Any thoughts about the flutes made by le Coant? Are they good flutes?
I tried several of them some years ago in St Chartier. Well made and very powerful. Neither really Rudallesque nor clearly Prattenish. Very deep undercut on the embouchure hole. The look is special too. The profile looks more like a 19c french flute. The F hole is very big and placed quite high, like on some Pratten style flutes.
Actually I tried them when he was just beginning making flutes (he’s primarily a biniou koz and bombard maker). The batch was not fully consistent. Among 5 flutes I tried, one was fantastic, the others just good. I would have bought it, but I was broke at that time.
I just saw another one recently, with block mounted keys. Good instrument.
I think it can be a good choice if you’re looking for something special. But it is absolutely necessary that you try them first, in order to know if they really suit you.
Matt
Hello Matt. I own an Olwell keyless flute, a pratten model, and I’m very happy with it. I’m going to order a keyed model but as the waiting list is so long I would like to buy another keyed flute until the keyed Olwell is made. So I’m trying to get as much information as I can on other makers.
Victor.
Hi Victor,
In that case, and since you’re in Spain, I’d suggest an Aebi, if his waiting list is not too long yet. He’ll maybe make a Pratten, as he used to, but you’ll probably have to insist.
You may check on the forum with a keyword “Le Coant”.
It has big sound, excellent key work I was happy with the flute but since I have small hand and Le Coant’s E hole is the bigguest amongst any flutes I have ever seen (I mentionned at the forum once), so finally I sold it (quite hard to sell here in France).
The embouchure is round oval, very easy to blow. The quality of the wood is
average.
As someone mentionned above, I recomment to try some of his at his workshop. Some works excellent (so that of mine).