Unfortunately, I couldn’t find our original correspondence, hence this fresh start.
At that time, I threatened to do something about reviving the idea of a silver conical flute. Really just to let you know it wasn’t altogether idle posturing; indeed I have in front of me a rough prototype. Keyless only at this stage, and certainly not ready for release - this one has some marked flaws. But the first step is taken. We can produce the long cylinders and cones required to make such a flute, and they will work - this one has a particularly convincing bottom note.
So, emboldened by at least partial success, it’s back to the spreading chestnut tree for a more serious attempt.
The good thing about silver flutes is you can always melt down your prototypes.
Are you trying to keep it simple, like a low whistle, or are you thinking that soldering on raised finger holes, keys, and a lip plate are the direction that your headed? Either way, it will be interesting to hear about the manufacturing process.
Hopefully we will see. This project is very interesting,
because there is at least the possibility of a
good sounding Irish flute that can be produced
relatively quickly and inexpensively.
Silver is delightful stuff. I once wrote
to Mike Copeland and Jim R and suggested
a flute headjoint be made to fit
their silver D whistle body.
But the message was lost in the aether,
I’m afraid and now it’s too late.
I’d like to do the simple approach, but in the first instance, it will be safer to emulate a known good design. So that will require the raised finger and key holes. Once we have a good working flute in silver we can experiment with variations.
If made properly, I’d expect it to sound pretty much like the wooden conical equivalent, but be a little more responsive due to lower surface losses. So I’ll know when I’ve got there!
The rough prototype doesn’t have the sonority we expect from wood apart from the bottom note, which is very good. The next one will be fashioned on one of my proven designs, probably the Rudall 5088, so we will be able to answer the question properly then.
Unfortunately, I suspect this won’t be the case. Silver is now pretty expensive, and the processes needed to make a silver flute are complex and require some heavy artillery. But, as you say, let’s see. I haven’t even discussed cost with my industrial collaborator - don’t want to scare myself off at this point!
I take your point. My thinking went this way.
The copleand low D silver whistle’s body could well
have worked as a D flute body, I think. Or something
much like it could have. It was conical and in one piece.
The whistle head could have been replaced by
a flute headjoint, just one piece, on the same slide
that the whistle head used. Two pieces to the flute. I figured,
perhaps mistakenly, that a flute embouchure
would not cost much more to make than a Copeland
whistle headjoint.
I actually got one of these whistles used for about 600.
I don’t know how much it cost new but it seems to me
that for about that much money one could make
something like what that whistle would have been
with a silver transverse flute headjoint. Or suppose
a couple of hundred dollars more.
