a friend of mine wants to buy a wooden flute, but he never had a wooden insturment, so he wants a not very expensive one (but good, not a terrible ebay flute) to learn how wood works (in italy we say “prenderci la mano” that means “to learn to do something you never do before”)
Your question does not make clear whether you mean a wooden Bohm flute or some other kind of wooden flute - C19th Simple System (which is what most of us here use, or modern keyless "Irish flutes derived from them) or Baroque traverso.
If you mean a wooden Bohm flute, I understand that some of the Chinese ones are now quite good, though how you would ensure you got a good one rather than a bad one I don’t know. There are several modern makers (e.g. Abell, Powell, Soubeyran) who make professional quality wooden Bohm flutes, but they are very expensive. Good antiques are not too difficult to come by if you know what you are doing.
If you do not mean Bohm system, then there are now many good makers offering Simple System flutes with from 0-8 keys though fully keyed ones are quite expensive. Good antiques may also be found, often relatively inexpensively, but again, you need to know what you want and how to identify it. There are also plenty of reputable makers of Baroque and Classical model flutes for the Period Instrument/Historically Informed Performance field.
There is an extensive List of makers with websites here (needs an update! ): https://sites.google.com/site/cfwoodenflutemakerslist/ and an even longer one including makers with no internet presence here: http://firescribble.net/flute/makers.html. You can learn a great deal by carefully reading all the websites and also Rick Wilson’s website about historic flutes. There are also dealers in antique flutes who can help (on The List) such as Bingham, Shoreys, Jerry Schurr, Arthur Haswell and others. Lastly, if you are seeking a Simple System or “Irish” flute for traditional music, see the Used Instrument Exchange here.
Can you tell us more precisely what you want and what you want it for? (Maybe after doing some of the suggested research.) We may be able to give more specific advice then.
Oh, and do you really mean “C flute”, as in with 6-finger note and straight-off fingered diatonic scale in C, or do you mean what we here call a “D Flute” - a normal Concert Flute (non-transposing instrument) with 6-finger note and straight-off diatonic scale of D, with C foot? (So in our terms a Bohm flute is a D flute… of sorts - which more accurately reflects flute history and its acoustics, though is unhelpful to orchestrators!)
excuse me, but i have had some difficults to formulate a clear question with my poor english.
I’m looking for a copy of a historical flute of 19th century before bohem, the most famous are Liebel, Meltzer, Toulou, i think also R&R made C “orchestral” flute.
Right, you do mean “D flute” and “Simple System”. Best get used to that! Follow my research advice above and you will learn much to help you. Terry McGee’s website is another which you should read thoroughly.
Many modern makers (see The List) offer what you seek.
Just to let you know, I have an antique (about 100 years old) German “nach Mayer” flute with 8 keys that is almost restored and will be very soon for sale for about 350 euros. It’s not super amazing but plays quite well, it’s a very good price for a fully keyed flute. I will make a video with it to show its playing qualities in the next few days.
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