Underrated Flute Makers?

Unseen122 · Post by **Unseen122** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 5:32 pm

So what do you think is the best Flute maker that rarely gets mentioned here? I would have to say Phil Bleazey, we have all heard of him, but only a couple of us (Chas, Mr. Nate[usually lurks I think], and Myself) play his Flutes, I love mine and the price is not bad at all.

toddyboy50 · Post by **toddyboy50** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 10:36 pm

I'll put a vote in for Dominic Allan, who is almost never mentioned, yet makes excellent flutes - Tod

claudine · Post by **claudine** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 1:25 am

I agree with Toddyboy - Dominic makes fine flutes. I have a small bore flute made of boxwood & artificial ivory and have just ordered a Pratten style flute in leadwood.

Jon C. · Post by **Jon C.** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 2:00 am

I would have to say Chris Wilkes.
http://www.treeshark.com/wilkes.html

Henke · Post by **Henke** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 2:29 am

Jon C. wrote:I would have to say Chris Wilkes.
http://www.treeshark.com/wilkes.html

The man's got a 10 years waitlist

I'd hardly say underrated. Maybe not mentioned too often though.

GaryKelly · Post by **GaryKelly** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 2:35 am

I don't think Mr Wilkes is under-rated at all, his waiting list speaks for itself.

I have a Bleazey and an Allan (Eb), also a Bb by Carl Bell, but then I'm in the UK where all of the aforementioned reside. Phil Bleazey, for example, is very active in the Folk Festival season here, and sells a great many flutes at those events as well as by mail order.

I suspect that Unseen's perception of such makers being "underrated" is purely an American perspective.

Tchie · Post by **Tchie** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 4:34 am

I shall say "Stéphane Morvan" in Brittany. My new flute is made by him. I heared of his flute for the first time when JM Veillon gave me kindly his phone number. (I have small hand)

He does not want his flute be famous and will have more than 2 years waiting list. Thus there are very few people own the flute.

He uses same wood as Aebi's (his friend) and the flute looks very similar to Wilkes' flute. He can modify the length of keys etc so I am very satisfied and very fond of the sounds.

bayswater · Post by **bayswater** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 4:58 am

Henke wrote:
Jon C. wrote:I would have to say Chris Wilkes.
http://www.treeshark.com/wilkes.html
The man's got a 10 years waitlist
I'd hardly say underrated. Maybe not mentioned too often though.

I wonder why he doesn't hire extra people, train them and start to make more flutes - demand and supply, you know?! A 10 year waiting list seems ridiculous

Is it because if the flute isn't made by the man himself it's not really a Wilkes, or...? I'm just curious...

They sure look nice, though!

johnkerr · Post by **johnkerr** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 6:36 am

IMHO the most under-rated flute maker of all is Mr. Pervez Pakistani. The guy gets nothing but bad press (there's even a sticky at the top of this very forum slamming his flutes) yet still he manages to stay in business, selling and marketing his flutes worldwide. The guy has staying power. Of course, having his workshop in a cave and renting out the back den to Osama helps keep his expenses way down, letting him keep his Pakistani (TM) brand flutes cheaper than all the rest. But really, no other flute maker has done so much with so little support from the wooden flute community. He's prospering in spite of it all - give the man his props!

GaryKelly · Post by **GaryKelly** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 6:42 am

johnkerr wrote:He's prospering in spite of it all - give the man his props!

Yeah, but he's facing some stiff competition from India now, and when the Chinese come on stream he'll either have to outsource or fold. A Wilkes would definitely be a better investment for your portfolio

Loren · Post by **Loren** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 8:15 am

bayswater wrote:
Henke wrote:
Jon C. wrote:I would have to say Chris Wilkes.
http://www.treeshark.com/wilkes.html
The man's got a 10 years waitlist
I'd hardly say underrated. Maybe not mentioned too often though.
I wonder why he doesn't hire extra people, train them and start to make more flutes - demand and supply, you know?! A 10 year waiting list seems ridiculous Is it because if the flute isn't made by the man himself it's not really a Wilkes, or...? I'm just curious... They sure look nice, though!

I can't speak for Mr. Wilkes, I've never met or talked to the man, but I can hazard a few guesses based on my own experience:

When one is an extreme perfectionist, it becomes quite difficult to find shop help that can meet one's standards and expectations. Particularly in such a low paying "industry" as folk flute making. Not many people in this day and age are willing to work for years, at a very low wage, in order learn a craft, particularly when a few thousand dollars will buy you the tooling necessary to simply crank out a bunch of instruments mediocre enough to fool many people into believing you have some idea what you're doing.

Mr. Wilkes obviously sets the highest standards for his work, and I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he simply hasn't found shop help that can meet his expectations, and are willing to make the sacrifices necessary to apprentice for any length of time. (Having one or more children to press into service helps,lol) Or, perhaps Chris just prefers to work alone - nothing wrong with that.

Either way, there's also the issue of methodology: Mr. Wilkes has a reputation for preferring handwork, as opposed to CNC and the like. Both have their advantages, but clearly, if you're going to do virtually everything by hand, then the work is going to take longer. (Does anyone know for certain if Chris is mostly hand forging his keys these days, or doing primarily cast?)

At any rate, while it seems (on the surface) simple enough to just hire some extra help, the reality is that it's not so simple, and even when you do find people willing to make the sacrifices, that doesn't mean they will have what it takes to do the job well, it's not the sort of work that everyone is suited for, both physically and mentally.

Loren

Henke · Post by **Henke** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 8:36 am

Loren, I recall talking to our exciled flutemaster Andrew about Mr. Wilkes many months ago. I don't remember so much, but I think Andrew said that Wilkes does in fact make almost everything by hand, including the keys. There are not that many makers as one is lead to believe that acctually makes their keys themselves at all (from another reliable source. Cheers

), let alone hand forge them.
On top of that, Chris also does lots of restauration work. I think he has restored large parts of Andrews own collection.
Anyway, I've never talked to or met the man eighter but he seems like a great fellow and a genuine craftsman.
I think you're spot on about why he doesn't hire help as well. I think he's more of a perfectionist than anyone around. I've heard that he won't let a flute out of his shop if it has the slightest little scratch to a key.

(Sorry, lots of "I think, "I've heard", and "I think I remember", I'm not really sure of any of this. Most of it is hearsay, so don't quote me)

Nicolas-France · Post by **Nicolas-France** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 8:56 am

Actualy, Chris does not only make his keys, he forges them, which is beaucoup plus
de work than casting the keys, it produces much more strudy keys, also nicer looking.
As to why Chris does not take an apprentice, why would he? Nice life, work for another
10 or so years, no worries as to quality/training etc....Not every one wants to be Billly the Gates.
A question to the wises, are Rudall keys forged or cast?

Nicolas

Loren · Post by **Loren** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 9:16 am

Yeah, good point about training, it does take a considerable amount of time up front, particularly if the person to be trained has no prior experience, and your working method is mostly handwork.

Plus you have all sorts of additional time and money spent with labor (law and financial) related issues.

I had heard that Chris was doing all hand forged keys now (he used to do cast keys years ago), but hadn't been able to confirm.

Also a good point about restoration work, that certainly takes time away from production as well.

Still, kudos to Mr. Wilkes for doing what he wants, when he wants, regardless of the pressure to produce more instruments - there's much to be said for living one's life exactly the way one wants to.

Loren

Wormdiet · Post by **Wormdiet** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 9:16 am

Ya don;t hear a lot on this boad about Copeland flutes, which is odd because

1) He's been at it for decades and

2) He has a website.

I have no real experience with his work other than that one of my local session buddies has one. He makes it sound great.