Flute Photos!!! Come post your flute pictures :)

[LorenzoFlute]

hey jon, IT'S NOT FAIR!!! i really think you can give me one of you flutes as a gift
great collection anyway, you're a lucky guy

[Jon C.]

Thanks guys. Guess that deals with that issue.

Yes, the low C#, C and B keys have pewter plugs - not very common on German (in the broadest sense of the term - this is a German looking, Italian version of an Austrian design..... ) style flutes - guess the Italians must have liked them. They are rather fun with their little "coolies hat" German Silver tops - and they work very well too, and are less clacky than many pewter-plug keys (like my R&R's!).

Looks great! I should send you my flutes to buff out..
The detail of the allignment dots is a nice touch. And you can get that low Bb to sound, is a feat in it's self. They must have had bigger fingers back then... It is strange that the French and Germans went for the non locking foot keys, they are a bear to press, and keep the F# and E hole covered.

[jemtheflute]

And you can get that low Bb to sound, is a feat in it's self. They must have had bigger fingers back then... It is strange that the French and Germans went for the non locking foot keys, they are a bear to press, and keep the F# and E hole covered.

Actually, Jon, I had to do very little to this flute - it was my first eBay flute purchase, too (after an RC ebonite piccolo). The head and barrel crack fills, whilst not a beautiful job or what I'd have done, are adequate so I left well alone. I repadded, buffer corked and adjusted the keys to get them in alignments and rises that I liked, but only polished them with a "silver cloth" - they're looking in need of a good buff again now, really, 18 months on. There is also a stable, untreated crack over the lower body socket under the longF/lowB touches to one of the pillars which I have left alone.

I believe the French and Germans chose non-interlocked C/C# foot keys, especially on B feet, because they used 3rd octave fingerings that made use of them independently - harmonic series notes based from those low fundamentals - have a look through Rick Wilson's composite finger chart and you'll see what I mean. Apparently (I wouldn't know from direct experience) the "gizmo" on a Boehm low B foot is doing the same sort of thing?

I actually don't have any difficulty fingering these set ups, provided they are properly adjusted. I've had greater difficulty with some English flute feet where the C and C# touches protrude too far up tube and block my R3 from closing its tone-hole cleanly without catching said keys if they are rotated to playable positions for R4. I've often surmised that that problem (perhaps designs aimed at lady players with small hands and very slender fingers?) was one of the contributory factors to the ITM tendency (manual labourer musicians with big hands and thick fingers!) to rotate the foot keys out of the way/use or to remove them (leading to the unfortunate abandonment of proper use of the Eb key, and ultimately to modern keyless ITM flutes!!!!!), rather than because they didn't work properly, which I believe is really less of a problem than is often made out (another Rockstro canard?)..... I haven't yet had a flute through my hands with its foot keys fully intact on which I couldn't get them working quite reliably, plugs or pads (provided plugs are not damaged and in need of replacement). The German style integral foot/lower body designs usually have the foot key touches very sensibly placed. (Would need to be if they can't be rotated!)

Incidentally, here too is the link to the A Rampone Catalogue of c1920 - the successor firm to my flute's makers - the continuity is clear in the flute designs!

[jemtheflute]

OK, further to my last post, the bit about use of the foot keys, I thought it might be fun - and I hope interesting/informative - to post some video clips of the foot keys in action .

I've deliberately done the clips from three different angles, doing basically (but not completely) the same thing in each clip. I'm afraid the video quality isn't brilliant - again, I only have my Sony-Ericsson K800i mobile phone to do these things with - actually, it's quite amazing how good they are, I think! - so the sound quality is poor and the sound/picture co-ordination has lapses, but they serve the purpose adequately, if not ideally. Each clip includes some scales showing use of the foot keys, then bits of three tunes which use the foot keys; the D minor reel Mother's Delight, Welsh air Morfa'r Frenhines (The Queen's Marsh) (A music only) and my own D minor waltz The Perplexity Waltz (A & B musics only, save one clip that includes the C music.... there is also a D music!).

The clips are 3gp video files uploaded onto Boxnet - you'll probably have to download them, I don't think they'll open directly like the sound clips do, but your computer should play them back OK with RealPlayer or Quicktime or WMP. Here they are:

Rampone 01 - foot keys from behind

Rampone 02 - foot keys from above

Rampone 03 - foot keys end on

I think the clips show that (with practice/familiarisation) there really isn't any problem or awkwardness in using the keys (and that they function reliably well!).

Any comments/discussion welcome!

(P.S. Thanks to my pupil Tom Scott for patiently doing the camera-work!)

[Gabriel]

Nice videos, jem! Nice and fluid key technique, and nice playing and tunes as well!

I just took some hi-res photos of my Aebi Pratten. I used a quite good camera (Fujifilm FinePix somewhat) and a tripod, and I think they turned out quite pretty!

The flute was completed in 2001. It is Tom's old Pratten model which he discontinued in favor of his Rudalls. He also offers a Pratten again, but a different one.

