William/Billy Miller - flutes, business

[JessieK]

He says he was taught how to make bamboo flutes by the same person who taught Patrick Olwell. While I suppose the burning technique is similar, the flutes are very different. They are not burn-finished, but varnished. Rather crude-looking, but that's not necessarily a problem. The (oval) embouchure holes are VERY large. The high d embouchure is the same size as the Low C embouchure, which is large to begin with! This works for some thicknesses/lengths of bamboo, but not others. Some, like the F I received, are strong, but others, like the Low D, Eb and A, are weak, especially on the bell note(s). I liked about half of the flutes I got from him. The Low C was nice, but it cracked within two days of arriving. He has been a bit lax in answering e-mails (sometimes it has taken a month or more to hear from him), probably due to his travel schedule, but he said I could return the ones I didn't like. I told him an exchange or a refund would be fine, and he wanted to do an exchange, because he wanted me to be happy with them. I sent the flutes back to him and have been waiting - the better part of a year! I just got an e-mail that says he put them in the mail this week....

[cocusflute]

Nobody better mess with the Fish

[Blackbeer]

My experience with this maker are a little different then Jessies`. When I first contacted him last winter I think it was, I told him I was looking for an
Eb with a bell note that would rattle my windows. About a month later he wrote me that he had just made a batch of flutes and that he thought he had an Eb that was what I was looking for. When it arrived I realy didn`t think much of the looks of the thing, and the embouchure was about the biggest I had ever seen. The wall thickness of the bamboo was thin and the tone holes very large. Ok so what did it sound like you may be asking. It is a killer flute. The bell note does indeed rattle the windows and it is amoung my favorite bamboo flutes. I bought one of his flutes on ebay about the same time that was made about 2 years ago. It is an F flute and playes beautifuly. So there you go. Of course you all know I am a hopeless flute whore who even likes his Eb east indian plastic 8 key which should help determin the size of the grain of salt you should use to determin the credability of my opinion.

Tom

[AaronMalcomb]

Though my exchanges with the flutemaker are pretty similar to Tom's, Jessie's predicament is a bit extreme. For somebody to neglect a client who probably made the biggest purchase he's ever seen is outside of proper professional conduct.

The only reasonable excuse I can think of is that William Miller is busy on the RenFest circuit. After I had bought my Eb from him he said he would let me know when he had some Fs fiished but he was off to Florida for a RenFest and I never heard back from him (which is just as well because I have since downsized my instrument collection and even sold the Eb).

I hope a resolution is soon found.

Cheers,
Aaron

[rh]

(which is just as well because I have since downsized my instrument collection and even sold the Eb).

the same Eb on which i am happily honking away... thanks again, Aaron!

[AaronMalcomb]

'Tis true. I'm glad the flute found you well.

Cheers,
Aaron

[JessieK]

Update: I received the remaining flutes today, along with a CD of a recording in which he played these four flutes for me and told me that I am the only one to have ever returned instruments to him, so I must be very picky.

The flutes smell great and the A is REALLY good. The Eb is second, then the Low C and then the D. They're all fine.