THE F (Band) Flute Thread

[jemtheflute]

Three more current eBay examples (breaking my own suggested "rules" here, but I'm away for a week and don't know how much computer access I'll have...) - not ended at time of posting - will add sale prices in due course.

flute by hy potter and co london - no useful extra info. Picture shows a 5-key, block mounted, no-tuning-slide flute in typical Potter style.




Wooden marching flute

Wooden Flute, Convinced it is a F Flute
Approx 50 cm in length, 5 Key, 4 Piece.
C Key is missing but will play with key.

Old Wooden silvermounted and keyed Flute

Here we have a wooden four (one missing) silver keyed, silver mounted unbranded Flute. I can see a crack in the back of the headjoint, three cracks in the barrel, a key is missing (not included) and the block is missing, three fine cracks in the bottom joint tennon, the tuner cap is missing and the footjoint and bottom joint are stuck together. Overall length is 20 1/8 inches approx. (51cm)

Price: £179.00 Buy it now or Best Offer

[jemtheflute]

An update - recent (and a couple of current) eBay F flutes (quite a few!):

Wooden Vintage Flute for Restoration
Item number: 360387551068
Anon French- or German-made? 6-key
Ended: 25 Aug, 2011 09:14:45 BST Winning bid:£31.00 14 bids
Item location: Tring, United Kingdom

Description:
Vintage wooden flute
Maker unknown
Great potential as a restoration
Condition:
Poor condition
Missing part (from mouthpiece)
Worn pads
Some keys do not close well
Dimensions (approx) 48cm long




OLD VICTORIAN FLUTE by HAWKES LONDON
Item number: 160638716519
6-key
Ended: 24 Aug, 2011 18:28:23 BST Winning bid:£102.00 [ 13 bids ]
Item location: Harwich, Essex, United Kingdom

This is an old military rosewood flute made by Hawks & Son, it must be before 1930 because Hawkes became Boosey's partner in 1930. It is 20 inches long, it is in 3 sections and all joints are tight.
It has written on it HAWKES & SON DENHAM STREET PICCADILY LONDON,in a very nice leather carrying case with written inside says: 8th R BN MIDDX REG. HAWKES & SON LONDON,no cracks or splits just a small repair to one of the keys, shown in pictures.








Antique Boosey & Hawkes wooden flute in F – overhauled
Item number: 120752375502
5-key
Ended: 02 Aug, 2011 09:37:40 BST Sold for: £265.00
Item location: N Ireland (jason_lfc)

Antique Boosey & Hawkes wooden flute in the key of F, completely repadded and recorked by Miller Wicks flutes. A great flute to play with a beautiful tone, comes with the original case.




HY Potter & Co London
Item number: 180703310080
5-key
Ended: 06 Aug, 2011 19:48:20 BST Winning bid: £81.00 [ 5 bids ]
Item location: Hull, Humberside, United Kingdom

--- Description ------

For your consideration I have vintage wood/wooden musical instrument which I think is a piccolo? no doubt you experts out there will know, it is marked HY Potter & Co London, as I have no idea if this item is complete I am selling for spares/repair.

------ Condition ------

This item is in used condition with some wear and tear in keeping with it's age and being used, to one end there is some damage to the end wood cap? one of the sections is a different shade of wood so possibly this is a more modern replacement. I notice some of the key pads don't function correcly or dont spring back, so it does need some tlc - Measuring approx 20" in length.




Flute tierce ancienne XIXème ebene 5 clés jouable
Item number: 220810126861
Ended: 16 Jul, 2011 16:16:47 BST Sold for: EUR 199.00 Approximately £174.84
Item location: France

Flute tierce ancienne (XIXème) en ébène, 5 clés. Pas de fente, l'instrument est en très bon état, tout à fait jouable (lièges et tampons changés récemment). Longueur totale: 50,6cm. Distance entre le trou d'embouchure et l'extrémité de la flute: 42,8cm.






Antique Henry Potter Flute, 19th Century Military Fife
Item number: 170663376129
5-key
Ended: 13 Jul, 2011 20:01:03 BST Winning bid: £129.50 [ 13 bids ]
Item location: Bristol, United Kingdom

Henry Potter & Co Flute & Military Leather Pouch. 20 inches long.

This Flute is in Good Condition, Looks like Rosewood & Nickel Silver Ferrules.

The Three Piece Leather Pouch has the end of the strap missing,some of the stitching has come loose at the top & is a bit scuffed.Inside the pouch is lined with soft chamois type leather.

The flute is stamped on all the three pieces with a unicorn head & Hy Potter & Co,London.

The middle section reads,Hy Potter & Co,36 & 38 West St,Charing * Road,London.






