Chiff and Fipple Forums

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!

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...

C# is flat on most keyless flutes made for Irish music. It's a compromise to bring the C natural crossfingering down to an acceptable pitch. It varies by maker how much they shade it, but it's hard to get both the C# and Cnat exactly on-pitch. However, it's not normally that far off. And the second ...

Plenty of players play in tune just fine on a wide variety of whistles of different makes. As I mentioned before, there are compromises inherent in the instrument that are due to physics, so you're never going to get a "perfect" whistle intonation-wise. But again, plenty of people are able...

Yes, I'd say tuning is the major issue with multiple whistles. The old saw about piccolo players works well for whistles: Q: How do you get two piccolo players to play in tune? A: Shoot one of them! I've been at sessions with multiple whistles and they're all in tune, sounding good, and it's like fl...

I have to say I get somewhat perplexed when the subject of provenance comes up and people get worked up about it. A good instrument is a good instrument, bad is bad, etc. Generations are what they are, often maligned more than they should be but not without some significant quality control issues. W...

The thing is, ofcourse, that is not quite the whole story. When the Mullans were on ebay first, I looked at them and considered if they were a worth a go. Between the postage, Brexit tax and ebay charges they would come in just over 100 euro. At that point I lost interest. I can get a Sióg in vario...

So, I did the suggested fix and glued a bit of credit card under the blade. Filed it to a bit of a slope, and for good measure filed it a little on the bottom to thin it a little (it was a thick card). The result: https://voca.ro/1cehhJxhnNhZ For reference, the original is here (I tried replicating ...

$175 is a good price for pieces-parts of a Cocus wood flute, but I wouldn't call it a steal due to the missing head and low-C key. Maybe Paddler or Jon Cornia has a drawer of flute parts. Replacing a key is probably prohibitively more expensive than replacing the head! Yes, especially the particula...

The flute is mine! It is marked on the left hand piece and the right hand piece, faint but clearly visible. Cannot make out anything on the footjoint. Left hand says WILLIAM HALL & SON 239 BROADWAY N. YORK Right hand says HALL & SON N. YORK Measured the C# to Eb indicator since I couldn't do...

That seems to be the going rate for more generic antique flutes in need of repair. I've seen a lot of flutes on eBay for that price, almost all of them with cracked headjoints, missing crowns, missing keys and rings, that sort of thing. Now, this doesn't have a headjoint, cracked or not, but most of...

Asking is $175, figuring I could talk it down a bit. Don't care as much about the C, but obviously being non-440 would make it much less worth it to me. Am going to check it out soon, at the very least I can hopefully give the guy a bit more info than he has so he can adjust his expectations.

Someone local has an interesting-seeming flute for sale, and all it's missing is its head! I'm wondering, though, what kind of flute it is exactly. https://app.box.com/s/p9sjrsz3zczuuofbsme09t6g3dwncmrf I'm also wondering if it's in any way worth it to check it out and buy it with the hopes of getti...

Thanks for all the replies, I'll take a look at the windway and see if there are any irregularities. Definitely no flashing, but hopefully I can figure out what is causing the unpleasant edge to the tone.

I have seemingly had very good luck with Generation whistles, because despite the many complaints about them off the shelf, the half-dozen or so that I have in various keys play quite well. Or I should say, most of them do. I have one, a brass Eb, that has what I can only describe as a "dirty&q...