i want to buy one of olwell bamboo flutes, because friend of mine will be in usa for two months long holiday, so she will able to buy flute for me without any transport and custom problems.
i want to know from someone who bought olwell bamboo flutes recently, prices of his bamboo flutes, term of delivery ( is it possible under 2 months?) friend of mine will give patrick a call when she will come in usa, but i want some fresh expirience in advance ( expecialy about delivery time !).
also some sugestion wich key to choose? i don’t need d or eflat, because i have desi seery flute, but what about g, f or bflat. does some have expirience with his b flat bamboo flute? i have big hands, and i use standard grip for holding a flute.
thank for any advice, marin
If you already have a D and an Eb get an F. Mine is astounding. 
Doc
Olwell bamboos are usually shipped in about a months time (sometimes less). I would agree with Doc’s suggestion and get the F.
Bb is a lovely pitch but for bamboo it would come in the higher pitch and not the lower one since Patrick makes his flutes out of a single node of bamboo and I’m not sure if he gets nodes big enough for low Bb. If he does I would be most content to be wrong.
Cheers,
Aaron
I think the biggest he’s made is C, but I could be wrong about that. I have a low C, and it’s just GREAT.
I don’t think that he sells them any more, though; it’s probably hard enough to get a node long enough for low D.
Stuart
I also have a low C. It’s earthshaking.
Chris
I also have a low C Olwell bamboo and really like it, though as a general rule I think F is a particularly magical key for both bamboo flutes and low whistles. I would go with the F.
Well I just talked to Partick today and he was firing up the kiln getting ready to start another batch of Bamboo flutes. Got my F ordered. Does he mark his bamboo flutes in any way? When I read he uses a single node it made me think of a bamboo flute I got on ebay quite a while ago, long before my lips worked so I put it away until I could play it. It realy is a nice flute and its a single node and according to my tuning program it is in the key of F. There are no markings on it. Anyway just woundering if maybe I got lucky.
Tom
thank you all for your sugestions! i will go for f or maybe low c ( if he produce still c bamboo flute ) i am agree with opinion that f is great key for low whistle, but i haven’t chance to try flute in that key yet.
marin
He marks them with OLWELL just like the wooden ones. You got lucky in that you have a nice bamboo flute, but probably not an Olwell. 
Stuart
Tom,
Do you have contact info for Patrick? Or vendor info?
Thanks, Mike
Ya Mike:
Patrick Olwell
P.O.Box 117
Nellysford, VA 22958
1-424-277-9215
This is all on Brads web site. If you haven`t been there you realy should check it out. Great site.
Tom
Tom, thanks. I’ll check out Brad’s site. I am a whistler cautiously testing the flute waters.
Best,
Mike
Is it possible to contact Patrick via email? Obviously I don’t expect someone to post his email address here for the bots to get. Any way of getting it to me? I’d like to get an Eb from his new batch.
Thanks
David
In case anyone’s tried the phone number above for Pat, the area code should read “434”, rather than “424”; that’ll get you to him.
He’s a really nice guy, so I’d recommend a phone call rather than e-mail, just to chat a bit; we talked about his vacation to the Northwest and about redwood and sequoia trees (not as flute timber!) and his early travels in my area of the world back in the early '70s before we got around to talking about flutes.
(I’ve got a bamboo Eb on order, and am wavering as to whether to place an order for one of his Pratten style flutes; I love my R&R style and that R&R sound, but I played an Olwell a couple weeks ago, and it was very nice. . . oy. Do I really need more than one blackwood D flute? Arrgh.)
–Aaron
OOOPS!! Sorry about that. Sometimes these keyboards come up with the strangest enterpritations of what my fingers are saying-)
Tom
I’ve got several bamboo flutes. A C, Bb and G from Erik the flute maker. They’re very nice sounding but the G is somewhat flat.
The best ones I have though are from Wood Song flutes. Made by Rob Yard. These are absolutely magnificent. My A is sublime.
Are Wood Song Flutes bamboo flutes? Are they easy to play and have the same finger charts as Irish flute? Please give us more details about this flute. Thanks.
http://www.jimhancock/woodsong/stock.htm
Thats the web site. Hell there flutes, of course there not easy to play. But they look good to me. I think there worth a try. But Ill try anything and Im a sucker for bamboo flutes-)
Tom