Patrick Olwell Bamboo flute

Eivind · Post by **Eivind** » Fri Mar 15, 2002 5:50 am

I have heard that the Patrick Olwell Bamboo flute is supposed to be very nice for beginners. Does anybody know the fastest way to get one? Any second hand ones around? In that case, you'd have to ship to Norway

Best regards,

Eivind

ChrisLaughlin · Post by **ChrisLaughlin** » Fri Mar 15, 2002 8:22 am

Give Patrick a call. He'll send one pronto. You can search for him using google

croberts · Post by **croberts** » Fri Mar 15, 2002 4:44 pm

Hello Eivind,

I got one from House of Musical Traditions. It is a nice flute to play. You might give them a call and see if they have some in stock. Their flutes are at

http://www.hmtrad.com/instr/winds/flutes/flutes.html

Chris Roberts

BrianW · Post by **BrianW** » Fri Mar 15, 2002 6:29 pm

Eivind,

The Olwell bamboo is a great player and a super value, in my opinion. Although, I wouldn't think of it as a starter flute only.
I believe Olwell's bamboo flutes are suited to players of any level.

Eivind · Post by **Eivind** » Mon Mar 18, 2002 3:54 am

I actually ordered one from HMT last year; they never delivered, so I changed my mind. Then, of course they wanted to deliver... Their promised delivery time was far too long, but they failed to keep even that. This, but most of all the poor treatment they showed me as a customer has made me reluctant to use them anymore. But thanks for the tip anyway

I think I would rather just give Mr. Olwell a holler.

Thanks for your replies!

Eivind

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Eivind on 2002-03-18 04:57 ]</font>

ChrisLaughlin · Post by **ChrisLaughlin** » Mon Mar 18, 2002 10:08 am

My experience with HMT has not been good. I ordered one of Pat's bamboo flutes from them a couple back and it was so dry when I received it that it cracked within an hour of receipt. Since then I've only ordered directly from Patrick. I now have bamboo flutes in Eb, D and C. He'll get it to you quickly, at the best price, and is a real pleasure to do business with. Give him a call.
Best,
Chris

Loren · Post by **Loren** » Mon Mar 18, 2002 11:11 am

Yes, HMT's mailorder record is quite horrible, many of us have had bad experiences with them. Going directly to Patrick is the way to go. His cane flutes are amazing.

Loren

David E. Eisner · Post by **David E. Eisner** » Wed Mar 20, 2002 6:42 pm

Dear Folks at C and F, For the greater good and harmony in the folk world, can we all just relax on the Patrick Olwell flute topic. Some of my friends in the music world have alerted me to this site and the continued bashing of HMT over the retailing of my close friend,Patrick Olwells'flutes.Here are some facts. 1)We do not charge our customers until their flute is shipped,so it would certainly be in our best interests to expedite shipments.They do not sit around our shop,we send them out within a day or two after arriving here at HMT. 2) Patrick ages, oils, and heat treats his bamboo.If a flute cracks it is not because HMT (we humidify between 30-40% moisture)or Patrick mishandles your instrument. It happens perhaps because of changes in temp. and humidity in shipping (ever been inside a UPS truck in the winter?)Bamboo is,after all..bamboo and sometimes it just cracks.Notice that even the great old rosewood and ebony flutes of the early 1900's have repaired headjoint cracks.3)Patrick spends most of his time making some of the most glorious hardwood flutes available today.He is backordered 2-2 1/2 years on his 6 or 7 key models.He makes bamboo flutes to accomadate most of us that cannot afford $1,500-$2,500 for these.4)Patrick only wholesales his flutes to HMT.He would rather not hassle with,insuring, shipping,tracking customers,and running a mail order biz out of his shop in NellysFord,Va.If you pay him a personal visit,can you get a bamboo flute sooner? Maybe,if the Guinness is the right temp,the moon in Scorpio,etc.That is up to Patrick.5)Other reasons for delay: Patrick drives to Fla. once a year to his secret grove of bamboo( I am not making this up)and hand selects the stalks. He only uses select nodes for the D flutes and the supply is short.We could sell 3-4 times the flutes he actually delivers to us.Supply is limited.6)Apprentices that are highly skilled are hard to find in the booming metropolis of NellysFord so he is often a staff of one.7)Pressure from professional musicians that have plunked down $1000 deposit on his hardwood flutes grows daily if he falls behind in the deadlines on special orders.

Patrick also does a fair amount of festivals including a 9 week run at the Md.Ren Fest (where we also have a booth) I could go on but most of you are probably nodding out at the monitor so I will conclude with a thought or two. When you order,be patient.We take your orders in chronological order.Certain keys take longer than others due to his bamboo stock.If we screw up your order,you will get a refund in the worst case scenario.Orders do get lost,accidentally deleted,computer crashes etc. but most of the time we get it right.For those of you that have had a bad experience in the past,let me say "I apologize" and if you call the shop (301 270 9090)I will talk with you personally about your individual situation.Patrick is a friend of mine for over 20 years.We at HMT,love his craftsmanship and we want to continue our business relationship with him and with you,our most valuable asset.Thanks for taking the time to read this post.Sincerely,David E.Eisner