McCarty Low D Flute Review

Irish Flute
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Hi Guys,

Well I joined this forum about half a year ago, intending to pick up Irish Traditional Music. Back then, I was playing on my Boehm flute, which I’ve only picked up again last year.

I’ve kind of waited to decide which Irish flute I was going to get, and finally settled on a 6 key Low D flute by a French maker. Waiting list = 1 year, so having waited 6 months already, I decided to look at the sub US$200 market.

The McCarty flute came up on numerous search engines, including this one. It seems to polarise a lot of people. Eric McCarty runs the website:

http://www.mccartyinstruments.com/pb/wp_42a6d139/wp_42a6d139.html

From time to time, he also sells a few instruments on a popular auction site.

I’m not an impulsive buyer (quick! get the straitjacket out!) so I spent some time looking at what these flutes were about before I ordered one. Here’s what I got - look what arrived:

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A case..
Was there anything in it too?

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Here’s what’s inside:

It’s a black walnut low D flute in 4 sections:

Between the metal brass joint in the centre, is the tuning tenon.

The wood is black walnut, which Eric McCarty confirms, is American black walnut.

Here is the grain patter of traditional black walnut:

http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/walnut,%20black/walnut,%20black%2025%20s50%20q60%20plh.htm

The grain pattern looks like black walnut that I’ve seen before in other craft items, as well as traditional view cameras - it is not a synthetically produced pattern. Black walnut has a specific gravity between 0.55 - 0.59. This makes it lighter than European maple, and much lighter than pearwood.



Edit: haha. very funny Mr Blackwood! It’s just my browser keeps crashing whilst I’m trying to upload :frowning:

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I didn’t see a flute listed on the McCarty website for under $498. As such, these flutes would not qualify for the sub $200 market that you mentioned. The important thing is how the flute plays. It can look like a table leg if it plays like a quality flute.

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I’ve emailed Eric - who confirms that this is American black walnut.

I’ve mentioned elsewhere - you do not get American black walnut in Pakistan, any more than bamboo grows in Ireland. I am satisfied that the wood is indeed black walnut - the grain pattern; the specific density. This means, that it should actually be a lightweight flute…but it isn’t:

The headjoint weight is heavily balanced; this means that the flute’s centre of gravity, rests in line with the player’s centre of gravity, rather than causing weight stress. The conical end of the flute is much lighter than the headjoint. The reason - is because the headjoint is a solid brass inner lined tube.


So how about the brass rings?

The shiny bauble like rings … are decorative. At this price range, they are nothing special. Neither are they cheap coloured junk. The important part of the brass fittings is the metal tuning tenon:




Which is the longest tuning tenon I’ve seen in a flute for some time!

Notice the adjustable end cork too:

You can see the solid metal inner head joint and the carefully crafted wood. The embouchure hole is very large, and very comfortable to work with. As an Irish flute embouchure, it does require more depth from the embouchure position, than a Boehm flute - something I’m trying to get used to in a day or so of playing it.

I have ordered handmade flutes from Europe/US before around the sub $500 bracket. One was disappointing, for leaving wood turnings uncleared from the holes; coating varnish spotting the flute, or just a very unsatisfactory felt-fabric tenon.

The McCarty flute’s cork tenons are airtight - this is not a leaky flute. It handles well due to the head joint heavy gravity. The black walnut texture is not an oily wood either, and this one is not finished with any varnish or coating, other than being sealed.

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I have to say, the construction of the flute is first class: there are no signs of carelessness; the holes are all cut perfectly, unlike another flute from the USA which I got, which had some kind of varnish marking on the fingering holes.

I was probably quite fortunate - in that Eric (infrequently? sometimes?) auctions off his flutes below the list price. Is this flute worth it, at $200? $498?

What’s it like to play?

The feel of this McCarty flute - is fantastic. Remember - as a newcomer to ITM, I have exceptionally low standards compared to players of Wilkes, McGee flutes etc. The hole sizes are indeed different between the notes: I suppose this will set up perturbations, and as a result, some of the notes will sound different in character or volume from the next note up or down.

The overall sound signature of the McCarty flute is very sweet and resonant - it is a deep throated, slightly husky voiced instrument. It has a strong fundamental; the ‘E’ note being attenuated, as would be expected from the smaller D hole. The second octave really sings - it has a penetrating voice, which is not as evident in the base octave.

Articulation is something I’m struggling with, with the Irish flute. I find that I almost have to spit to make tonguing evident. Maybe I’ve spent too long in the sloppy legato wilderness. Did I mention that my rhythm is pretty crud too? Despite my limitations - I can hear the flute trying to get out. It does not require a lot of puff and it is moderate in volume - not the loudest flute I own, nor the quietest. Thankfully, it is not one of those hyperbreathy flutes either.

