C flute recommendations

malanstevenson · Post by **malanstevenson** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 9:37 am

Hi folks,

I'm seeking some of your collective advice / experience / anecdotes concerning makers of keyless flutes in the key of C. I suppose they could be made in a Rudall-ish or Pratten-oid manner, yes? Or do the longer body and stretch necessitate a generally smaller-holed flute?

Any recommendations / thoughts would be muchly appreciated.

Cheers,
Mark

johnkerr · Post by **johnkerr** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 10:39 am

One of the nice things about C flutes is that you get much of the mellowness of a Bb flute while retaining much of the ease of playing and responsiveness of a D flute. So for instance I have a Patrick Olwell C flute that requires very little extra finger stretch over what my Olwell D flute does, and the hole sizes are pretty much the same. So I would say that if you can play a particular maker's D flute you would have no problem with their C flute - provided of course that you're not already at the absolute edge of your limit in being able to handle the D flute.

malanstevenson · Post by **malanstevenson** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 10:44 am

Thanks, John. I don't imagine I'd have trouble with any slight stretch, as I also play a C chanter and don't mind that at all. Olwell, hmmmmm.

By the way, forgot to mention feel free to PM if anyone would rather not post comments here.

malanstevenson · Post by **malanstevenson** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 10:51 am

By the way, if anyone has a C flute they'd consider for sale, trade, or some combination thereof, please let me know.

Caroluna · Post by **Caroluna** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 7:03 pm

I vaguely remember hearing this discussed before, so I did a search.
Of course I couldn't find the one I was vaguely remembering

but these
threads might be helpful--

http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php ... ley++flute
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php ... ley++flute

Terry McGee · Post by **Terry McGee** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 7:19 pm

Not a recommendation (would I dare?), but a point to consider. There are at least two approaches I'm aware of (there may well be more and it would be good to bring them out) to the design of a C flute.

Approach No 1 - keep the bore similar to a D flute, but extend the tube down to C pitch. Should result in a more reedy flute, favouring the harmonics over the fundamental.

Approach No 2 - scale up both bore and length. Depending on the degree to which each parameter is scaled up, you could end up with a flute about as round or reedy as your D flute, or even fuller toned (favouring the fundamental further over the harmonics).

Now it would be a brave person who claimed either approach was intrisically better (the word "better" in my mind always invites the question "better for what?"). But it's important to realise that both approaches are available. So in assessing the work of various makers, you should be able to discern what approach they have used, or you could enquire if in doubt. And of course, it requires you to think "which outcome would I prefer and why?".

Terry

Unseen122 · Post by **Unseen122** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 7:58 pm

Who made your D Flute? Are you perfectly happy with it? If you are have that maker make you one in C. They may even be willing to make a C body for your D flute. If the maker of your D Flute is decessed or doesn't make C Flutes why not look at what respectable makers make them. I can name some, obviously Terry makes them as does Pat Olwell, Casey Burns, Dave Copley, Mike Grinter, Hammy Hamilton, Skip Healy, and Chris Wilkes all make them. You can't really go wrong with any of those makers. If you choose one with a long wait you could always get a Tipple in C to hold you over. I have one and had one a couple years ago, the reach is kind of tough, but the tone is great.

clark · Post by **clark** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 7:02 am

I took the approach suggested above and asked Terry to make me a C as I was happy with the D he made me years ago. It was one of the first he did and there was a little tweeking of the head which he quickly dialed in for me. I've been very happy with it. It replaced a Sweet that had some intonation problems that I couldn't "lip" around, much to the chagrin of my band mates.

Clark

malanstevenson · Post by **malanstevenson** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 9:21 am

This board rocks. Thanks for all the advice, public and private, that I've received. Good point about just adding a C body to an existing flute. The problem is, I've not yet quite settled on 'the' D flute for me either. I've had a Grinter boxwood for a couple of years, and just acquired a Hammy, and am also enjoying my Lazyboy delrin Ward as the 'go to' flute that lies around the house. Methinks I lean more in the Pratten-esque direction, assertive sound with a stronger bottom end.

Terry, being a musical theory eedjit, I wouldn't know a fundamental if it poked me in the eye, but I think I'd like the sound of approach #2 you describe above, if in layman's terms that means a rich, deep tone (as opposed to more breathy/reedy). Another question springs to mind about adding a C body though - does the same head generally suit for both D and C bodies (one size fits all), or are there slight tweaks to the head ideally necessitated by a longer flute body (say, in terms of length, embouchure cut, etc.)?

Cheers all,
Mark

Terry McGee · Post by **Terry McGee** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 9:24 pm

malanstevenson wrote: Terry, being a musical theory eedjit, I wouldn't know a fundamental if it poked me in the eye, but I think I'd like the sound of approach #2 you describe above, if in layman's terms that means a rich, deep tone (as opposed to more breathy/reedy).

Exactly right. We struggle to find words to describe sound! I remember a particulalry rich sounding bass singer I know was described as "fruity".

Another question springs to mind about adding a C body though - does the same head generally suit for both D and C bodies (one size fits all), or are there slight tweaks to the head ideally necessitated by a longer flute body (say, in terms of length, embouchure cut, etc.)?

No, the big bore (rich'n'fruity) approach also requires a big bore head, so it rules out redeploying the relatively narrow-bored head from a typical D flute. Would work in a C/Bb combo.

Terry