Casey Burns - Reviews?

[Aodhan]

Hey all-

Considering getting a Casey Burns flute for my g/f. She is 4'9", and hence I would be getting the small hands model. I have an M&E rose/rudall model, and she can almost make the reach on that.

I've been looking in the forums, and in the archives, and I can't find any actual reviews. Anyone out there have one, and care to share? I'd be especially interested in anyone that actually has the small handed model.

What I am thinking of is keyless 'D' small hands in Mopane.

Thanks everbody!

Aodhan

[Gordon]

If you can check out a number of his flutes, this might be one way to go. I have heard a variety of things about his flutes, good and bad. I've only played one myself; his craftsmanship was good, but this flute didn't do much for me. I know very few top players who play or suggest his flutes, but the same can be said for a number of perfectly fine makers.
It's clear to me, via this hear-say, that his flutes vary in quality, so if you have the opportunity to pick one out personally, you might find a real gem. Also, he seems to be a very approachable and sincere man, and I know a number of people that sent flutes back to have him tweak the flute to their satisfaction. While not inexpensive, his mopane flutes do come in on the lower end, cost-wise, and he has a fast turn-around time; should you need to return it for tweaking, at least you're not talking long periods of time to wait.

[SuiZen]

I have a Casey Burns' blackwood Pratten model & Rudall model coming for a try, hopefully tomorrow. I'm going to pick one to have six keys added. They're not the small hand model, so a review won't help specifically.

Bill

[jim stone]

I played a CB mopane for small hands last night.
Very good, easy to play, good volume, fine flute.
But I think Gordon is right about variation,
it's a good idea to play these before you buy.
Some of them come with offset holes,
by the way, which seems helpful.

[Doc Jones]

Seems like there was a post by somebody not long ago about a small-handed Skip Healy flute...off-set holes or something. As I recall it was a female small-handed player and she was quite delighted with it.

I've never played a Healy but I know he has super-quick delivery and a "no questions asked" return policy if you don't bond with the flute.

I had the pleasure of talking to Skip on the phone not long ago...really a terrific guy and a friend of Casey Burns too I believe.



Doc

Found it...here's the link:

http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php ... healy+wind

[msheldon]

I have an M&E rose/rudall model, and she can almost make the reach on that.

I think you're being a bit generous there, I've seen her try to hold your flute.

Seriously, those of us with larger hands tend to forget that it's not just the ability to cover the holes, but the ability to cover them comfortably. Also take into account the weight, which is going to be an issue for someone who's already straining to cover the holes. The one thing I don't like about the M&E R&R is it's weight, it's a pretty heavy instrument, significantly heavier than the wooden simple system flutes I've handled (admittedly very few).

[Dana]

I must admit, I've been pretty stumped with the small hands issue. I have no trouble playing my open-hole Boehm flute, but I'm afraid that playing a D Irish flute could cause me major hand problems (I'm 5'4"). If she's 4'9", she may not be able to play any simple system flute. What about getting her an Olwell bamboo in G or A? A Healy fife might also be a good idea, he makes them in several keys. If you get a flute/fife pitched in A, it will play easily in D.

Dana

[brianormond]

I have a regular-hands Casey Burns flute with offset D hole which works well for me. I tried a borrowed Burns mopane slide D flute recently with offset D as well as offset G. I liked the dual offsets, even with my medium/large hands, and also found upper octave easier to hit than on my CB blackwood slide flute-due to smaller bore and thinner embouchure chimney perhaps? The offsets make handling a little easier, but might take a little
getting used to if accustomed to regular hole placements. I don't notice the D offset as its so well placed, but might mis-finger the G until accustomed to it. I don't know how the finger spread differs on the small-hands model, but liked the dual offsets, effective in themselves for comfortable fingering.

[jim stone]

I really do think the CB flute for small hands
is likely to do the job in that the holes are
quite close together. But I agree that
one should play before you pay. Where are
you? We have a good one for sale here
at Music Folk in St. Louis.

[eskin]

Sorry to harp on the same subject, but I also have very small hands and once I switched to piper-style fingering on both hands I've been able to comfortably play pretty much any flute I've tried...

