http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/150572765017
thanks for posting, interesting to see the pics and details
I have to say - and I’ve said this privately already - that is one gorgeous flute. That one really deserves to get a top price, IMHO. Beautiful.
I love that art deco looking lip plate, looks great never seen one like it. Very cool flute indeed.
this means it looks beautiful or it means that plays beautiful as well?
I recorded a tune yesterday, played on this flute. You can download it at Box
Unkind comments about my playing, on private emails only, please 
Right, so, little bit muffled that recording but, by the sound of it, it’s in tune, got a nice bottom end and clear second octave. IOW, it’s got the Rudalls about it, all right. 
Looks like a nice fixer upper!
Replace 3 sockets, Fix the head joint and barrel cracks, and repair the foot block…
Seems that R&R made a imitation Nicholson’s Improved for someone, probably an amateur requesting the Nicholson cut aways. I wonder if the head is narrowed at the embouchure?
Jon; I am intrigued as to why you feel the sockets need to be replaced and why the cracks need to be fixed any more than they were already fixed 15 years ago. If it doesn’t make the reserve price, I’ll keep it an it’ll become an heirloom, in which case I might consider the repairs which you describe.
Mike
I don’t think Jon is trying to trash your flute, although I can vouch for his ability to turn firewood back into a flute. You indicate it is playable (with some problems), and has been stable, but Jon tends towards making more solid structural repairs than just filling cracks. “Filling” is not “fixing”. So I think he’d likely want to relieve the stress that caused the cracks in the first place.
Thus, the strategy might be to pull the liners in headjoint and barrel, close cracks and refit the slide. Since your flute has those body cracks from the sockets, with fingerhole involvement, the sockets would be plugged and re-cut, trying to preserve the most uniform outside appearance of the flute, but reinforcing the area. Same for tenons as needed.
And I’m sure he’d want to check the block repairs (don’t forget the G# replacement and the fit problem there). In fact, if that was only a partial block replacement, it might be best to cut down and graft in a new block entirely. The G# key should not be loose, for instance. BTW, I’d find “flicking” the short F key to seat it as annoying as having to jiggle a toilet handle.
Also, no reason why the cork tuning mechanism should not be made properly functional.
Ultimately, I think Jon’s approach makes for a reliable instrument that plays to the best of its ability. If I were buying it, I would certainly be considering the cost of such repairs (although if playable I might defer them for awhile until I had sufficient funds).
Well, I described the flute as “fully playable and of an attractive appearance”. I don’t see any problems with its playability - only the idiosyncrasies typical of a flute of that period. It’s more a matter of the ability of the player, IMO (and I know I am no great shakes in that department).
And it seems like an awful lot of restoration for a flute that plays well and looks pretty good and has not developed any cracks for the last 15 years. Much of the work described above sounds pretty drastic (and dare I say un-necessary?) to me. For me, I would tend to leave well enough alone, except for the matter of cork and G# block. I will probably fit a new cork over the next few days, anyway. But of course it’s a matter for the prospective buyer, who may have more rigorous requirements than I do.
Mike, I agree that if it’s playable as is, then it has value in its current state, and probably most players would leave the repairs for another time. Looking at the eBay pictures, it does look as if you’re likely to lose a portion of the block for the C# soon, and while it’s hard to tell from the photos, there may have been a repair to the long F block.
All in all, though, it’s an interesting flute, with the notches, finger hole flattening, and embouchure treatment. Sounds nice.
Hi Mike, I was curious what led you to think that the modifications (lip band, finger indents, etc) were from Rudall and not from a previous owner?
What do you think it’s in tune with?
Graeme
Hi,
Not knocking this lovely instrument, I just see where it can be improved to make it more stable, and repair some of the esthetics. When the socket cracks, it is usually beneficial to bore it out and glue in new cocus wood. The only time it may be stable, when you have a wide band for rings. Along with the unstable cracks in the head and barrel, the wood has shrunk over the years, and the metal sleeve has not, so the pressure will continue to open the crack,no matter if it is pinned, it will reopen. I usually find that the bore is about 1.5mm smaller then the liner, when it is removed.
I think the cut aways are original R&R, probably just a custom order. If not they did a clean job making them later.
How would they retrofit the lip plate? The head joint has to be made with one of these, as it is two pieces of wood. The whole head would have to been replaced.
As Jon said, it does not seem a practical proposition to have retro-fitted the lip plate/sleeve. As for the indents, I cannot know for certain if they were retro-fitted (by R&R or someone else) or were part of the original specification. I can only go by the advice which I have been given over the years, i.e. that they are original features. From a player’s point of view, the indentations are a good idea as they greatly increase the feeling of comfort when playing the flute. (I got too used to them, in fact). If a buyer feels that the indentations are later modifications which detract from the value of the flute as an antique, then that is their decision to make, based on their own knowledge and judgement.
One thing to consider here - one should not necessarily make judgements based on experience with flutes which much higher serial numbers. Is there much knowledge around concerning flutes of the 1000 series? If so, I would genuinely like to increase my knowledge of that. Any pointers, anyone?
I detect a “note” of dissatisfaction. but you might need to blame the player and not the instrument, for I am sure the intonation must be exactly as R&R intended it to be, 170 years ago. I tuned the G to my pitch pipes before I made the recording, but after playing for a while to warm it up.
dear Jon,
ok, i’m curious about this one. why is no one bidding on it at $800, when there’s another R&R going on ebay for $6,000?
what would you charge for these repairs?
cheers,
eric
can you point me at that one? I did a search on ebay.com and I couldn’t find it
Mike
The fat lady ain’t sung, yet. Most serious bids occur in the last few seconds of the listing - this one still has 5 days to run. Since there’s a reserve, there’s no point in anyone making the opening $800 salvo, since you can’t win it at that price. I’LL do it if it will make you feel better. Since no money is committed at that price, even the homeless can bid $800 under no obligation.
Eric, no one bid on the $6,000 one either, you know, that ended without a buyer.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120690306421
There’s the one in Australia, at time of writing bid to $1,136.93 , with a broken Upper C block (seller still has the key), and also with cracks between the fingerholes.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=380321409114
Jon worked on my Wylde (which you can see on the Wooden Flute Obsession Facebook page). It probably required less restoration than Jon stated he’d like to do for #1364, and I believe he put in about $1,100 value of repairs into it, although he did not charge me that. But then I bring other bribes on a regular basis!