Hawkes & son London, crown AZ flute in F, (6-key) overhauled
Item number: 230662041922
Ends: 17 Sep, 2011 23:34:55 BST
Price: £475.00 Buy it now or Best Offer (History: 1 offer)

Hawkes & son London, Crown AZ high pitch flute in F, in excellent playing condition, made from African blackwood apart from the centre barrel which is Ebonite. Fully overhauled by Charles Miller of Priory woodwind repairs, all keys in good working order with all new pads fitted. A few cracks in the headjoint have been repaired and now they barely can be seen, they don't affect the playing in any way as the headjoint is fully metal lined.

(?Head, or at least rings and maybe button not original?)






Anonymous German 6-key
Very old flute, quite small, w.6 keys & 6holes
Item number: 130510593215
Item location: Germany, (g.mu6)
US $274.00 Approximately £167.07 Buy it now

An interesting and antique flute made of wood. No makers name to be found. Unfortunatelly there is a crack in the small a crack at the head. (see pictures) As there is a metal tubing inside, it wont loose air. The very top hat of the instrument is missing. The instrument measures about 18,5 Inch /47cm. The sounding length is 41,5cm (16,5inches) Interesting antique instrument. I dont know in what key this quite small flute plays in. Instruments needs to be serviced, repaired and cleaned.

[Holmes]

I have recently bought an F (Band type) from the well known auction site (that is so ubiquitous I refuse to mention it's name).
I bought if because the hole size and spacing looked remarkably similar to the F Pratten which I have owned and loved for 25 years plus, (but with no foot extension). I'm not a great lover of pin mounted flutes, however...

I post here because I have not come across thequality and workmanship in an un-named F band-flute as is the case with this little beauty.
Most significant features are;
Plays well at 440 (slide out 10mm - that's under half ")
Pristine piece of cocus
High quality Nickel Silver
High quality work, especially the key pivots, making very for acurate pad placement
It looks virtually unused and the case is in good order too.














H
Save your hot air for blowing down your flute
Holmes Mooney & Wood play; The Laird Of McNabb - http://www.box.net/shared/5tx0jxtd7cbbgjfsjkp0 (Holmes McNaughton D Blackwood eight key).
http://youtu.be/zrNs33H7uxY Cuig Emag reel - How Sweet The Name of Peggy..
http://www.box.com/s/fvvfmefsrommgx7084zg B min Jig D 8 Key

[jemtheflute]

Nice shout, Norman! Nice photos, too. (Though can I suggest you edit them down to under 750 pixels width so they don't bump the screen width?)

I'm afraid I haven't had time to keep posting new/current stuff to this thread - overwhelmed with more important things. For now, though, here is a rather scruffy Rudall Carte one I saw in the last few days.

[Neil B]

Followed this one, the seller works for the KGB or some othe org. he blocked me for asking questions LoL. Story so far I have a top body part of an F Flute stating Rudall Carte & Co Ltd....the key work is as that one you posted above. I assume the bottom would have also been as is?

There was an Eb bass sold on this auction site a year or so ago....same type keys and short of the full address etc so skipped that one also. But now x3 I have noted have appeared, there seems to be a story to these flutes without full addresses does anyone know why the usual workmanship key wise of this firm RC had deterioted (IMHO) with those I have noted & the one you wrote rather scruffy?

I believe from my notes these were produced around the WWI period & farmed out to other makers as the German named makers were shipped home or maybe being detained. As the later flutes again made by the German workers stopped WW2 and those sold after hosilities the maker is not named although I have traced the numbers and sure enough "gone away on the door" ) I suppose the thought of a Grenadier Guardsman playing a simple system ( AKA Band:-)) flute would have stopped the spit in its way down the tubes:-)) So hope to get enlightened?


.....For now, though, here is a rather scruffy Rudall Carte one I saw in the last few days.[/quote]

[Holmes]

Nice shout, can I suggest you edit them down to under 750 pixels width so they don't bump the screen width?

Hi Jem
I never did manage to reduce the "size" not with my software anyway, I'm sure it's easy? I have Corel paintshop pro. I need to tutor myself...
H
Save your hot air for blowing down your flute
Holmes Mooney & Wood play; The Laird Of McNabb - http://www.box.net/shared/5tx0jxtd7cbbgjfsjkp0 (Holmes McNaughton D Blackwood eight key).
http://youtu.be/zrNs33H7uxY Cuig Emag reel - How Sweet The Name of Peggy..
http://www.box.com/s/fvvfmefsrommgx7084zg B min Jig D 8 Key

[jemtheflute]

@ Norman - dunno that software - I just use my onboard Microsoft Office Picture Manager which does let you shrink things to specific sizes.... but also, since you have to upload them, many of the web hosts (depends which you use) offer different size reproduction options before you link them out, as well as post-upload editing. Shrinking them in an onboard editor is better as it usually gives more control and also reduces file size for upload, speeding that up. Worth learning to do - shouldn't take long.

