Hello, I have been away from Irish music for a while and am thinking about buying a new flute soon, probably keyless and made of any wood except blackwood (I am allergic to that). It should also be lightweight. Who are the best flute makers in Europe these days? Who would you recommend? Thanks for your input.
I’m not sure how up to date this list is, but might be worth looking through.
https://sites.google.com/site/cfwoodenflutemakerslist/
The list may be a useful starting point, but I see Dominic Allan is still on it. Last time I was in touch with him he had discontinued flute-making, and that was a few years ago.
A pity, I thought. I have a flute he made for me (8-key and blackwood, so not of interest to claudine, above) and it’s very good - though as circumstances have changed I’m planning to see if I can sell it.
Lightweight rules out most of the fine tonewoods like mopane and cocus does it not? Do you want boxwood? Will be quite hard to find. High density matters.
Why are you restricted to Europe? There are great makers everywhere. Let us know.
When you say ‘best’ - what is your budget? The top makers justifiably charge a premium.
Some supremely excellent makers:
Solen Lesouef
Stéphane Morvan
Pol Jezequel
Barna Gabos
to mention but a few.
If not restricted to Europe, contact Windward Flutes, as they offer many woods apart from blackwood. But seriously pricey.
why Europe? Because that’s where I live, so I will be able to visit the maker, or take my flute back for repairs, and I won’t have to pay import taxes. As for budget, I’m prepared to spend maybe 1000 Euros for a keyless flute.
By lightweight, I mean an unlined head.
Geert Lejeune in Bruges made a flute for me a few years ago and I’m very happy with it. I know plenty of other people who like his flutes too. I’ve tried flutes made by some of the other makers mentioned too and they were good as well. Geert usually uses blackwood which wouldn’t be what you want but he might have other timbers available. Worth asking him anyway.
Michael, Geert also makes flutes from boxwood for shure . Desy Adams have his Pratten model made of boxwood.
Anywall, all well with You ? No SB fest this year unfortunatelly…..
Marin
Go over to the Chiff and Fipple flute forum. There is a great list of flute makers there.
I picked up a Tim Adams flute back in June. It’s made of Mopane and is a beautiful instrument. He’s in Sweden.
I do play south paw and was really excited about his F plug, which allows you to play an F nat, a keyed lefty flute would have to expensive for me.
Here is a link to his site
http://www.adams.se/
Gilles LeHart. I’ve briefly played the D, C, and B flat flutes and found them wonderful. The woman who owned found him to very accommodating. I don’t know if he still makes flute.
Thanks for all your info.
Bruges would be an easy trip from Luxembourg. And there you’d find Geert Lejeune who is definitely making wonderful flutes.
Martin Doyle , unlined head, boxwood as a choice. Not only Europe, but the Heartland of Irish music so you get tunes too.🙂
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=E_4jnYQbl0Y
Since you’re allergic to blackwood, you might consider avoiding all the other timbers in the rosewood family, just to be safe.
You could try Thomas Aebi as well, located in Luxembourg. I hear he makes boxwood flutes
http://www.aebi-flutes.com/index.php/en/about-me
http://forums.chiffandfipple.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=57549
(Actually, I see that now links to the one posted above by StephenB anyway. But the forum topic gives a lot of discussion about individual makers - probably useful once you have particular names to look into.)
Solen Lesouëf, France makes highly rated flutes. €750 for a keyless flute, mopane, boxwood
http://sosolaflute.com
I just ordered a keyless flute from http://tonymillyard.com/ after looking over the site and hearing goods things about him and I’m in the USA. He offered to make it and send to see how I like it first, and then I can decide to keep or ship back so he can make several keys for it- keys is what I’m planning. It will be mopane as I own a Desi Seery delrin (not at it’s end) and a key and keyless Sam Murray (he’s since retired) blackwood. I wanted to hear/see any difference in play-ability, tone, etc. between the woods. Still have a couple of weeks to go before it’s built so,..
Tom Aebi is in Switzerland not Luxembourg.
@Rosie-123
Ah my bad. Still closeby on continental Europe.
