Chiff and Fipple Forums

i like the idea of the whistle head for the orchestra flute.

Interesting finish on that flute body.

That looks like a recorder head.

But there are a number of makers who make Irish Low Whistle style head for Boehm flute.

The best-playing one I heard was by a German maker, I don't remember his name, but last I heard about it he still wasn't 100% satisfied with the tuning and didn't have them for sale yet.

Whistle heads on Boehm bodies usually have octave tuning problems, an issue for which the cylindrical Boehm flute was widely criticized when it was introduced.

pancelticpiper wrote:... he still wasn't 100% satisfied with the tuning ..

Whistle heads on Boehm bodies usually have octave tuning problems.

That's what I would expect just looking at the combination. A flute head has a lot of things that affect the tuning--headspace, embouchure cut, and player technique, for starters--that a whistle/recorder head can't duplicate.

I have the same recorder this head was taken from. I think it's a Moeck but I am not sure, since I bought it used and it has no markings anywhere. A problem I see with playing a boehm flute that way would be the finger position, especially of the pinky of the right hand which depresses a little key almost constantly. I might have to get out my flute and try the hand position.

Vertical Boehm flutes are a thing, due to the large number of players who get shoulder and/or wrist and/or hand and/or neck problems with transverse flutes.

Here they are!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYzmT1KB07M

I played one at the national flute convention, it was easy to get used to.

About needing to keep the lower-hand little finger depressing its key, I've run into a number of lifetime Boehm flute players over the years who have never done that. They play French model (perforated key) flutes, with which depressing that key makes little difference.

Sedi wrote:I have the same recorder this head was taken from. I think it's a Moeck but I am not sure.

Kohlert made recorders.

I have read that. I checked some pictures -- the heads look almost identical. Recorders sometimes look just too similar, I guess. I gotta try if I can fix the head on my boehm flute.

This sounds great! Like a Low D whistle head on Boehm body

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91FE4KmFn-o

Yep, I think Nick spent quite some time to perfect that. You notice however that he can't really play the boehm flute as his fingering is wrong. And not using the little key for the pinky might also slightly affect the tuning. I remember another video of somebody using a wooden head and it also sounded pretty great. Can't remember who it was though. I just tried to hold my flute that way and it feels very awkward since normally the flute is balanced by the right pinky and the root of the left index finger, which would not work in that position. So I consider this not much more than a gimmick.
... did some experimenting with the head of my Moeck, which funny enough fits right on it, without any modification--tuning is also not too bad. But like I suspected -- the finger position is very awkward for me and the flute too heavy when holding it that way. A thumb rest would definitely improve things. I think I'll stick with my whistles.

pancelticpiper wrote:That looks like a recorder head.

But there are a number of makers who make Irish Low Whistle style head for Boehm flute.

The best-playing one I heard was by a German maker, I don't remember his name, but last I heard about it he still wasn't 100% satisfied with the tuning and didn't have them for sale yet.

Whistle heads on Boehm bodies usually have octave tuning problems, an issue for which the cylindrical Boehm flute was widely criticized when it was introduced.

Martin Educciman