Next flute

I’d like to get a keyed flute some time in the future having been playing 18 months on a keyless polymer flute. The one I have is an M&E and I’m happy with it. I like the loud tone and good strong bottom D but am wondering if any of you can suggest a wooden, keyed flute with good stong tone (particularly in the low octave). The air intake isn’t much of a problem because I find that the one I started on (M&E) takes quite a lot of air in comparison to others I’ve played (Sam Murray, Martin Doyle) and I tend to overblow on the low octave with these flutes.

The price range I’m looking at would be anything up to 800 or 900 euros.

I guess you won’t find a keyed wooden flute for 800-900 euros, at least not one with more than one key. Prices of 1600-1800 euros for six keys and 2500-3000 euros for eight keys seem realistic.

Why not upgrade your M&E with keys if you like it? Wood isn’t everything.

For keyed wooden flutes with reasonable prices and good playability I can recommend Maurice Reviol without any reservation. I play an eightkeyed flute made by him, and it’s lovely, and I can play it very loudly (if I want to…). But keep in mind also that it’s not only the flute which defines tone and volume, but also (and a lot more) the player.

Yeah, you’ll need to up the price! My keykess Doyle was just shy of 800 euro. Think Sam Murray is one of the lowest priced of the top makers with a six key at 1700 euro, Doyle and Hamilton being more expensive for the keywork (something about the casting of the keys I think?).

Those M&E seem to have a great rep,and if you like it and are used to it, well then it would make sense to put keys on it!

FWIW - I have a 6 key M&E and really like it. I think you’d save about half you cash to simply get your M&E keyed and as already stated you won’t find a keyed flute, unless you luck upon a used one, for the amount you can spend.

Ok I didn’t realise that. M&E don’t make keyed wooden flutes, only polymer and he’s selling a 4 (or maybe 6) keyed polymer for around €850. I thought a wooden would not be too much more but since its way out of my range, I may indeed just get my current flute keyed. Thanks for that, it seems wood with keys is out of the question now. It’s all down to what I would prefer. Wood (keyless) or Polymer (Keyed)?

Do you NEED keys? I personally find them handy to have, the Cnat key is helpful sometimes and G# and Bb and both F keys are handy for some accidentals, the Eb key is needed for the 3rd octave e (actually I only need it for one single tune of my repertoire), but I don’t NEED them. So if it’s wood you want, go for a keyless wooden flute. Many makers provide the option to get the keys later. Tom Aebi, Hammy Hamilton, Maurice Reviol, Casey Burns come to mind.

Well there are some tunes I really would like to play with awkward placings of F naturals (Mullingar Lea for example) and with B flats which are a feckin pain in the arse to try and half hole. However, maybe going for wood and upgrading to keys at a later stage would be better idea. Afterall, I still need to improve on the standard system and maybe it would be better to get more comfortable with the instrument before going for a keyed version. Thanks voodoo.

You’re welcome.

tom aebi does only retrofit postmounts but prefers not to, as he says it might change the flutes sound, he recommends just getting a keyed flute.
he told me earlier this year.