CP: New Pratten flute design!
- Geoffrey Ellis
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Re: CP: New Pratten flute design!
I'm actually taking orders right now and have a short waiting list at the present. The first batch should be available in the second half of May.
I'm hoping to get some recordings online before long.
They weigh about 10 oz. according to my scale, which I think is reasonably accurate.
Yes, the Delrin inserts for the embouchure hole had some neat aesthetic qualities, and it was rather nice to cut a material that was so consistent, but apart from that there was no great advantage, really. It's not as if you can remove the insert very easily if something went wrong because it was glued to the metal liner as well as the wood around it I used them primarily because I was going for a "look" and wanted it to highlight the Delrin bore rings. And while it made for pretty flutes I do think that the look was a bit too contemporary. My friend Jon (aka paddler on these forums) made a flute that had this same sort of old-school look and when I saw it I thought it was so attractive that it made me want to change the look of my own flutes. His flute looked like it came straight from the early 19th century and was super handsome. I was converted
I'm hoping to get some recordings online before long.
They weigh about 10 oz. according to my scale, which I think is reasonably accurate.
Yes, the Delrin inserts for the embouchure hole had some neat aesthetic qualities, and it was rather nice to cut a material that was so consistent, but apart from that there was no great advantage, really. It's not as if you can remove the insert very easily if something went wrong because it was glued to the metal liner as well as the wood around it I used them primarily because I was going for a "look" and wanted it to highlight the Delrin bore rings. And while it made for pretty flutes I do think that the look was a bit too contemporary. My friend Jon (aka paddler on these forums) made a flute that had this same sort of old-school look and when I saw it I thought it was so attractive that it made me want to change the look of my own flutes. His flute looked like it came straight from the early 19th century and was super handsome. I was converted
- Scouter
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- Tell us something.: I am a musician and love folk instruments. I am learning about penny whistles and Irish flutes. I play many instruments but one of my main instruments for many years has been oboe. This makes learning the whistle and flute rather easy. Now to learn about best practices for the genre.
Re: CP: New Pratten flute design!
Maybe you could offer both. I sure liked the tiger maple with delrin rings. Nice!
- Geoffrey Ellis
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Re: CP: New Pratten flute design!
The previous versions that had the classic design (tuning slide, barrel, foot joint, etc.) were more involved to manufacture and therefore more costly. Additionally I've been having to pick my battles lately and limit different flute designs that I offer. I make many other types of flutes apart from Irish flutes and since I work solo it's easy to get scattered in too many directions So I wanted to make a solid, single style for ITM that would have wider appeal. I might offer a black colored version of this same flute made from "ebonized" maple as well for another classic look. But these are probably the only options I'll have for Irish flutes. Otherwise I might go slightly mad!Scouter wrote:Maybe you could offer both. I sure liked the tiger maple with delrin rings. Nice!
- Casey Burns
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Re: CP: New Pratten flute design!
Am going to try the Acrylic Impregnation method myself. I just sent off a pair of Curly European Maple flute sets to a service that does this, wood rounded and pilot bored. I am eager to see what this does in terms of adding mass to this wood. The maple is highly figured and these should make for a pretty pair of instruments. Am hoping that the other qualities such as reaming etc. remain similar to working wood rather than Delrin. The descriptions here of Delrin suddenly seizing the tools was enough for me to remember how it does that and stay away from it. This will be an interesting experiment!
Casey
Casey
- Geoffrey Ellis
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Re: CP: New Pratten flute design!
You'll get mass alright! Also, commercial wood stabilizing is likely to actually achieve a higher percentage of impregnation, at least based on what I've read. It depends upon their set up, but some of them combine vacuum infusion alternating with pressure and claim this gets more resin in. I'm a trifle skeptical about the pressure aspect because I've done it. I have a vacuum chamber and a pretty big pressure chamber and I did a two part process (in theory similar to that of the commercial stabilizing outfits). My experience was that any extra absorption as a result of pressure was tiny and not worth the huge trouble and mess that was involved. It seemed that woods that are going to drink up the resin will do so under vacuum. One of the tests happens when you move the wood from the vacuum resin bath to the pressure tank. My pieces of maple were already so saturated that they sank! Some other pieces of cherry and walnut bobbed up like corks and had to be held down with weights. After the pressure treatment, the maple was still submerged, but when I took the weights off the other woods they still bobbed up like corks. So that decided me. However, I won't presume that my set up was the same as a commercial one. I was using about 65 psi for about 12 hours. They might use more pressure and longer times.Casey Burns wrote:Am going to try the Acrylic Impregnation method myself. I just sent off a pair of Curly European Maple flute sets to a service that does this, wood rounded and pilot bored. I am eager to see what this does in terms of adding mass to this wood. The maple is highly figured and these should make for a pretty pair of instruments. Am hoping that the other qualities such as reaming etc. remain similar to working wood rather than Delrin. The descriptions here of Delrin suddenly seizing the tools was enough for me to remember how it does that and stay away from it. This will be an interesting experiment!
Casey
I think that the resin infused woods ream better. Meaning better than regular wood. And the resin also makes the wood behave like a more oily wood when it comes to cutting it. Cuts smoother, less prone to tear out, etc.
