Flutes etc. Is it a saxophone, is it a flute ?

[rhysonsax]

Thanks to a thread on SOTW I found this really interesting design of flute headjoint, seemingly a bit like a recorder or a whistle. But the headjoint is bent to play the instrument in front, a bit like a saxophone.

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The maker in Germany told me about an eBay auction he was running and I was the high bidder on Friday, so it's on my way to me now.

A lot of years since I played the flute, but this looks like fun !

Rhys

 

[old git]

Tony Dixon of Devon has been producing keyless tubes with a choice of flute or whistle and sometimes both heads for quite a period. The best thing is that it would save us from the soprano players, well excepting Bechet.

A point of interest is that flutes either have a wedge or a non parallel bore head for tuning correction between octaves. Wonder if any provision is made with this whistle head?

 

[Clivey]

Wow. Is he producing these?.

If so could you link to him or the ebay add I would like to try this on my old Buescher There is a tonal difference but I think this would be a good compromise for the occasional Flautist .Session Stuff ODD Song ETC.

I`m presuming it`s kind of like a " Low Whistle " mouthpiece. I had to get rid of my Low D whistle as my Mitts were just too small. This would be great for me. Plus the added bonus of Proper fingering as opposed to all the Half holing as required on whistle:welldone

 

[rhysonsax]

Wow. Is he producing these?.

If so could you link to him or the ebay add I would like to try this on my old Buescher There is a tonal difference but I think this would be a good compromise for the occasional Flautist .Session Stuff ODD Song ETC.

His name is Martin Niethammer and this is his web page: http://www.martin-niethammer.de/

The eBay advert for the one I bought is: http://www.ebay.de/itm/120770811073

Hope that helps.

Rhys

PS I know that Milandro from the Caff has just bought one too.

 

[Gallen]

And here I was about to sell off my flute..... Guess I'll hold on to it - the concept is awesome!

 

[kevgermany]

There's also a guy in Japan doing something similar, called a shakalute:

http://www.shakuhachi.com/Q-Models-Headjoint.html

Worth digging around on the web for feedback, methinks.

 

[rhysonsax]

A point of interest is that flutes either have a wedge or a non parallel bore head for tuning correction between octaves. Wonder if any provision is made with this whistle head?

Martin makes this headjoint in both a bent and a straight configuration (that he calls a Fipple). On the Youtube video of the Fipple, a tuner is shown about 2 minutes in and the tuning looks/sounds pretty good, so I guess that he knows a good deal about tuning corrections.

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I thought that the arm reach looked a bit uncomfortable when using the straight headjoint, so went for the bent configuration.

Rhys

 

[Jules]

I wwant one of these! Rhys- can you give us a report when you've had a chance to test drive this peice of kit...

 

[Nick Wyver]

What's the advantage over a normal flute headjoint?

 

[rhysonsax]

What's the advantage over a normal flute headjoint?

I guess it's for a slightly different sound and particularly aimed at those very part-time players who don't have time to work on their flute embouchure.

Rhys

 

[jonf]

Want one. Don't know why, just want one.

 

[kevgermany]

I guess it's for a slightly different sound and particularly aimed at those very part-time players who don't have time to work on their flute embouchure.

Rhys

He says (in German) on Ebay that it's aimed at people who can't get a good embouchure on a normal flute. or if holdinng a normal flute caused problems with pain, or you want an Irish Low D that plays chromatically....

And a few other things... But you get the message.

 

[Gandalfe]

I have been interested in this for some time. The company that made my Shakalute is out of business now. As I listen to the videos in this thread, I am amazed because the players are so good. I never was able to get a great sound out of mine, but I didn't spend the requisite time on instrument I suppose. But the voicing between registers was more dicey than on a regular flute in my experience. Still, it is a way cool instrument that I hope to get into my rotation at least once in my life.

I blogged about some more flute oddities here: Comparing the Shakuhachi, Okuralo, and concert flutes

 

[Clivey]

Maybee the answer is to club together and get some for cafe members who fancy one. we`d get a better deal if we buy 10

 

[kevgermany]

Maybee the answer is to club together and get some for cafe members who fancy one. we`d get a better deal if we buy 10

Probably not at the moment. Somewhere he said the price of one would be more than twice what Rhys paid. But he was going to start series production, which'd bring the price down. When....

I showed this to my wife, she's interested as well.

 

[kevgermany]

Incidentally, I think he's calling both varieties fipple head joints, just one's straight and the other's bent.

I may well have learnt about the Shakalutes from your blog Gandalfe, not sure.

Certainly an interesting sound on these, somewhere between an Irish whistle and a flute and it certainly sounds as if the registers are nicely tuned. I didn't like the constant sucking to clear the 'condensation' out, though.

 

[old git]

Sorry to potentially give you more work Kev and Pete but aren't these aimed at those incapable of directing an accurate airstream at an edge? The two Franks, Wess and Foster, succeeded with just 'silver' instruments and the Sauter-Finnegan Orchestra existed without whistle windways.

Also the keyless or few keyed, definitely not "Irish" flutes, as they were standard pre-Böhm prior to their popularity in ITM, are chromatic, if you can be bothered to learn the fingering.

 

[BigMartin]

I've never tried playing the flute. One of the things which puts me off is the idea of having to stick your right elbow out at an angle for hours on end. This gadget looks more comfortable.

 

[old git]

I've never tried playing the flute. One of the things which puts me off is the idea of having to stick your right elbow out at an angle for hours on end. This gadget looks more comfortable.

One of the advantages of playing transverse flute, is that it strengthens the beer arm.

 

[Yanno]

Been told I had to learn the flute today at some point- now it seem's it's going to be easier than I thought...
Tell us how the head joint (fipple) works out and perhaps ill give the guy a ring...