Full Rudall (on ebay)

[Steampacket]

Do "high pitch" Rudalls have any practical use as regards Irish traditional music? I'm thinking in a session situation, or being played together with more or less fixed tuned instruments such as concertinas, boxes, uilleann pipes in D. Is it possible to blow certain notes into tune with A at 440, or is it too much bother.

I suppose they are nice enough to own as objects of fine craftsmanship, and they have a historic and investment value of course for collectors, and for people who use them as period instruments in other genres.

I can see a high pitched Rudall would work as a solo instrument, or for playing at home, or together with a fiddle or another high pitched Rudall and of course string accompaniement in a group setting.

[MarkP]

Well, as everyone and their dog is apparently now 'watching' #6974, I guess it will go out of most of our price brackets and I might as well share what I know from the seller and save him a few emails, as he hasn't published the following part of the answer....

"The flute appears to have the same stamps through all sections i.e rudall carte & co. london with a crown one section has their address as well. I did notice the difference in colour but put this down to rosewood being very variable. also the photos seem to have amplified this the lighter sections catching the light."

As for the pitch/tuning or the German silver...who's to say?

PS. for those breaking their Ebay contracts by offering cash to buy offline (and you know who you are gentlemen ), I'm advised it will definitely go to the hammer, so I guess it will go high and we'll all be left goggling as usual

Happy bidding

[benhall.1]

PS. for those breaking their Ebay contracts by offering cash to buy offline (and you know who you are gentlemen ), I'm advised it will definitely go to the hammer, so I guess it will go high and we'll all be left goggling as usual

Maybe, Mark. But I get the impression with these e-Bay auctions, that, when the item is poorly described and with insufficient detail, as here, it often seems not to reach what I'd expect.

The keys look silver to me, but I bet the pitch is high, and there's no way of knowing unless a decent flute player has a go on it.

IOW, the more uncertainty left in the auction, the lower proportion of true value will be realised. Stanza raisin.

[MarkP]

you're the nearest, fancy a drive to Swansea and let us know how it plays?

[Jon C.]

Looks like silver keys to me too. Pulling out the slide to 1" shouldn't be a problem in playability. Sometimes the flute will develop a "burble" on the lower notes, do to the perturbation in the barrel by the full extentionof the slide.

[Gabriel]

I'm very sure the that keys are real silver, not nickel. You would expect to see greenish spots of oxidation, quite likely in the key slots and not so much on the keys themselves, which comes from the copper part of nickel silver. The rest just gets dull, like brass, just "silver". Real silver tarnishes everywere and builds up a grey-black layer of silver oxide, which is what we see on the photos. I have seen a few photos of #6xxx Rudalls recently and all flutes with claw were sterling, without claw nickel silver.

[jemtheflute]

Ok, said my photo-measuring was unreliable...
Vendor of #7103 gives C#-Eb as 248mm, which is better news for potential bidders, though still leaves some risk that it will be happiest rather sharp of 440. Body scaling may be fairly ok, but head will still be on the short side. Pending response from Abertawe on t'other one....

[Jon C.]

Ok, said my photo-measuring was unreliable...
Vendor of #7103 gives C#-Eb as 248mm, which is better news for potential bidders, though still leaves some risk that it will be happiest rather sharp of 440. Body scaling may be fairly ok, but head will still be on the short side. Pending response from Abertawe on t'other one....

Ya, the #7000 flutes have no flat foot, but the head to C# hole is a little short.

[benhall.1]

you're the nearest, fancy a drive to Swansea and let us know how it plays?

If you meant me, I might have taken you up ... except that I can't drive at the moment, and unlikely to be able to do so before Christmas. Bloody frustrating it is.

[jemtheflute]

#6974 vendor says sounding length 563mm, C sharp to E flat 247mm. Near as dammit the same as #7103. Also fairly sure keys are sterling.

[Thalatta]

Regarding the keys: sterling, or German silver? It can "look" like silver but be German silver. Presumably you've all seen this on Terry's website (a "Very late Rudall Carte, no 7120") http://www.mcgee-flutes.com/7120.htm
Also, I remeber this seller sold, on Ebay, a "Rudall (Rose?) Carte, 100 Bond St London" two years ago, with German silver keys, for over 3000 pounds I believe!

[jemtheflute]

Indeed, Shane, though the current two appear to have somewhat longer scaling than #7120.
As for previous sales, we've discussed enough recently the vagaries of the market! We shall see.

[radcliff]

and of course the man know how to give an intresting price even with just half flute!

and the half R&R is gone as I said....
intresting piece, I had a brief tought on it too...

[Steampacket]

Just one bid on the Olwell half-Rudall and it went for 918.83 sterling (1450 USD) - Cheap for such an interesting piece in such pristine condition and with the original box. I wonder what the bottom half and keys would cost, 1500 sterling? If so then a very nice virtually unplayed 8 key for 2500!!!
If the Olwells don't have time then I'd ask if Chris Wilkes would consider making a bottom end if when he has time

I wonder why the Olwells never made up the bottom half under all those years they had the flute, prehaps too much work/orders to be completed and they also need leisure time, I can understand that. Well good luck with the new workshop

[Thalatta]

Wow, the Rudall Carte didn't sell. I was watching it till the last second (I have SOME freetime), but no bids. Interesting. Maybe someone made an offer behind the scenes, or there's a problem with it?