boehm flute + wooden headjoint

dcopley · Post by **dcopley** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 9:36 am

No apologies necessary Cathy, and no offense taken. In fact I should thank you for mentioning Brian's flute in the first place and giving me the opportunity to sneak a stealth commercial posting in under the C&F radar!

Dave Copley
Loveland, Ohio

michael_coleman · Post by **michael_coleman** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 9:56 am

Jon C. wrote:
michael_coleman wrote:I had someone come by my office at work and saw the black and white pictures of people playing Irish flutes on my walls and she said she has always wanted to play Irish flute, but she plays boehm flutes. I suggested to contact Jon (since I love my flute made by him), but I also said there were others who made wooden headjoints for boehm flutes and that might be a route for her to go down. Does a wooden headjoint make that much of a difference to the sound of the flute?
I was worried that you might have gone over to the dark side! This talk of Boehm flutes and all...
Micheal, you will have to come by sometime and play all my antique flutes...

\

Yeah, no dark side for me...I love the old style flutes and the sound they produce...I don't think I'd ever consider going "silver".

I know I need to get down your way...you keep amassing all of these wonderful antique flutes. And its about time I play them. Are you back up from Washington? Maybe this Saturday might work out since my wife will be gone for most of the day and that way I can miss most traffic. Send me an email and let me know if that works.

tin tin · Post by **tin tin** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 10:12 am

During my Boehm days, I played a wood headjoint for a few years. Yes, it does sound different from silver, and it feels quite different to the player. In fact, a wood head on a silver body was the combination recommended by Herr Theobald Boehm himself.
But, as mentioned, it doesn't make a Boehm flute sound like a simple-system flute--that's more a function of the different bores, wall thicknesses, and tone-hole configurations than material.

jim stone · Post by **jim stone** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 10:30 am

I would be interested in seeing an unkeyed, conical,
simple system silver flute. I heard once that
M.Copeland an Jim R. were making a flute head
for their silver low D whistle, but nothing seems to
have come of the rumor.

Cathy Wilde · Post by **Cathy Wilde** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 10:40 am

dcopley wrote:No apologies necessary Cathy, and no offense taken. In fact I should thank you for mentioning Brian's flute in the first place and giving me the opportunity to sneak a stealth commercial posting in under the C&F radar!

Dave Copley
Loveland, Ohio

Hee-hee, it was all part of a ingeniously-constructed viral marketing plan.

Seriously ... thank you for being so generous to my fault, David.

chas · Post by **chas** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 10:49 am

michael_coleman wrote:
Jon C. wrote: I was worried that you might have gone over to the dark side! This talk of Boehm flutes and all...
Yeah, no dark side for me...I love the old style flutes and the sound they produce...I don't think I'd ever consider going "silver".

I seem to be headed in the opposite direction from going silver. First romantic flutes, now rococco. . . By the time I die, I'm sure I'll be back to the ulna bone of a giant sloth with a couple of holes bored into it by a piece of flint.

mitch_i · Post by **mitch_i** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 2:38 pm

I've found a less expensive alternative, the Grenaditte headjoint from Guo Musical Instrument Company in Taiwan. I tried this out and bought it for $300 at the recent convention of the National Flute Association.

http://cermet.flute.com.tw/product.php?mode=list&cid=57

It's a composite material, definitely not wood, but I think it has most of the playing qualities of wood. It has a much warmer and darker sound than the nice silver headjoint that came with my Sonare flute. And the first thing I noticed about it is that it's very responsive. I put it to my lips not knowing what to expect, and was surprised at how easy it was. If there's a weakness, it might be the sound and responsiveness in the third octave. Of course, it could be that I'm just getting used to it.

Mitch I.

Cathy Wilde · Post by **Cathy Wilde** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 9:00 am

Thanks for the info, Mitch. Whoa, those Cermet flutes on their website are wild! Did they have any of those at the convention, and did you try one? If so, what on earth did the key action feel like?

mitch_i · Post by **mitch_i** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 10:32 am

Cathy Wilde wrote:Thanks for the info, Mitch. Whoa, those Cermet flutes on their website are wild! Did they have any of those at the convention, and did you try one? If so, what on earth did the key action feel like?

This time they were only selling the headjoints, but at the Nashville convention two years ago they had the Cermet flutes. I don't remember the details, but I think the feel was very different, mostly lighter, but the sound wasn't dramatically different from a silver flute.

Mitch I.

daiv · Post by **daiv** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 9:52 pm

dcopley wrote:No apologies necessary Cathy, and no offense taken. In fact I should thank you for mentioning Brian's flute in the first place and giving me the opportunity to sneak a stealth commercial posting in under the C&F radar!

Dave Copley
Loveland, Ohio

i was going to contact you / him to ask if it was ok to mention it. but i hadnt the time. i'm glad you saw the link and corrected it! i wasnt sure if you wanted people to know, as it was a prototype.

i've been itching to try it. i havent seen my uncle since he got it

.

crookedtune · Post by **crookedtune** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 6:52 am

chas wrote: I seem to be headed in the opposite direction from going silver. First romantic flutes, now rococco. . . By the time I die, I'm sure I'll be back to the ulna bone of a giant sloth with a couple of holes bored into it by a piece of flint.

Hey buddy, wanna buy an avatar?

le_koukou · Post by **le_koukou** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 5:10 am

Why refering to the Boehm flute as being the "dark" side? Silver is bright and blackwood is dark. The Boehm tone is clear and bright, the conical flute tone is dirty and dark. Right Jedi?

jim stone · Post by **jim stone** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 6:29 am

Bright is dark, Grasshopper, dirty is bright,
which is why the Man of Complete Wisdom
plays the kazoo!

Dana · Post by **Dana** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 6:43 am

jim stone wrote:Bright is dark, Grasshopper, dirty is bright,
which is why the Man of Complete Wisdom
plays the kazoo!

Flyingcursor · Post by **Flyingcursor** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 6:06 pm

So my question is, why would you want one?

I'm interested because I've been thinking along similar lines but only because I think it's "cool".

Does it enhance response or does it provide a tonal quality better than a silver headjoint? If so does it apply to all types of music?