@ Neil - not quite following all of that.... but the Aussie-listed one I posted above and, I believe, many of the other similar flutes from RC&Co, Boosey, Hawkes, anon. etc. were made not in Germany/by German craftsmen, but (going on key style etc.) by French or Belgian makers or London expats from those countries in the employ of Brit firms (which we know for sure happened). Certainly the later style of keys like Norman's nice find are French influenced, if not actually French produced, quite distinctly different from German, Bohemian and Austrian stuff.

Norman's lovely acquisition really does look very like late RC&Co ones I've seen/handled, and also similar to a Besson Eb I have here. Back door sale or "foreigner" or "moonlight" job by the same workers, very likely.

[mcelvogue]

Hi Norman,
that looks like a cracking flute, I wonder what it plays like ? Any sound clips ?

Tom

[Denny]

I never did manage to reduce the "size" not with my software

there is commonly way in File/Save As... that will allow you to size it

[Holmes]

that looks like a cracking flute, I wonder what it plays like ? Any sound clips ? Tom

No time to do the clips but it sounds like the F we know and love. (Pratten) Same hole size and placement etc.

New pads today then it's ready....

H

Save your hot air for blowing down your flute
Holmes Mooney & Wood play; The Laird Of McNabb - http://www.box.net/shared/5tx0jxtd7cbbgjfsjkp0 (Holmes McNaughton D Blackwood eight key).
http://youtu.be/zrNs33H7uxY Cuig Emag reel - How Sweet The Name of Peggy..
http://www.box.com/s/fvvfmefsrommgx7084zg B min Jig D 8 Key

[Holmes]

that looks like a cracking flute, I wonder what it plays like ? Any sound clips ?

Tom

Hastily done this morning, not repadded yet, doing that this pm so room for improvement:
https://www.box.com/s/3d4f346d0485b0ff1c1a Jig
https://www.box.com/s/d66bcf034fbe520a66e4 Just to show the keys work!

H
Save your hot air for blowing down your flute
Holmes Mooney & Wood play; The Laird Of McNabb - http://www.box.net/shared/5tx0jxtd7cbbgjfsjkp0 (Holmes McNaughton D Blackwood eight key).
http://youtu.be/zrNs33H7uxY Cuig Emag reel - How Sweet The Name of Peggy..
http://www.box.com/s/fvvfmefsrommgx7084zg B min Jig D 8 Key

[O_Gaiteiro_do_Chicago]

I thought I would add to this thread the fact that John Gallagher is making a phenomenal F flute. Dave Migoya was kind enough to loan his Boosey Pratten in F to him for close inspection and the result is a wonderful F flute tweaked to modern standards of tuning. The flute is every bit as loud as my Pratten and Large Hole Rudall in D. It takes very little effort to get the thing screaming and really has a great reedy sound that I am oh so addicted to. Ornaments really pop out and the third octave is very nice in regards to tuning. Will try to make a video of this in the future, in the process of moving right now.

[monkey587]

Here's one I've had for several years now, restored by Daniel Deitch for Buy And Sell music in Eugene, OR, from whom I bought it. It has no distinguishing markings, but great tone. I'm not exactly sure what wood it is. In person it's more yellow/gold than cocus tends to be. I was told it might be stained boxwood but I don't think I believe it because of its weight and the stripe on the middle section.

[Flexismart]

This is a Hawkes & Co F flute that I had Hammy Hamilton restore. I bought it in rough shape - the long F key was, and still is, missing, but the hole is nicely plugged, and the crown was missing, so I had Hammy make a new, tunable head plug and crown. Also, the foot joint band was missing, and I wanted corked tenons rather than thread. The flute looks and feels like nice old cocus, and plays like a dream.

[RudallRose]

correction to Gaitero's post. I did indeed help with the Pratten F loan to John Gallagher, but the kindness of the loan was from Norm Holmes, the owner of that flute.

John has indeed come up with a marvelous F flute that is both sonorous and powerful.....and just darn fun to play! Even Carlos Nunez was thrilled by it (not to mention it's made from Spanish boxwood I acquired from Carlos' old friends in Ponteareas, Spain).

That is one special flute, Norm! So so glad you were able to loan it to me.
And that other you found looks like a cracker. I'm with Tom on that one. What a gem!

dm