Remarkable Innovation by William Pond

[bigsciota]

There's an instrument up on eBay right now that I think some folks here would find interesting:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/276115549468

What an incredible invention! I wonder why it never caught on...

[Jayhawk]

LOL...I'm incredibly curious how the seller knows the flute "works"!

I've seen some really weird things on eBay, but this may just take the cake...flute actually looks to be in pretty good shape, though!

Eric

[an seanduine]

Gentlemen, I believe what you are looking at is the progenitor of the low whistle. Probably some approximation of D. Since it is a Wm Pond instrument it may well be close to modern pitch.

Bob

[Terry McGee]

"I don’t play musical instruments, have no idea how to play this flute. It works."

Hmmm. Just for fun I pulled out a Zenon treble recorder head from the Cupboard of Doom and put it onto the end of my flute, replacing the normal Long D foot. It just happened to jam on well enough. The result was similar to the one shown (the Zenon head is much longer than the one shown). Plays OK down to F#, E is a a bit flat but very dull, and D comes in as a very weak C#! Blown from the other end, it is all over the place!

I wonder if the same seller happens also to have a boxwood recorder with no head in their collection?

[ecadre]

"I don’t play musical instruments, have no idea how to play this flute. It works."

Hmmm. Just for fun I pulled out a Zenon treble recorder head from the Cupboard of Doom and put it onto the end of my flute, replacing the normal Long D foot. It just happened to jam on well enough. The result was similar to the one shown (the Zenon head is much longer than the one shown). Plays OK down to F#, E is a a bit flat but very dull, and D comes in as a very weak C#! Blown from the other end, it is all over the place!

I wonder if the same seller happens also to have a boxwood recorder with no head in their collection?

Honestly, I think that's a likely explanation, or bits that someone found in a box and put together. It makes no sense musically. The fact that there are two different marks from the same maker on the two instrument heads I think further indicates that this is a rather wacky combination of parts two instruments.

[bigsciota]

You'd worry a bit about the recorder head being forced in and possibly being a bit stuck, but otherwise the flute is in remarkable shape! It must have been in the collection of a player. If I didn't already have an antique American flute being restored I'd possibly chance my arm on this one!

[Terry McGee]

The tail end of these flutes tends to have a very slight taper on the outside, so I guess it just happened to fit the socket of the recorder head nicely. As long as they didn't push it too hard, it's probably quite unharmed.

And to be fair to the seller, they are not the first to fall for this trick...