I played it against my chromatic tuner (Korg) - and it is exceedingly accurate across the octaves (my embouchure needs some work on this Irish blowing style hmmm).

I made a sound sample on my mini-disc player with a US$8 microphone of the first song of my new book by Tomas O Canainn which I am really enjoying i.e. I actually got to the end of the first slow air entitled ‘Siubhan Ni Dhibhir’ and still able to say "I’m still here’, in the vein of Tony Blair.

Unfortunately it’s on a .wav file about 10MB, so if anyone wants to hear what this McCarty flute sounds like, it’s available if you PM me your email, until I get my ultraexpensive megafantastical digital Zoom recorder, once it’s available again on the market :confused:

Summarising this flute - I’d have to say, that I can see and hear all the skepticism that others have offered: yes there are countless rip offs on the internet at a fraction of the price I paid for mine, let alone the listed price, but this is the same with most things, is it not?

There is nothing about this flute which would make me think it is a cheap foreign import. I’m really enjoying playing with it. Is that because of the ITM, or the Irish flute? I think it’s both really. I’m really liking the depth and tone colour of this flute. It’s definitely worth the price I paid for mine - and I would choose American Black Walnut again - perhaps an unusual choice, however the benefits are very audible. I have a number of rosewood flutes, and the character of the American black walnut is extremely pleasing. Eric doesn’t mention (as most flutemakers do not), how long the black walnut wood has been left to air dry naturally. The deep timbres and tones of this flute suggest to me that it is not a hastily baked oven dried specimen: I’ve heard these kinds of flutes before in bansuris; dizs; xiaos and I can tell what an oven crisp sound is!

So talking of ovens - flame away guys. But if anyone can help me figure out how to convert a .wav file to something uploadable, please feel welcome - and you can then hear what this flute sounds like, played by an ITM beginner. For my first foray into the ITM, I’d rather spend something like this on a McCarty flute, than end up with the other choices which I did…maybe I got lucky. I probably would not spend $498 on a flute I didn’t know, but this is one great flute for a newcomer.

I do have non-matching American and European table leg flutes which are way inferior to the McCarty flute. This one …I’m really pleased with it.

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If you google free wav - mp3 converter software you’ll get a list a yard long regardless of computer platform :wink:

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Sorry, James, but I’m not terribly inclined to believe your assertions of McCarty’s assertions are “proof” of anything. That’s not casting aspersions on you. “Black Walnut” or not, why would any maker in the US copy duff Pakistani flutes? Tweak 'em to try to make them decent (maybe even succeed to a fair degree), yes, that is credible. FWIW, and I don’t claim this is so, just suggest it as a possibility, that timber looks very like a stained version of the so-called “cocus” ones we see on eBay. or there’s this “Beachwood” (sic) one - check out the enlarged version of the close-up of the corked tenon, BTW. Or “Ash wood”. Or there’s another (correctly spelled!) Beechwood. They come in assorted other timbers too - “rosewoods” and “blackwood”. Also, have a look at the more detailed pictures by scrolling down on the eBay ad for
this one Timber aside, and scored rings on the timber of yours but no scored graduation marks on your tuning slide, they’re brothers!

As we’ve commented before in the Sticky thread about all this, some of the output from Pakistan shows very considerable skill in wood-turning and joinery in the basic manufacture of these flutes, but the design specs (detailed dimensions etc.) and finish of things like the embouchure cuts let them down. It wouldn’t actually take all that much to get them half-decent. Which raises the thought that a Western retailer might well order in blanks, as it were - part-made flutes - all the dog-work done - turning and reaming and head lining/tuning slide making, but not finished off - and such a person could then just drill the embouchure and tone-holes and fine-ream the bore to good specs and thus come up with a very cheap but perhaps decently serviceable flute.

That doesn’t get around the question of what timber your flute truly is - only an opinion from an independent timber expert could do that authoritatively. Nor does it ultimately have much to do with how your flute plays - the proof of that is “in the pudding”. If you are happy with it, that’s great, but as you say, you haven’t the experience of good flutes of this general kind to make well informed comparisons. We can’t get to play it so what more can we say but that it looks like what it looks like - which are very well known and are not “rip-offs” of anything (save the unsuspecting victims who buy them). If McCarty is genuine, he has set himself a real mountain to climb by choosing a design style so close to that of long-standing, very well-known duds! They’ve been around longer than he has!

Also FWIW, I have, somewhere, one of the “cocus” ones I bought in my very early eBay days, before I knew better (or had discovered C&F). It is just as you describe - fairly light timber but very head heavy because of the heavy-duty brass liner tubes in head and barrel.

Edited for late-night typos

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Can I upload mp3 conversions from Audacity onto Youtube, or does it have to be Boxnet?

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQjM44ju5i8

Ok. The answer is no…

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McCarty Low D Flute - Sound Clip: http://www.box.net/files#/files/0/f/100248321/1/f_839223151

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I don’t think that link is right, James - it is taking me to my own Boxnet account, not to your clip!

