jemtheflute wrote:(NB It appears I posted the measurements of the one against the address of the other in that other thread - ooops! Correct here.)
WRONG!
Well, I've now been able to check the 3 Metzlers I've mentioned in the flesh.... and the first thing to say is I was wrong about which measurements belonged to which flute in my post up-thread - I got them the right way round in the other, older thread I borrowed them from.
The "classic" Liddle-keyed one is the one with the "Metzler London" stamp and the ?later?, Frenchified one is the one with the "Metzler & Co. 37 Great Marlborough St." main stamp.
Here are the comparative dimensions again (
definitely correctly attributed!!!) - with some minor remeasurement corrections (sorry if that garbles any stuff you've used 'em for, Terry....) and including the third flute (belonging to my friend), also with the "Metzler & Co. 37 Great Marlborough St." stamp and two definitely "A.L" stamped keys (plus 3 "possibles") - another classic Liddle/Metzler flute. I have added in 3 extra measurements of tone-hole spacing chiefly to try to illustrate the site of one major discrepancy between the two Liddle-keyed flutes in particular, which will be apparent in the photos which follow.
Key: OL = Overall Length; SL = Sounding Length; Em-BE = centre of embouchure to lower end of barrel, slide closed; the rest should be obvious - hole-centre to hole-centre. The last three columns are: GHz = Hz reading for G with slide closed; G-SE = Slide Extension to obtain a G tuned to 392Hz (A=440); HS= (subjective) Hole Size, where S = small (very small, like French style), SM = Small Medium (R&R smaller style), LM = Large Medium (R&R larger style) and L = Large (Pratten style).
Code: Select all
Maker Address OL SL Em-BE Em-C# C#-E C#-Eb Eb-end GHz G-SE HS C#-A A-G G-E
Metzler (A.L) London 660 570 155 215 194 250 105 408 15 L 69 55 68
Metzler & Co. (A.L) 37 Great Marlborough St. 659 581 151 217 198 252 111 N/A N/A L 69 59 68
Metzler & Co. (Fr?) 37 Great Marlborough St. 671 590 158 220 198 260 112 398 6 SM 69 61 68
Here are some comparative photos of the two Liddle-keyed Metzlers. (Sorry, they aren't brilliant photography! - done on pool table in pub during session.....) In all these shots, the flute at the top is my shorter-scaled one and the one at the bottom my friend's longer-scaled one. Note that they have near-identical overall lengths! (Much of the difference is in the "dead" space on the stopper side of the embouchure, but the body and foot joints of my friend's one are all just a little longer than mine. His has a notably flat G, otherwise decent intonation with moderate flat foot. Mine has a very sharp E (hence the wax), otherwise decent intonation, not much flat foot.
I didn't try to photograph the maker stamps on the wood, but my friend's has the full "Metzler & Co. 37 Great Marlborough St. London" stamp on the barrel and foot and the head and both body sections have just "Metzler & Co." Mine has just "Metzler London" on head, barrel and upper body, nothing at all on lower body and foot.
The shots of the flutes full length are with them lined up at different points - see captions. Obviously the fish-eye curvature effect of the lense makes true positional comparisons impossible, especially away from the centre of the shot, but I still think one can see the point I was trying to illustrate:
Aligned at the embouchure
Aligned at the C# hole (L1)
Aligned at the E hole (R3)
Aligned at the foot end
The heads & barrels (non-original crown on top flute), aligned at the barrel ends
The assembled bodies, aligned at the upper body shoulders (I think...)
Detail of the tone-holes
The upper bodies, aligned at the top shoulder
The lower bodies, aligned at the socket rims
Foot joints, aligned at the socket rims (4 shots) and showing comparative details of the keys
Aligned at the foot ends
Shots comparing the keys of the body joints
Note the distinctive Liddle assymmetrical Eb keys
The "A.L" stamp on the touch of the long C key of my friend's flute - it is complete and a nice clear example, but necessarily obscured by the buffer cork
Here are some other shots of the key stamps on this flute (The 37 Gt Marlborough St one) taken in a hurry and badly lit when I had it stripped down for overhaul a couple of years back:
The long F key...............................................The C key
Possible vestigial stamps - they may only be casting blemishes.tool marks.....
on the Eb key................................................the Bb key...................and the G# key
The whole set of keys
The barrel and foot stamps with the address....
....and the other three "Metzler & Co. London" stamps on the head and the body sections
And here are the key and body stamps of my "#054" "Metzler London" - again, rubbish photography, sorry!
Keys - definite stamps on the long C and Bb keys, possible faint "A"s visible on the low C and Eb touches
Maker stamps on barrel, head and upper body
OK. Now for the other, rather different one. First, a written description, then some (rather better quality
) photos.
It is a cocuswood and German Silver (
maillechort) 8-key simple system concert flute stamped "Metzler & Co. 37 Great Marlborough St. London" on the barrel and "Metzler & Co. London" on all other joints. The flute has been fitted with modern clarinet pads and is playable, but is in need of cleaning and further work.
The moderately broad ferrule rings are chased or stamped with a simple geometric pattern. The head is only part-lined and the apparently copper tube has the remains of silver plating inside and out. The barrel has a sterling silver sleeve fitted over the copper liner for the protruding part and the interior also has a residue of silvering. There are crudely (?Araldite or similar?) glue-repaired cracks in the barrel and in the lower body and foot sockets. The crown is not original (looks home-made) and does not attach or belong to the stopper mechanism, which may also not be original, being very much like a modern Böhm stopper - metal face plate on a threaded rod with a metal disc at the other end securing the cork in place.
The salt-spoon style keys are pillar mounted and the pivots are of the screw (into the far pillar) type, not just push-pins. The points of the key-arms extend about ⅔ of the way across the cups (rather further than the c ⅖ across Liddle type!). The Eb touch is quite symmetrical and tear-drop-shaped like those of the other short keys, also not Liddle-esque. The grasshopper low C# and C keys have padded cups, not pewter plugs, but quite narrow hockey-stick touches in a style somewhat reminiscent of earlier times than most of the other features. All the leaf springs are steel, attached to the keys by steel through-rivets (double rivets on the low C# & C touches) (not by sprue rivets) and their working ends rest on grooved rectangular GS inserts in the body. I have not as yet removed, stripped and cleaned the keys, but I cannot see any probable trace of any stamps on their undersides. The keys and other aspects of the flute seem to me very French-influenced (bar the spring rivets – the French usually used screws), perhaps suggesting production by an émigré craftsman.
The flute seems as-is to play at A=440 with only a small slide extension and with generally good intonation, though it does have a noticeably flat foot.
Assembled flute
Disassembled flute
The stamps
Detail of barrel stamp (main, full text)
One of the other stamps
The decorated rings (except for foot terminal)
The keys
Profile of long F key (see Terry's comments above about the change in design...)
Detail of long C key spring etc.
Detail of long F key spring etc.
Long C and F keys showing the through-rivets on the outer sides of the key-shanks
Foot keys showing double spring rivetting on C#/C shanks
Undersides of foot keys showing spring rivetting etc.
Terry, feel free to harvest/make use of any of this.
