Chiff and Fipple Forums

Hi, guys!
I was looking for an easy system flute , a fully chromatic one, as my main purpose is to try it for jazz. As this is just an experiment, my budget is quite tight. Recently I've found an option, it looks nice, but is it actually what I am looking for? Also, I wonder if the quality is good enough, cause I have no idea who is the manufacturer of it. The seller does not know either. Here's the flute.
https://www.esseymusical.co.uk/products ... -blackwood
What do you think?

Hi Vlad, and welcome to the forums.

If the seller doesn't know who the manufacturer is, you can bet that it's made in Pakistan, and will, probably, be next to useless. It looks Pakistani to me.

Are you specifically looking for an F flute? F flutes are not much cheaper than D flutes. M&E are usually considered very good entry-level Irish flutes, and you can get a new 6 keyer for 700€. With a bit of luck, you could find one on the second-hand market.

As benhall said, the one you linked to seems to be a piece of junk, and you're likely to just end up just £100 poorer, and without a playable flute, if you go for it.

Edit: M&E do make F flutes, so you could also try to contact them to check the price of a 6-key F flute, if this is what you're really after.

"Miller-Wicks" offer a keyed marching flute in F for a reasonable price.
http://www.millerwicks.com/
A cheaper option for a chromatic flute might be a marching flute in Bb (would be a good key for jazz) from Miller Browne made by the company that makes Generation whistles.

I have an M&E keyless 'F' flute, nice instrument, but it is heavy, (you might want to bear that in mind).

Michael & Evelyn were good to deal with & answered my question promptly before buying, so don't be afraid to ask anything of them regarding their flutes.

(A 'Bb' might work, & as above, a Miller Browne can be had for a fair price.)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Miller-Brown ... Swq9Rb2Htz
I am thinking about getting one of those myself for the same reason (being chromatic). Another alternative might be an Aulos baroque flute but they cost quite a bit more than a Miller Browne in Bb. And they come in different tuning. Be careful not to pick the wrong one. The AF-1 has 440hz tuning.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AULOS-Aulos- ... SwA75dwtZr
A different animal from a romantic era simple system flute however. Basically the predecessor.

Thank you very much, guys.
So, I would like to have a simple system flute. F flute seems a great option, because you get all your notes on theholes, except for B, and all the sharps/flats are on the keys. Also, F flute is lower, which is nice.

Initially, I wanted to get Bb marching by Brownie. I there was an F flute by Brownie, I'd go with it.

Guys, 700 pounds is too much for an experiment (for me). I guess, marching flute is a good option for those who want to try a simple system flute. But there are few F marching flutes on the market. I managed to find only one.

You could try half-holing and cross-fingering. I play "take five" on my low D flute and it works just fine. There are only a few problematic notes, like Eb on the first octave (tricky but can be done on some flutes).
My chromatic fingering looks like this:
D: xxxxxx
Eb: xxxxxh (h -- half-holed)
E: xxxxxo
F: xxxxho
F#: xxxxoo
G: xxxooo
G#: xxoxxx
A: xxoooo
A#: xoxxxx
B: xooooo
C: oxxxox
C#: oooooo
Second octave it slightly different. The A# for example is xoxooo. You need to experiment a little to find all the notes.
Or another option is to get a Sandner "Zauberflöte". A keyless German chromatic marching band fife. But it has a slightly different fingering because it has one more hole for the right hand which makes the chromatic notes possible.
https://s14-eu5.startpage.com/cgi-bin/s ... 4fbf2ba6dd
https://www.thomann.de/de/sandner_alto_ ... _black.htm

So, I think, I will go with a Bb marching flute.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Miller-Browne- ... B003BNCCYU
This one seems ok... Should I look for a different one? Also, I didn't manage to find a proper Miller Brownie website, and there is no such a thing as AF-1. I have to get a flute with A=440, cause I play with other instruments. What is "high pitch"? And where could I look for other Miller Brownies, except for Amazon?

Miller-Browne are manufactured by the Generation Whistle folks. https://generationmusic.co.uk/product-category/flutes/

Bob

Vlad Maigret wrote:...there is no such a thing as AF-1. I have to get a flute with A=440, cause I play with other instruments....

Beg to differ. See http://www.vonhuene.com/p-128-aulos-bar ... -a440.aspx

And should you (or anyone else) be interested in one of these (and are in the states) I have one for sale at $400.

Best wishes.

Steve

Vlad Maigret wrote:F flute seems a great option, because you get all your notes on theholes, except for B, and all the sharps/flats are on the keys. Also, F flute is lower, which is nice.

It's really up to you, but for what it's worth, an F flute is higher than a D flute, which is the type of flute most people think about when they talk about simple system flutes. With a D flute the only accidental that's not on a tonehole is F#, so I'm not sure this is much worse than an F flute. And on a fully keyed flute with both short and long Fnat, fingering Fnat is easy. But as I said, it's up to you

Vlad Maigret wrote:there is no such a thing as AF-1. I have to get a flute with A=440

The AF-1 has 440hz tuning.

"The AF-1" means, you need model "AF-1" which is tuned at 440 hz, as I have written in my post. The other one is the AF-3 which is tuned at 415 hz.

I got it now, it is my fault. I thought Miller Brown flutes come in different keys, and I should look for an "AF-1" model. I'm sorry about that, English is not my first language.

No problem. I was just referring to the Aulos baroque flute, which comes in two different tunings. On the Miller Browne flutes I am not certain about the tuning because many marching flutes/fifes are tuned sharp. So if you get one, buy one with a tuning slide.