Wear dust protection!!! I'm sure you already do, but if wood dust is bad I'm guessing wood dust saturated with cured resin is worse
- Latticino
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Re: CP: New Pratten flute design!
All looks very promising. Not sure what you are using for your stabilizing process, but I have heard good reports regarding home impregnation using "Cactus Juice Resin". You can review it here: https://www.turntex.com/
"Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it"
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- Geoffrey Ellis
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Re: CP: New Pratten flute design!
Cactus Juice is actually what I am using. Works really, really well.Latticino wrote:All looks very promising. Not sure what you are using for your stabilizing process, but I have heard good reports regarding home impregnation using "Cactus Juice Resin". You can review it here: https://www.turntex.com/
- Geoffrey Ellis
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Re: CP: New Pratten flute design!
I have mentioned it in an older thread, but for those of you who have not seen it I wrote a blog about doing vacuum resin infusion. http://ellisflutes.com/blog/vacuum-resi ... ion-part-1
There is one thing that I wrote in the blog that is technically true but in practice I would not attempt again. I said that soft woods like Curly Redwood could be used to make an Irish flute. This is true because the density and workability is enhanced by the resin, but it does very little to strengthen what is actually a very brittle wood. A resin infused piece of hard maple is tough as nails. If you drop a resin infused curly redwood flute the chances are excellent that it will simply break in half! Not good.
There is one thing that I wrote in the blog that is technically true but in practice I would not attempt again. I said that soft woods like Curly Redwood could be used to make an Irish flute. This is true because the density and workability is enhanced by the resin, but it does very little to strengthen what is actually a very brittle wood. A resin infused piece of hard maple is tough as nails. If you drop a resin infused curly redwood flute the chances are excellent that it will simply break in half! Not good.
- Geoffrey Ellis
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Re: CP: New Pratten flute design!
I'm very excited to share that these flutes are now being featured at the Irish Flute Store! In fact, the entire Irish Flute Store just got a complete makeover and is better than ever. Really clean and easy to navigate.
Blayne did a really nice video review of my new flute design which you can see here: https://www.irishflutestore.com/collect ... rish-flute
Blayne did a really nice video review of my new flute design which you can see here: https://www.irishflutestore.com/collect ... rish-flute
- kkrell
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Re: CP: New Pratten flute design!
Disagree. Text is grey, so harder to read. RSS feed is gone, so no alert to new items unless they send an email.Geoffrey Ellis wrote:In fact, the entire Irish Flute Store just got a complete makeover and is better than ever. Really clean and easy to navigate.
- Geoffrey Ellis
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Re: CP: New Pratten flute design!
In fairness to Blayne, I can't say whether or not the remodel is totally complete, especially as regards the RSS feed (in fact, I hadn't realized that he had one in the first place). It only just went public in this form and I would not be surprised to find that he still intends to tinker (speaking as someone with an evolving website, this happens often). Personally I didn't notice that the text was grey. I like the clean navigation a lot because I've had to work over the years to implement that on my own site (and I still have not succeeded to my satisfaction). A few years back I had a really slick looking site but it was like going into a maze...kkrell wrote:Disagree. Text is grey, so harder to read. RSS feed is gone, so no alert to new items unless they send an email.Geoffrey Ellis wrote:In fact, the entire Irish Flute Store just got a complete makeover and is better than ever. Really clean and easy to navigate.
- Blayne Chastain
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Re: CP: New Pratten flute design!
Feed for all products: www.irishflutestore.com/collections/all.atom
You can also get the collection specific feeds by appending .atom to the url in question. Such as:
https://www.irishflutestore.com/collect ... usly-Owned
The feed address would be:
https://www.irishflutestore.com/collect ... Owned.atom
Product description text darkened.
Hope that helps!
You can also get the collection specific feeds by appending .atom to the url in question. Such as:
https://www.irishflutestore.com/collect ... usly-Owned
The feed address would be:
https://www.irishflutestore.com/collect ... Owned.atom
Product description text darkened.
Hope that helps!
BlayneChastain.com | Online Courses for Irish Flute, Whistle & Bodhrán
IrishFluteStore.com | Your "Mom & Pop" Irish Flute & Whistle Shop
IrishFluteStore.com | Your "Mom & Pop" Irish Flute & Whistle Shop
- kkrell
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Re: CP: New Pratten flute design!
Thanks, Blayne. The text is better, now. If I use Firefox Reader View, it's even printable (although without the pictures). I'll give the feed a try. Yep, all fixed, back the way I like it. Now all you're missing is giving away Wooden Flute Obsession CDs with every flute purchase.
- Blayne Chastain
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Re: CP: New Pratten flute design!
Hahahah. Now THAT would be cool!
kkrell wrote:Thanks, Blayne. The text is better, now. If I use Firefox Reader View, it's even printable (although without the pictures). I'll give the feed a try. Yep, all fixed, back the way I like it. Now all you're missing is giving away Wooden Flute Obsession CDs with every flute purchase.
BlayneChastain.com | Online Courses for Irish Flute, Whistle & Bodhrán
IrishFluteStore.com | Your "Mom & Pop" Irish Flute & Whistle Shop
IrishFluteStore.com | Your "Mom & Pop" Irish Flute & Whistle Shop
- dyersituations
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Re: CP: New Pratten flute design!
Great looking flutes! I like the idea of alternative woods.
Life is good.