Is this one from Pakistan?

[azw]

Kevin Jones, who made the bocote flute remade it for me in Delrin after the bocote developed a crack. The wood was probably too porous for use as a flute.

The new flute was Kevin's first time working in Delrin, but it turned out pretty nice. As I recall, Kevin said me that he prefers the sound quality of his wooden flutes to the Delrin he made me.

I use it as a practice flute and enjoy it for that. I prefer to play other flutes when in sessions. It's not as loud as other flutes I have, it's not as consistent up and down the scale (in terms of loudness), and it requires a more precise embouchure than my other flutes. (I see that last issue as an advantage for my practicing.)

I asked Grey Larsen play it recently. He only played it for a few seconds, but it was obvious that he wasn't impressed. He said that it was "hard to find the sweet spot" on the lower end. He's right: D, E, F are weaker. The upper end sounds very nice. Grey talked about possible embouchure problems, but said he didn't know enough about making an embouchure to say more.

Anyway, Kevin has a new flute on eBay made with cocobolo:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... TQ:US:1123
He's used Delrin for the joints and added silver ferrules. It looks pretty nice. Kevin told me that he's very pleased with this one, but he didn't compare it in terms of sound quality. If anyone wants to get to know Kevin's flutes, this one seems to be going very cheaply.

(Feadoggie, I sure hope that doesn't blow another of your bids!)

[Sigurthr]

Hey everyone, I would have never found this thread if Kkrell hadn't linked to it when recent discussion had arisen.

I have one of Kevin's Cocobolo low D w/ Brass Ferrules flutes and I am VERY pleased with it. I am primarily a Boehm flute player though so I may not be looking at it from the same perspective of those who are used to say a R&R.

My Findings:
First off I find the embouchure cut on this flute exceptionally easy to work with, it's sweet spot is "large" enough to be called a sweet "zone". From the first day I played it I could play up to D''' without any issue and with good solid tone. It is what I would call a medium volume flute, quieter than my Tipple. The timbre of this flute is more close to that of a Baroque 1-key than a typical "Irish" Flute. Softer and more sweet, less reedy and loud. It takes very well to fingered and half-holed versions of Cnat (mostly OXX OOO, but even OXO OOO for fast passages works well) where as on my Tipple I have to OXX XOO for Cnat to be in tune. Bb plays great with no loss in power by half-holing, I haven't tried the cross fingering for it though. It will not play Eb' but will play Eb'', I would love a 1keyed version of Kevin's flutes to make it completely chromatic. Fnat half-holed is slightly weaker than F# but not terribly so, and it comes out easily enough, you don't have to fight it. Ab half-holed works about equally as well. I haven't tried most of the cross fingerings because I really don't know them - being a Boehm player that shouldn't be a surprise haha. Low E is not weaker than D which is something I really like. I tried a few keyless flutes before and the low E's were always very weak. Low D E and F are strong and solid, which is nice as well. I would still say the flute performs best in the range of A' to D''' but again, I mostly play Baroque music and I seek a slightly different tone. Intonation is spot on all the way throughout the range, octaves are within a few cents of each other and the flute is spot on A440. The male tenon on the headjoint is an externally reinforced section of bore which has been widened so that when the brass male tenon is installed it is flush against the rest of the bore. The male tenon is thread wound and inserts into a wooden female end which is also reinforced externally. The joint is very solid and secure, it does not flex, wobble, or creak. I can extend the headjoint out about 1/4" without any noticeable disruption of tone or intonation but have not needed to try and further. The finger stretch is quite comfortable for me, on both hands, I use mostly classical grip as L3 and R3 are the only holes "pipered". The flute is cocobolo so it takes quite a lot of oil at first to become saturated, especially the body section. The bore has a matte type finish, it feels smooth to the skin, I am not qualified to determine how finely of a matte finish it is though. It is a good thing I have not needed to move the stopper because I can't figure out how to. It almost looks like the stopper and crown are one, and it is so tightly in place I have not wanted to exert enough force to see if it is indeed immobile or just stuck.

Overall I am very happy with it, I wish it was available in Keyed versions even if only one key for Eb. I am still on the beginner side of thins but not a true beginner, and I don't play a lot of ITM, so take my findings based on that. I can say it is the easiest embouchure I have ever played on now. I have to play around with the Tipple to get my embouchure back "in line" with it before I can actually start playing away on it. My Boehm's embouchure I am very used to but even that I find myself slipping out of the sweet spot now and then. I rarely ever have this issue on my KDJ. I definitely prefer it over my Tipple in both terms of sound and playability (and I really really like my Tipple!), but being a wooden flute it requires so much more care and consideration than a PVC one... so I still need and play both of them. Because of the great embouchure I would have to say it is beginner friendly for sure, as long as you can reach the holes of course! One last thing to note, I use a frowning embouchure, and this flute does really not take kindly to a smiling embouchure from what I have seen. A fellow flutist who uses a smiling embouchure tried it and had a world of trouble. I prefer the frowning embouchure naturally anyway, besides, The Smiling Embouchure Really is NO Good.

When I receive my C Fife (which again is not a fife but a piccolo as it has a conical bore and is exactly same as his flutes but an octave up (minor seventh in the case of the C)) I will report on it and the custom case I had Kevin make for me.

[azw]

To get to the stopper, you'll probably have to twist off the end cap. If it's like mine, it's a very tight fit. I did move mine and got a bit better sound.

I hadn't considered the possibility that Kevin wasn't going for an Irish flute sound. Maybe that's why the volume is lower.