Flutes etc. help identify this old flute please

Pete Thomas

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A very good friend has inherited this from her dad. I can find no makers name anywhere. It plays OK but needs the headjoint pulled out a lot (see pics) so possibly high pitch. However I read somewhere that high pitch is not an issue for your typical Irish flute player for whom I guess this may be ideal.

Any way, can somebody tell me anything about this, possible maker or what the fingering system is called or what it might be worth so I can brief my friend on how to describe it if she puts it on ebay.

I would say that although it plays OKish, it needs a good seeing to but no damage to keys and quite simple to fix the pads etc. I would think.

flute-1.jpg


flute-2.jpg


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flute-4.jpg


Thanks for any info.
 
milandro;2269029 said:
There are other and more expert flute connoisseurs but, as you know, I like buying and selling things and in the corse of this I have learned that flutes like these are very complicated to value while they are relatively easy to find ( although often in bad state and very often they have cracks).

This is definitely nicer than most with the metal lipplate.

Unfortunately the lack of a brandname is going to affect its value because collectors are after particular makers and if the keys are not hallmarked they are probably not made of silver another sign of a not particularly good maker.

Probably worth something in the region of 200£ as is and a bit more if restored.
milandro;2269051 said:
I am not sure that this is what a modern “ Irish” flute player would use. I think this flute might be of a German Design.

Here you probably find people with some in depth expertise about these things

http://forums.chiffandfipple.com
 
I think that your friend’s flute was made in the time when the German ( actually the majority would have been Bohemian) musical instruments were almost the equivalent of the Chinese instruments now.
 
possibly a military band instrument - I can't find anything definite in Baines' "Woodwind Instruments And Their History" yet, maybe there's something similar on the Hornimann museum website

If that's how far you have to pull the head out, it may well be high pitch, my friend has to pull out that far on his high pitch Rudall Carte. If you're finding it a real struggle to get the intonation right with the head joint pulled out, then it may well be HP.
Baines suggests 3/4 of an inch and a lot of embouchure adjustment for high pitch flutes.
 
Most flutes used in the Folk/Morris/Irish world, only have keys on the "foot" end. All other holes are sealed by finger tips or piper's grip techniques. The other item that might help is to investigate whether it is parallel or conical bore? There was a battle between makers to provide a louder flute before the Boehm/Böhm system won.

If anyone plays an Albert System clarinet, is there any resemblance?

Apologies for being serious.
 
Not sure if I'm adding anything.

Assuming it's about the same length as a modern C flute, you should be able to make a stab at pitch by comparing distance between tone hole centres for equivalent notes.

Looks like a good quality 19th century pre Boehm flute. There are pics of something very similar from Markneukirchen if you Google 'querflöte holz', just concentrate on images. Metal end ferrules indicate military/band type design.

You might also search for 'querpfeife holz', this will bring up images of the old military fife's which are also very similar.

High pitch very likely (but which standard?).

To answer OG, key design similar to Clarinets, but the layout is more like an extended simple flute.

Pete, are you sure there's no makers stamp? These are often faint and hard to find
 
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these earlier flutes are almost all conical. Mostly made in Germany of Bohemia, were kept in the catalogues even when the more expensive, cylindrical, Böhm flutes were already almost universally adopted .
 
It looks like the fife or marching flute I used to play, although the mouthpiece was wood or plasti/rubber as per the rest of the instrument - it would then be in the key of Bb.

Although I expect you have the answer by now!
 

Similar threads... or are they? Maybe not but they could be worth reading anyway 😀

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