This past summer has, to say the least, not been bouring. I came in personnel contact with 48,000 individuals from every corner of the world, delt with one or two of the largest egos I have ever run accross in my life, had the pleasure of becomeing one with a fine team of Belgians who I miss very much right now, and managed to aquire a few realy good flutes and a 1974 VW camper van, Westvalia(no I can`t spell it) no less. I also went from fame and wealth to unknown and poor. Oh well, there is always next season. Although for the life of me I can`t understand why they asked me back. You see I didn`t like either my boss, 28 yr old kid that knew everything, or the owner of the company which made for some lumpy bits on this particular path I was following. But that was then and this is now.
Boy did I get some nice flutes. Folks listen, when you hear people bad mouthing ebay and all the junk that is laid on an unsuspecting public, please don`t let it cut you off from the po tential joy of getting more then you hoped for. I picked up 3 flutes and a piccolo this summer and not one is a dud. One, in fact, is about to be my dream flute when restoration is complete(haven`t started it yet because I am enjoying playing it so much right now). Anyway the ebay list is as follows: two flute and a piccolo from Austraila, a single key in D and a single key in Bb, both made of cocus I think and both in playable condition, the Bb being in perfect shape and the D having a poorly repaired crack in the headjoint. No makers names on either so I don`t know where they were made or when. My guess is late 19th century. The piccolo I bought is a 6 key that I bought to practice restoration on. Now the fourth flute I got from ebay is the one which will be my flute for a long time. It is a 10 key Cloos in D made of rosewood without a crack or blemish of any kind. Now I had read a little about mr. Cloos a while ago and knew he messed with slightly larger tone holes twards the end of the 19th century and I was looking at maybe buying one that had been for sale for the longest time on vintage flutes. When one showed up on ebay, made of rosewood no less, I had to give it a try. Now when I bid on ebay it is with a limit. I plop down what I am willing to spend on a chance and then wait to be notified by email if it is mine or not. This little beauty was mine for a song. I love the way it sounds. My rosewood Dixon has shown me the magic of that wood and now that sound is one I seek. No review hear, just a simple statement of contentment. Now those weren`t the only flutes I aquired this summer. Thanks to Jessie I now have the pleasure of playing a Fred Rose flute in D. What a fine keyless flute this is. And yes it is a wild and crazy thing to play. It will rattle my windows or sneak quietly about. Real fun to play. Of course when I arrived here in Ketchikan back in April there was waiting for me a boxwood baroque flute from Luc. That is my biggest challange now. You see I am, shall we say, less then disaplined in my flute playing. The embouchure on Lucs` little jewell is totaly intollerent of my sloughenly ways and I must adobt a completely different mindset when I pick up his flute. But oh what a beautiful instrument. If you are tempted in the least to try a baroque flute do it. You will either fall in love or not, but you will have nothing to loose and everything to gain.
So now I have about a million flutes
and a ton of guilt in that I can`t get around to them all. My go to flute is still Mr. Dixons hunk of rosewood. In fact I took it with me a couple of weeks ago when I went south to pick up some of my stuff in Washington and found the most amazing bathroom ot play in. Holy smokes my ears are still ringing from that little session. But I have a few that need a better home so I will be going through my batch to see which ones I can live without. Well the sun has broken through here on a dismall Ketchikan day so I will have to go out and play. My first winter here. We shall see.
Take care
Tom
I don't know how I'd survive the months/years it takes to get some maker's flutes.