<img src="http://sg.drifting-memories.de/flute/fo ... CF4620.JPG" width="640" height="480">
<img src="http://sg.drifting-memories.de/flute/fo ... CF4617.JPG" width="640" height="480">
<img src="http://sg.drifting-memories.de/flute/fo ... CF4629.JPG" width="640" height="480">
<img src="http://sg.drifting-memories.de/flute/fo ... CF4613.JPG" width="640" height="480">

There is a gallery with many more photos, I took 28 or so

[brotherwind]

Hi Gabriel,
call me in case you want to sell it. Great pictures, great flute. My teacher has the same one, albeit 6 keys and cocus. But the tone is close to your one.
BTW, was it previously owned by Claus Steinort?

Oh boy, can't wait to get the call from Basel, that I can collect my own one...


Whish you many delightfull and satisfying hours playing it! Moritz

[Gabriel]

BTW, was it previously owned by Claus Steinort?

Yep! How do you know?

Oh boy, can't wait to get the call from Basel, that I can collect my own one...

Which model did you order? I was in Basel last december, I might have seen your flute-to-be

Who's your teacher? Nils Nolte?

[jemtheflute]

Great pics and beautiful flute, Gabriel.

Do you think, though, that you could resize them smaller so that they don't cause the C&F text channel to widen so that one has to scroll across to read/see? I find if you keep pics to less than 650-700 pixels wide they don't make that happen - one can then see the whole pic in one viewing and one does not have to chase the text to and fro line by line with the sliders at the foot of the page. One oversize pic affects the whole of that page in the thread and makes it a real pain to read! (You may have to re-upload resized pictures and edit them into your post in place of the first set, or you may have dimension controls within the host urls for the existing ones which you can change, depending on your hosting service.)
Cheers!

ADDITION: Thanks for resizing the pics Gabriel!

[gorjuswrex]

Jem Thanks for the video clips.
The Ramone seems to have an unusual sound. Some of the notes especially seem to sound more like an oboe. Do you know what I mean? Could be a quirk of the recording set up or the voice you decided to give the flute or something?

[jemtheflute]

Thanks Gorjuswrex. I hadn't thought of the Rampone as being at all oboe-like, though it can be quite dark and reedy and has quite a powerful, open, almost Prattenish tone (when I get my embouchure right!) despite its medium sized tone-holes. Have you listened to the couple of other clips on it recorded on minidisc on the Posting Clips thread? They give a better idea of its sound than the phonecam video clips which inevitably have relatively poor audio quality - which is probably chiefly responsible for your impression. Here's the best of them: Lord Inchiquin. (Beware, things will run on through my backlist of clips after it!!!)

I haven't "voiced" this instrument in any way - it is as I received it with the embouchure in original condition (so far as one can tell), and I don't strive to get a particular sound out of it, just its own voice as strong and clear as I can manage. I suppose in some respects it almost sounds more like a wooden Boehm flute than like many simple systems. I think if a really good player got at it it would sound like a veritable cannon! It would certainly hold its own in an orchestra. Anyway, I rather like it, though it stands no chance of ousting my R&R from first choice for most uses.

BTW, where are you based, Gorjuswrex? Your screen-name suggests a possible connection to my locale.

[brotherwind]

Hi Gabriel,

Who's your teacher? Nils Nolte?

good one, that's right.

He recommended me to visit Tom Aebi in Basel. It turned to be a very interesting afternoon at the workshop. Nils' cocus Pratten sounds pretty close to your one, actually. Unfortunately he lives too far away to meet him on a regular basis.

Well I have ordered a R&R. I just liked Aebi's R&R's better in direct comparison. Great chap. I guess though, that I'll have to wait another two years before getting THE call. Know what I mean?

Take care,

Moritz

[gorjuswrex]

Jem

I've just listened to the Lord Inchaquin clip. Yes it does give a more 'flute' sound. The Rampone does not seem to have the big 'thick jucy' sound I like in conical simple systems. It does seem more along the lines of a Bohem.

I live in South East Engaland so we're not quite neighbours!

All the best
Kevin

[jemtheflute]

The Rampone does not seem to have the big 'thick jucy' sound I like in conical simple systems.

Now that is more likely the player than the flute - I don't consistently successfully achieve that particular sound on any flute (as my clips doubtless illustrate), much as I strive to. I bet a Matt Molloy or a Conal O'Grada would make it sound as thick and juicy as you or anyone could wish.

[mahanpots]

Back in '03, I visited Ireland for the first time and came across this flute player in Quilty. Anybody know anything about him? Notice the thumb position on his left hand.

Michael

[brotherwind]

Back in '03, I visited Ireland for the first time and came across this flute player in Quilty. Anybody know anything about him? Notice the thumb position on his left hand.

Michael

Hi Michael,
nice picture. BTW on the clips Cathy found on the Forbes-Site Kevin Crawford seems to use the same grip. Look out closely for his thump position...

Link to Cathy's post

Forbes' website

Moritz