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Argh.

Any of these?

http://www.box.net/files/0/f/100248321/New_to_ITM!_McCarty_Black_Walnut_Flute_Demos#/files/0/f/100248321/1/f_839223151

http://www.box.net/files/0/f/100248321/New_to_ITM!_McCarty_Black_Walnut_Flute_Demos#/files/0/f/100248321/1/f_839222391

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:confused:

Strike III:

http://www.box.net/shared/00b82z7ih63kj775o0bd
http://www.box.net/shared/a8e1i0lgkec07h82uhpp

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Just my opinion but I have little doubt this is a Pakistani flute. The design is for sure, you can find hundreds of flutes for sale online that share that similarity. As for the wood, I’ve sent wood over to India to have pegs made, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Mr. McCarty(likely not his real name), shipped some over to have flutes made. That way it gives the end user the idea that if it’s made of domestic wood it must be domestically made. To confirm if it’s walnut just smell the flute, walnut wood has a very distinct smell that smell similar to when you crack a walnt open. What really is the dead give away is the sound blips, it has a week bottom and is quite sour. Not as bad as some flutes I’ve seen though. So you’ve gotten what you paid for, but nothing more than that. Frankly you can often find vintage flutes for that price that can be restored and easily outplay this one. On the seller end these Pakistani flutes can be had for cheap, when I managed a music store I could get them for $75 a pop out of ebony with the exact same fittings and case. I stocked a few but in the end Billy Miller D bamboo flutes always outplayed them and are cheaper, so they were discontinued.
If you really want “Mr. McCarty” to prove he made this flute without a doubt, have him send you a picture of his reamers, and also his measurements for the flute. I somehow doubt he can provide you with either.

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You’ve got to buy yourself a proper flute. Make this one into a lamp.

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James writes: “The feel of this McCarty flute - is fantastic. Remember - as a newcomer to ITM, I have exceptionally low standards compared to players of Wilkes, McGee flutes etc. The hole sizes are indeed different between the notes: I suppose this will set up perturbations, and as a result, some of the notes will sound different in character or volume from the next note up or down.”

I’m sorry, James, but this is rubbish, in my opinion. Why would you have such low standards for a flute that you so glowingly are praising? You obviously haven’t a clue as to what you are talking about. The hole sizes on flutes vary in size for a very good reason, and it has to do with fingering comfort. For a well-made flute the differences in volume or sound character will be minimal. You can easily make a flute with six finger holes of the same size. These flutes can be made to play in tune, but the right hand fingering will be difficult for larger flutes (low D and others). By making the 5th finger hole larger and the 6th finger hole smaller you can compress the right hand finger hole layout thereby making it easier to cover the finger holes. As long as the 5th hole isn’t too large and the 6th hole too small, you can get the best of both worlds: a flute that plays in tune with good sounding notes and a flute that is easy to play.

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I find that I almost have to spit to make tonguing evident.
Most players of ITM seldom tongue, or “spit,” to articulate the note. The articulation starts back in the throat as a chuff, or cough. I am not sure if you know this, or if by “spitting” you meant tonguing the note as you would on the whistle or the Boehm flute. If so, this confirms that you simply have not been at this long enough to offer an opinion on a flute that most of us feel was obviously made in Pakistan.

If you can send it back for a refund, by all means do so. Get rid of it even if you must take a loss. It won’t help your playing to gather an arsenal of crappy flutes. You would have been far better off buying a $100 flute from Doug Tipple or spending a bit more for a flute from Ralph Sweet or Casey Burns. If there is any comfort in all this, bear in mind that you are not the first of us here who have made such a mistake.

As far as the “decorative” rings go, they are much more than just decoration. They protect the socket from cracking when an overzealous player forces the tenon into it. Makers who don’t use rings on some lower-priced flutes will ensure that there is extra wood where the ring would normally be found. As Doug points out, not knowing that a simple system flute will have different hole sizes only reveals how much you do not know about flutes and fluting. But we are all learning and I confess to my own ignorance compared to some other people who are regular contributors here.

This having been said, I am sure that most people would agree with me in thanking you for showing us the flute, giving your evaluation for what it is worth, and for confirming what most of us suspected: it is a flute made in Pakistan. From what you said we can assume that the wood is pretty, the flute is nicely machined, and that it doesn’t play very well. It’s good to know that and for that we thank you.

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Wonder why nobody mentioned the decorative lines turned into various parts of the FLO. Perhaps this is what qualifies the imported flute as being made in the States? I’ve never seen such decoration on genuine Sialkottish flutes.

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I did, Steffen, both back on your aborted thread when James first put his pictures up and, less clearly maybe, somewhere above. Interestingly, that feature isn’t standard on McCarty flutes, judging by the pictures on his website. See also the amusing disclaimer!