A vote for Ebonite!

[ajay]

I'm sure it isn't the one you lost, but here is a Fly Fishing reel for you, kfg.

X: 1
T: Fly Fishing, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Amaj
A2-|:AGEC D2 CD | EA,A,B, CD EC | DECE D2 CD | EAAc B2 cB |
AGEC D2 CD | EA,A,B, CD EC | DECE D2 CD | EA-AG A2 AB :|
|:c2 ec Acec|=Gcec F2 FE|DEFA dAFA|GBef edcB|
c2 ec Acec|=Gcec F2 FE|DEFA dAFA|GBAG A2 AB:||

:roll:

[Kevin L. Rietmann]

I had a toot on a Rudall Carte ebonite piccolo the other day, and was very pleased by its appearance. Pity its pads were leaking though. I'm going to offer to repad that mamajama myself! (J.B. in Portland Oregon, Terry)
Also I'm reading Rockstro's book. What a smartass! Wouldn't be surprised to find out if occasionally gentlemen demanded satisfaction from him. Or did he only mock the dead? Like this about Laurent's glass flutes: "A more innapropriate material could scarcely have been found. It possesses the single good quality of endurance - until broken."
Rockstro has nothing but good things to say about ebonite, though. Probably he owned a rubber plantation!

[clark]

Oh I'm so glad to hear about these Ebonite flutes. A local whistle player who is in her early 80's gave me (on loan) an Eb eight key flute that played wonderfully and had a greenish tint. She said it was her older brothers flute that he got when he was a kid in County Claire. She said it was a beat-up, old used thing when he got it in about 1925. I thought it must have been bakalite or some plastic precursor ...never heard of ebonite before.

I couldn't find any makers marks on it. It looks rather ratty with none of the lower keys working and the key springs a bit worse for wear; but it does play well down to its' bell note of Eb. Wonderful rich tone and great responsiveness.

Unfortunately she recently asked for the return of the instrument to loan out to somebody else. I miss it. What are these things worth? I want to make her a fair offer. If she turns me down then I think I'll be in the market for an Eb.

Clark

[Hiro Ringo]

Ebonite is heavy material? Heavier than delrin? Just wondering.

[RudallRose]

ebonite/bakelite is essentially vulcanized rubber with sulphur (ergo the greenish hue, from oxidation and interactive contact with our own body...er...juices......yet the inside of these things don't go green.....so I wonder how much is from daylight alone?)

it can be brittle.....
but it's strong....
and is a great performer when the flute is right.

[Kevin L. Rietmann]

It's used for the stems of smoking pipes a lot - the part you chew on. The piccolo I saw was nice and black, and didn't seem unduly heavy at all. Big holes on it, but didn't seem unduly loud though, and in a very echoey room.

[RudallRose]

an "unloud" piccolo.
hmmm
i'd probably ascribe the problem to the manufacture rather than the material.
my Hawkes ebonite is a boomer

[Kevin L. Rietmann]

Piccolo's no louder than you want it to, when they work properly.
I'm reminded of a very funny Saxaphone FAQ, somewhere on the Net, that describes the Sopranino Sax (a size smaller than the Soprano) as sounding "like an enraged hamster."

[Jayhawk]

Kevin - that's the best description of a sopranino sax I've ever heard!

Eric, ex-saxman

[david quinn]

David, i have the six key excelsior sonorous piccolo in ebonite and this plays itself. In my opinion ebonite is far superior to wood as the tone holes and embouchere always stay the same size roughly after the test of time. I have a Hawkes and son makers London CROWN A Z model piccolo in ebonite as well which has gone pretty green in colour and these two instruments play better than any cocus wood or blackwood flutes in my collection only downside is if it is a cold day and the instrument dropped it is liable to crack .

David