I think it could be interesting and maybe more... ah, socially acceptable in sessions if the colors were more subdued. Maybe something like a black background with swirls of different grays?

The pattern reminds me of something they call suminagashi in Japan, a technique of paper marbling by floating paper in water with oil-based inks.

I have to agree that this is not a color I would choose for a personal flute. It is rather striking in person, mostly just because the recipe for the different ebonite colors are so remarkable. I would say I like the ebonite color, just not for this type of flute.

But the colors that I offer as standard are always mixed with black, and they look rather amazing. But there are a dizzying variety of these brighter, limited edition colors, and some of them are even more over-the-top.

But here you can see a few of the standard ebonite colors that I think fit much better with a flute. On the right there is actually a color that fits Conical bore's notion (I call it "smokey" ebonite). Doesn't smite the senses quite so forcefully

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Geoffrey Ellis Flutes

Does ebonite come in pearlescent? That might be striking in white or ivory hues.

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"Time is the wisest counselor of all." - Pericles

"I remain not entirely convinced of it." - Nano

Yeah, that black ebonite flute with gray swirls looks good. It makes a statement without smacking you in the face.

I've never seen any that I would consider pearlescent, but that may not preclude it being possible somehow. I know the basic ebonite recipe (rubber sap, linseed oil and sulfur) but I don't know how they manage their color formulations. Probably a trade secret The craft of making ebonite does look wonderfully arcane. It's the sort of thing I'd love to try myself, just for kicks, but after seeing the gear and materials they use I doubt it would be feasible.

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Geoffrey Ellis Flutes

I love it!

I have one of Geoffrey’s ebonite flutes in black and I love it. It just keeps getting better and better..

But I have to admit I’m slightly embarrassed by my own conservatism in that I generally prefer the simple black. I like to imagine myself as a more adventurous guy. On the other hand there are lots of things I like to imagine about myself that aren’t actually true.

Come, now. There's nothing wrong with dignity.

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"Time is the wisest counselor of all." - Pericles

"I remain not entirely convinced of it." - Nano

Ha! If it sounds right, of course. Bring it on! Here in Chicago no one really cares what you or your instrument looks like. It is about how you sound. I am sure someone somewhere freaked out when presented with the first PCV or aluminum whistle But Glenn Schultz and Michael Burke put those fears to rest.

"Man walks down the street with that flute, people know he's not afraid of anything."

I've done a lot of gigs with sax players, and you can get a professional quality sax in lots of finishes--matte or shiny, aged or brand new, black, copper colored, pink and purple and red--excellent saxes can be bought in all sorts of cool color combinations.

The Boehm flute? Except at the low end, you can have silver, and silver colored. And gold, if you're willing to drop over 10 large. Those people are so conservative!

I'm still not sure how popular they are, but Geoffrey Guo has his line of injection molded plastic flutes in all the colors of the rainbow I visited his booth at the National Flute Association convention in 2016 and talked with one of his helpers. They were marketing these flutes to college marching bands, making the flutes in the school colors! I didn't love the look of them, personally, because they were just primary colors in a matte finish, but I'm told that they are pretty good flutes. They sell a lot of pink flutes to Japanese girls--it seems to be a thing.

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Geoffrey Ellis Flutes

nice how does an ebonite sound compared to delrin and wood

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Choose you this day, whom ye shall serve

Subjective, of course, but I would say that all other things being equal I prefer the ebonite over both the delrin and wood. It has a very "lively" quality. Lots of warmth, for players who like that.

I could go on at length about why I like ebonite as a flute material, but if you are willing you can read this article by Tom Ridenour, clarinet maker. It was this article (link below) that turned me onto trying ebonite. He evaluates the qualities of natural hard rubber (ebonite) and I've found his analysis to be very accurate based on my experiences. I've posted this link in the past, but it is always worth sharing for anyone who has not seen it.

http://ridenourclarinetproducts.com/the-grenadilla-myth.html

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Geoffrey Ellis Flutes

Well, although the raspberry sundae effect wouldn’t be my favourite blend of colours, I think it looks stunning. I can't imagine why it would be any sort of problem to fetch to a session, other than that its talking point attraction of attention might make getting any playing done tricky.

I want one of the green-and-black swirly ones myself, one day, though I agree the green-and-black does look very smart.

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I respect people's privilege to hold their beliefs, whatever those may be (within reason), but respect the beliefs themselves? You gotta be kidding!

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