overton flute

[Goldie]

John,
I am interested, if you would like to contact me then we can work something out.

Colin

[kkrell]

[Note: Zombie Thread Revival]

"Overton" aluminum flute (not whistle or overtone-harmonic flute)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/330924167942



More pics:
http://www.auctiva.com/hostedimages/sho ... 0&format=0

[cunparis]

I saw that on ebay too and came here to see if anyone was discussing it. It does appear to be a real Overton and the story of it being a prototype seems plausible. I am not interested in buying it myself but I'm curious how much it will go for and would like to know more about the history of it.

[MTGuru]

It does appear to be a real Overton

Well, please read Colin Goldie's upthread comments carefully. But yes, it is a curiosity.

[kkrell]

...I'm curious how much it will go for...

More than it's worth?

Whoever made it, it's cylindrical, not conical, and you can see it's a large reach to cover the toneholes, so perhaps not as well-tuned (yes, I said that) as a traditional flute.

[cunparis]

It does appear to be a real Overton

Well, please read Colin Goldie's upthread comments carefully. But yes, it is a curiosity.

Colin said that Bernard didn't sell flutes. But is it possible that this flute was a prototype of some sort that wasn't sold publicly?

I'm sure it'll go for more than it's worth. I've seen used Bernard Overton whistles on ebay going for more than the price of a new Goldie. That's insane. With some clever marketing one can make them out to be collector's items and people really bid them up. I imagine the flute will do the same. Just make it sound rare and everyone gets excited. Yet there was probably a reason that Bernard Overton never sold them.

[tradschool]

I have one of these flutes, bought in a music shop in Athlone back in the late 80s/early 90s, can't remember exactly when. I bought an Overton low whistle around the same time.
The low whistle was excellent, like any Overton I've ever played; however the flute is pretty badly out of tune, both internally and externally; even without the tuning issues the sound is pretty light and nondescript...

[emmdee]

There appears to be very little depth to the embouchure, so the potential for it to sound like ass must be pretty high, intonation notwithstanding.

I had one of Bernard's little D whistles - it was an absolute peach. I sold it some years ago on this forum, but sometimes I kinda wish I hadn't...
m.d.

[john]

i exchanged the flute i had that was an pretend overton, to goldie in return for an f whistle which i then proceeded to drop and damage - i think he wanted to study it in detail and this was why he offered me an arrangement that was so favourable to me - i don't think it was of any value to him except as a specimen to assess

[kkrell]

The latest auction was cancelled by the seller, with 5 bidders (up to GBP 200) having their highest bids cancelled & exposed so that the seller could re-list the flute at a Buy-It-Now price of GBP 350 or Best Offer (1 offer submitted already).

New listing is up for 30 days, initially.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/330927089996

[pancelticpiper]

Overton have never made aluminium flutes for sale, so what you have is a "genuine Overton trademark infringement"

But there it is! It certainly does exist.

Would somebody really go to the expense of making an "Overton" stamp which looks like the real Overton stamp (to me anyhow, maybe somebody could post side-by-side photos of the stamp on this flute with stamps on other Overtons) just to sell a few flutes?

But I wouldn't put it past the Pakistani makers to do such a thing. A friend was in Sialkot around 20 years ago and saw a shop where they were turning out Highland pipes in African Blackwood and stamping them "RG Hardie Glasgow".

And they make copies of Ralph Sweet flutes there (though without the S & heart stamp, I think).

I've not seen any machined aluminum low whistles come out of Pakistan though, not yet anyhow.

[kkrell]

Richard, the stamps do not look the same.

Also some info from a previous C&F thread:

Just for the record.
There are quite a few Overtons out there with the Overton stamp that were made by myself from around April 92 until around 95 when Bernard took the Oveton stamp back.From then on I used to stamp OV on the back until 97.If you have a whistle with OV on the back it's one of mine,I didn't inscribe my initials and date inside the tube or offer a verification card as it didn't seem important at the time. So if you are not sure if you have one of my Overtons or not,please send me a picture and I'll should be able to verify for you as there are subtle differences.
Please remember that I made Overtons from 1993-97.

Overton stamp


Overton stamp


Flute Auction


More discussion about fake Overtons:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=26861

http://web.archive.org/web/200608241251 ... aware.html

[Brigitte]

took my whole info out, as I finally read the whole old thread and saw that Colin has written to this already.... so just to repeat one thing.
This is not a flute made by Bernard Overton and the seller must have been misinformed when he got it.

Sorry for repeating
Brigitte

P.S. in addition to Richard and Kevin's "stamp messages"
The stamp of the flute looks like the old stamp Bernard had used and which was also used a few years by Colin and Phil. In 1998 after the licence was revoked for Phil, Bernard and Colin got identical new stamps made up which are much clearer in their edgings than the old one was.

P.P.S. Richard we actually saw one Pakistani Overton Low D copy at Frankfurt Musik Fair well over 10 years ago which Colin thought it was awful, never again saw one after that when we visited the Frankfurt fair.