Here is my latest acquisition a William Pond (Ca. ~1870) single key flute made of Cocus (without a single crack ). This is an Antique Folk Flute. Note the maker used a piece of wood with sapwood in it (just like Casey Burns is doing). This is just a plain simple, non-fancy, honest to goodness fine playing flute. An interesting feature is a flat in the backside of the turned collar for the mounting of the Eb key, It Keeps The Flute From Rolling!
It is my understanding that William Pond was the son of Sylvanus Pond who was the partner in Firth, Hall & Pond.
I’m giving up on flutes with multiple keys. I’m just to gosh darn coordinated and play with piper’s grip! But I really like an Eb key, it greatly strengthens the E and seems to bring out the harmonics in most good flutes.
Rick Wilson isn’t particularly fond of this genre of flute: 19th century American one-key and simple system flutes This is not a Baroque Flute and isn’t truly chromatic. But I find I can do OK with Fnat, G# and Bb, honestly it is the Cnat (OXO XXX) that took some acclimation!
This flute plays surprisingly strong with a sweet and easy tone throughout 2-octaves.
I think it is a keeper!
BTW: I got this flute for about $175. I was also bidding on a Boxwood Christman Single Key flute that ended about the same time, but it went for over $450 and needed extensive repairs.
I forgot to mention the Pond flute plays very well @ A=440!
Here’s a picture of Firth & Pond from about 1840:
Bit more elegant, but the design looks the same.
Long ago I had a George Cloos single key, it had a very narrow bore and it played closer to the key of Eb. After that I have stayed away from American Single-Key Antique Flutes till now. Guess henceforth I’ll keep my eyes peeled.
Funny bit of information: I didn’t notice the ring on the bottom of the foot of the Pond flute was put on backwards, till I looked at the full size picture. Perhaps its time for bifocals (I’m to young to be old!). However I did pull the ring and turn it around.
Looks like a nice little flute! Looks like a later model, but is it Hall and Sons or just Hall?
I used to have a Firth and Pond in Boxwood in perfect condition..edit: oh, this is the son! (it is always a good idea to read the post…)
Do you still play pretty flat?
Wonder if you would let us know about the L1 to L2, L2 to L3 and the right hand as well. I was looking at another firth, pond, and hall. The aforementioned measurements seemed odd to me on the firth, pond and hall. From your pics,the holes seem small and I wonder about the distances. I am curious about hall’s influence if any.
Beatiful flute and for that price. A steal. I am contemplating selling my 4 key christman and getting a similiar flute as this one.
I can play the Pond @440 with the head turned in slightly more than I normally do.
Hope you a mending well!
Hey SkySpirit,
The Pond is the best playing American flute I’ve played since having the Christmans. I had 3-Christman flutes at one time, I sold the two Cocus 6-key flutes and kept the Boxwood 4-key. But it turned out after I restored the Boxwood 4-key that it didn’t play nearly as well as the Cocus flutes. Here’s their picture:
The William Pond Hole Spans:
L1-L2 = 1.4"
L2-L3 = 1.45"
Rick Wilson isn’t particularly fond of this genre of flute: http://www.oldflutes.com/american.htm This is not a Baroque Flute and isn’t truly chromatic. But I find I can do OK with Fnat, G# and Bb, honestly it is the Cnat (OXO XXX) that took some acclimation![quote]
What happens when you try cross-fingering on the folk flute using baroque traverso fingering for the Cnat [xoxxox+) [where + has the Eb key open]. Many of the baroque traverso lookalikes seem to respond better to half-hole shading rather than cross-fingering, although the pitch can usually be shifted by lipping.
). This is an Antique Folk Flute. Note the maker used a piece of wood with sapwood in it (just like Casey Burns is doing). This is just a plain simple, non-fancy, honest to goodness fine playing flute. An interesting feature is a flat in the backside of the turned collar for the mounting of the Eb key, It Keeps The Flute From Rolling!
I forgot to mention the Pond flute plays very well @ A=440! 
(I’m to young to be old!). However I did pull the ring and turn it around.
Here’s their picture: