My Upcoming Years in Flute Making

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Casey Burns
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Location: Kingston WA
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My Upcoming Years in Flute Making

Post by Casey Burns »

Here are some changes and what will stay the same in 2018 and beyond for my flute making:

Keyed Flutes: I will no longer be accepting orders for Keyed Flutes in 2018 and beyond, for flutes made with my hand-forged silver keys. This is very fussy work that is hard on my increasingly arthritic hands. I want to save my hands for some music making! I am investigating getting keys cast in silicon bronze eventually.

Key Retrofits: I will tentatively still accept orders for key retrofits for Casey Burns Flutes made before 2018. Expect longer wait times on this work as other work will have priority. I am hoping that the silicon bronze keys will work for these.

Flutes with Rings and Slides: These will continue to be produced and now feature Rose Engine-engraved sterling silver bands, as well as engraved medallions which are inlayed into the end caps. I will be adding pictures of these in a website rewrite soon.

Folk Flutes: No change except that I will no longer make any in Mopane. Eventually I will phase out Mopane entirely for all flutes eventually as the wood that is available is too wet to use. The person cutting the squares for these unfortunately waxes the entire piece instead of at the ends which would be better!

Low Flutes and Flute Combos: These will be available in Blackwood only. With or without the engraved bands and tuning slides.

I am exploring the artistic side of engraving for my flutes and would rather do that than fuss with keywork right now. I also want some time to start building an inventory of Folk Flutes so that I can sell those deep into retirement, and only take the occasional order for instruments - and spend more time making the instruments I want to make, which goes way beyond flutes. I will be making the occasional keyed flute and listing it for sale as time allows. Expect these keyed flutes to be more expensive than my current price. Everything else will stay the same and there is no extra cost for the engraving work.

Engraving Retrofits? A few have asked if they can get the silver on their flutes engraved, or engraved rings swapped for the ones already on there. Unfortunately removing and replacing silver bands is a time consuming and annoying task. Thus, No. However, I will be selling end caps with the engraved disks as an aftermarket item eventually, probably for $75 and only for flutes in the US alone in the case of Blackwood.

Blackwood Flutes will still be sold to customers outside of the US, and require import CITES permits for most EU locations and elsewhere. Boxwood and Mopane Flutes don't require these permits. Mopane flutes have longer wait times.

I should have a somewhat redesigned website up and running in early January.

Casey
psychodonald
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Tell us something.: Very much enjoy all flutes, bagpipes and whistles. I'm an older player; however, an active learner. I take current lessons from an Irish Flute tutor, a Boehm Flute tutor and a Highland Bagpipe tutor. I'm a great believer in lessons and without the assistance of a tutor, I find that I would be repeating the same mistakes over and over again, making me proficient in poor music.
Location: U.S.A.

Re: My Upcoming Years in Flute Making

Post by psychodonald »

Sounds very intriguing Casey; happy to see you pursuing areas that interest you the most. I will look forward to seeing more of your engraving work. Perhaps I'll look into the purchase of a couple of end caps when you are ready. Here's wishing you and your family a very Happy New Year. Don.
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