At least have her give it a try... it will take some getting used to at first, but with your R&R M&E flute you can rotate the sections as required to put the holes exactly where they need to be. The left thumb comes foward pointing towards the head and applies light pressure on the flute to stabilize the instrument.

I fought with trying to put classical fingering style on the wooden flute for a long time, nearly gave up the instrument because of the pain. Once I switched to piper-style fingering, the pain went away, and now I can play completely relaxed and have no problem reaching the holes on any flute.

It took me about 2 weeks to really get used to the difference...

Here's a picture of how I hold the flute:



Anyway, something to try...

Cheers,

Michael

[MarkB]

I only own one flute and that is a Casey Burn's mopane in D, which I have owned for two years now and bought it blind.There being only two flute players in the area, one in Michigan, and the other was in Ireland at the time I decided to purchase a flute.

I haven't played any other flute (moneywise another flute is out of the question in the near future) so my thoughts and experiences are limited to what I have experienced.

I have basically taught myself to play the flute, not having a teacher in the area and owe a lot to this forum and other flute websites for the generous help and information provided.

Now for my thoughts. I am getting a good bottom low D almost consistently with a good strong embochure. The second octave is clean and clear and I hit the notes almost all the time.

Holding the flute was a long process for me, I found the Burns mopane flute heavier than Copley, Heally, and Cotter that I have tried to play. A good friend of mine owns all three above. He has let me try them but my inexperience at playing the flute doesn't allow me to comment just that the first thing I noticed was that they were lighter by half (well almost.)

I am finding it easy to fill and keep filled and it is or can be a loud flute. I have a reasonably large hand with long fingers the stretch was a bit much at first (standard layout) but that is getting easier every day, as neural linguistic memory kicks in.

I also didn't have to learn tunes at the same time, having played the whistle for the last twelve years so I can concentrate on everything else I have to do to play the flute.


I have come to like this flute a lot! The tone is woody, deep, and husky. But the second octave has a bright clean sound to it which is almost opposite of the lower octave.

I can see me playing this flute for a long time, cause I so come to love it. I have really struggled with very little inperson help and it is finally paying off. This morning before coming to work, I played Britches full of stitches, in A at speed and the flute didn't wander all over my mouth!

Being a luddite (you can only play one instrument at a time) this will be probably the only flute that I will own for a long time.

Hope this helps.

MarkB

[Mal]

I have played (extensively!)both Casey's small hand and regular models ... both in Mopane. There was no significant difference in the sound produced by the two according to my aging ears, though Casey told me that some people thought the regular model had "more boom".

Strictly speaking, there is not one "small hands" model because Casey actually produces these flutes withing a range hole spacings. The smallest spacings between holes is one extreme and these spacings can be extended so that they would morph into the widest hole spacings (which I guess is his "standard" model).

In addition, he can offset holes to make them even easier to reach. He told me , for example, that he believed having the L1 hole offset away from the hand and the L3 hole offset towards the hand allowed for a more comfortable wrist position.

I would strongly advise you to telephone Casey and discuss your problem with him. He will probably suggest trying a small hand model with the option of exchanding it for a custom=made body to your own liking if you diced that any holes should be differently spaced or offset.

Mal

[CatherineQ]

I have a Casey Burns rosewood. I bought it from my flute teacher last year. This is the only keyless flute I've owned, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. I have very small hands and although this model is not the small handed one, I have found it quite easy to play. It is a good starter model, great in fact. However, I am now looking into getting on a waiting list for another flute and it won't be a Casey Burns. My flute just doesn't have the voice I would like. But like I said, it is a fine beginner flute.

[U2]

Casey is a gem to work with. I purchased a custom keyless flute from him and later ordered a keyed section and foot-joint retrofit. I'm confident you'll be happy with the personalized service Casey provides initially, and any follow-up tweaking you want to have done. Although I haven't needed it, he offered to reposition any of the touches on my new flute. There's a significant value, in my opinion, of having direct access to the maker of an instrument. Casey is readily available and enjoys getting the correct set-up for individual players.

Comments on this board seem to indicate many quality individuals are making flutes and pleasing buyers.