I recently purchased a practice set, the seller described the set as being vintage - pre 1900's (at least the chanter was of this age). Having received the set I am feeling less than convinced that this is a vintage set, but being a total novice at this instrument I can only base my feeling on experience of collecting and playing antique flutes. One thing that stands out are the edges of the tone holes feel fairly sharp not at all what I would expect of an instrument of this age, especially where playing involves a lot of finger slides. Anyway I have a few pictures of the chanter in question and would be grateful for any advice.

Hi,

Fingerholes wear pretty slowly on most hardwoods and it would happen as a result of use, rather than age neccessarily. So what you have could be old but just not been played much i suppose.

A bigger clue would be the pitch/length of the chanter. If it's a 14 1/4 - 14 1/2 inch concert D chanter - and it looks like it probably is - then it's unlikely (though not impossible) to be pre-1900. A bit of a generalization but probably true!!

None of that would make it a better or worse chanter of course.

Any idea what wood it is? Looks almost like laburnum in the photos.

Cheers

Andy

The hole size suggests concert pitch and the overall appearance looks modernish. Pre 1900 probably mean the chanter was made before 7.OO O,clock in the evening


RORY

The turning looks similar to a Kevin Thompson chanter I have.

Ermmm, PJ, the chanter looks nothing like my Kevin Thompson chanter, circa 1989.

Bob

Well the turning on the bottom resembles my chanter (circa 1995).

Looks like Makassar-Ebony - and the brighter stripes still are bright. So, I´d agree that 1900 is 19.00