15 pound flute (Pakistani)

[dunnp]

Hello Folks,

So I was in a charity shop and came across a flute in a roll case.
It appears to be a 'rosewood' Pakistani Pratten.
No marks or indication of origin.
The thing is it plays pretty well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW_NGfeYc0g

I was a bit hesitant to post this as I don't want to send beginners off to
Purchase these flutes. But I have to say it is an okay flute.

It appears to be different than the q1 trader Jem posted about. I mean it that
is finished better in bore and tone holes and the Embouchure is undercut a bit.
Anyone else have a playable Pakistani made flute?
Are they getting better?
I almost want to buy another random one on eBay just to see.
Was the bad reputation based solely on the wide banded combi foot ones I still see
in tourist shops on Argyle Street?

There is also the chance that this one was 'finished up' over here by someone or some shop

[dunnp]

I should say Jem has posted about a few over the years that he has worked on.

Also in the same shop I got a great playing old Bb generation for 2 quid.

[kkrell]

I had purchased an old one off eBay that appeared to one Lark in the Morning had imported, and it was decent, a better player than some Nach Meyer flutes. This was some years ago, though, and the flute itself was perhaps another 10-20 years old already. Passed it on to a forum member until they could get (or make) something better.

[jemtheflute]

I currently have 3 or 4 wooden ones I have picked up cheap awaiting attention. All are more solid than the Q1T, but have similar issues in that the bore and tone-hole finish is, well, unfinished. But all of them have way oversize, very crude embouchures. They play after a fashion, sufficient to establish they're in tune/properly scaled. But the embouchures are far too large to rework. My plan, when I get a chance, is to bush the embouchures and recut from scratch. They'll make decent starter flutes then.

[2T00TS]

I have mixed feelings about flutes from this part of the world. On the one hand I can't help feeling dismayed about the shameful waste of scant exotic hardwoods. On the other I feel a sense of relief that they are often so poorly finished, as I dread to think of the immense damage it would do to business for artisan/individual flute makers at entry level, should they be made otherwise. As things stand, their whole approach to flute making seems incredibly futile.

[Nanohedron]

As things stand, their whole approach to flute making seems incredibly futile.

Not to put too fine a point on it ... they're not about making flutes; they're about making money by selling whatever. Apparently enough people are buying these flutes or we'd have seen that product line fizzle out long ago, I expect.

[2T00TS]

If the factories over there ever get a grip on quality control, they might just repeat what the Japanese did to western guitar companies in the 1970's. A worrying prospect for some.

[Nanohedron]

Somehow I don't think they're interested. It can be no secret to them that circles like ours warn against their products; one feller from one of those companies actually signed on in full identity for a brief while to say his piece or get the lay of the land, I don't recall. Probably both. But despite the excitement this unexpected appearance no doubt caused, everyone was very civil considering how frank the doughty Chiffside was with their opinions (made me proud of you smart folks, it did), and it seemed a draw in the end with converts on neither side. That's why I think if the cost/benefit ratio made sense for them they could just as well make and sell paperclips. But they do have lathes, and Sialkot has been a hub of bagpipe making since the Colonial Era, so flutes, such as they are, aren't a stretch. As long as they're bringing in the money, is the thing.

[2T00TS]

Guess you have a good point there. If only they manufactured exclusively in polymers - it would not seem such a waste !

[Nanohedron]

Indeed.

[monoRAIL]

This looks and sounds like the Rosewood 'beginners flute' that Rory McNeela sells:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXBhOlVJ0wE



I talked to him on the phone and he said they're made in China and 'finished' by him in Dublin. Finishing them means checking they're actually in tune, and then giving them plenty of oil.

[dunnp]

I did think that there was a possibility this one was imported by a shop "tuned up."

I would guess you're spot on monorail. I was trying to remember Roy's name when thinking of shops that would have done it.

The case looks like the one that comes with "Lark" flutes though being a not great "roll" case.

[Nanohedron]

This looks and sounds like the Rosewood 'beginners flute' that Rory McNeela sells:
........................
I talked to him on the phone and he said they're made in China and 'finished' by him in Dublin. Finishing them means checking they're actually in tune, and then giving them plenty of oil.

Far and away a better-sounding stick than what you risk straight out of Sialkot. I didn't know the Chinese were industrially making trad flutes too, but now that I know, I'm hardly surprised. Do you know, monoRAIL, whether McNeela commissions these "raw" flutes according to spec, or does he just buy them because the Chinese product typically favors the smaller embouchure?

[dunnp]

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.vi ... 1545089659

This looks very similar

[dunnp]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5r3lTHUyOlU