info from the owner, or maybe set up for you to speak to them by phone. Of course, the seller may not know anything useful, but I’d at least try to check.
looks a lot like
WILLIAMS
only harder to see
Stamp on the barrel (the head had none) of a Dave Williams flute.
The other sections were stamped.
I need a better monitor…
Yep, I didn’t want to insert the Dave Williams provenance as a certitude. For all I know, it could be made by Serena Williams out of a racket handle…
Best wishes.
Steve