My antique flute (NO56K!)

[Zixinus]

For years I have known about my grandfather's flute. He got it as a gift from his father.
Grandfather used to play on and taught my own father a little to play a recorder. It has been sitting in its old case for years. I tried blowing it to get sound but didn't get much, I could barely change the sound. I have been interested in flute and playing them for a long time and I think this flute is part of the reason. It was old, unique, interesting and mysterious.

I own several festival-market flutes (including a Yamaha fife) and two Yamaha recorders (a soprano and alto, of which I prefer the latter). However, I was always intrigued by the old flute. I even was interested in getting it repaired or at least looked at. To my immense luck, there was both a professional repairer and a music teacher who know such flutes and helped tone it. It turned out that the flute is in good condition, only the pads, bumpers and crown's cork had to be replaced. It can be played and I am taking lessons in how to play it from the music teacher.

I still do not have a good fingering chart for the thing. It is described by the teacher as Baroque flute (it has A4=434) with a H-leg (H=B in English system, as in CDEFGAH). When I blow just the head I can get a G4 or G4# in APtuner. I am looking for a good finger-chart and for that I need it to be identifiable. So I made rather detailed pictures of it. I have used a desk-lamp covered in a paper napkin in attempt to soften the light, the camera still used flash though.

Just to clarify: these photos were made to have something to identify the flute by. It is not for sale.
EDIT: To further qualify, after thinking about what I wrote and how it might be misinterpreted, I am not posting this here hoping someone can identify it, although any help in that regard is welcome. I am just posting here partly as bragging (I did spend a great deal of money on getting it repaired) and partly to show it as a curiosity.

In its case, which is the original case. I am planning to refurbish that.

Before you ask, the green tube is lip balm. It is easier to get sound with soft lips and it is actually good as grease for the tenons. It's current location, along with a cotton napkin, is in a square hole that I have no idea what it originally contained. I would guess a box of spare parts, like pads or screws.
The white-bar is a cleaning-rod. I use the cotton napkin with it. It is not part of the original set and it was a small gift from the teacher. There was a wooden cleaning rod with rotten-down and old cloth on it. I threw that out.

Assembled. It is rather long.


Head


The head in the case


The rather monstrous body

And yes, it can be rather complicated. I still do not know what to do with all the keys. Playing on this is more difficult than on a modern flute (and just to get roughly the same results).

In the case


Closeup to head-most section of the body


The levers (keys?) on the lower middle part of the body


The holes and levers at the foot-ward part of the body


The back of the body


The footjoint

It is not too much unlike a more modern footjoint.

The higher-back part of the footjoint. I am holding the end-most key down by finger to show a connecting lever


Another photo of the higher-back key


How the head and footjoint lever connect


The footjoint in the case


The case

Aside from some worn-down corners, the outer shell is in good condition.
The lock had a key that got lost. I am planning on getting that swapped.

Without anything in it.

I am planning on getting it refurbished and the green felt (is that what it's called in English?) replaced with a new one. Along with a few other adjustments.

A close up on the closing hinges, if I am calling it correctly.

They are nailed, not screwed, to the wooden case.

Original accessories

The screwdriver cleaned itself up with just a little scrubbing from a finer sandpaper.
The little box contains reindeer-fat. Which is probably older than I am. It is probably older than my dad. It is supposedly still good but I prefer the lip-balm instead.

I may update this thread with youtube videos of me playing the thing. Currently, I'm also practicing with a recorder.

[Broomstick]

Oh, wow, I haven't seen one of those in decades!

I'll see if I can do a little research for you on this. Everything looks in pretty good condition for something that must be an antique.

[Broomstick]

I don't think that is truly from the baroque period, flutes from that period were mostly open-hole with few keys, but it does look 19th Century. Correction: while that does have open tone holes there is a lot more metal on that instrument that what I associate with a genuine baroque-period flute. Is the body made of wood or metal? I've heard of wood flutes with keys being referred to as "baroque" as opposed to metal "concert" flutes.

I'll ask the spouse when he gets home. He is more of a brass player (I'm the family flute player, though I'm horribly out of practice) but has more extensive general music knowledge than I do. With the pitch information you gave he can probably determine which key the flute is played in, which should lead to fingering chart you can use even if we can't perfectly identify this instrument.

[Zixinus]

By "baroque" I mean the instrument style, not the time period. In Hungarian we call them "Barokk" for which the English translation is "baroque". It is entirely possible that is a wrong word to describe it.

When my grandfather received it as a gift, it was new. So more like early 20th century and fairly unlikely to be 19th century.

The body and foot are made out of wood. You can see the grain a little if you look close. I am unsure if that can be seen from the photographs.

[Broomstick]

My husband puts that flute at around 1875, more or less, and he feels it is definitely pre-20th Century. It probably pre-dates the A=440 concert standard (earlier periods did use different pitches). It would help to know the maker, is there a name on it anywhere? He said whatever you do, don't lose or sell that flute, it's quite valuable, particularly if in playable condition.

He said he'd forward the pictures to a retired professional flautist who used to be one of his teachers, she'd likely know more. It may be a bit before we can get back to you.

[Zixinus]

It does pre-date A=440, as I noted. I have a teacher who identified it (and he says that the flute is A=434), he has an even older one than mine. I am just unsure how to call it in English.

I am taking particular care of it and not selling it. I am using it however. It is quite playable. I did note all of this in the first post.

[Zixinus]

I have found one piece of marking on the flute, on the back C# key. It's a letter P and I'm afraid this is the best picture I could manage to take.



I can play the thing fairly well since my OP post and still confused about the fingering (particularly the F4 hole and its associated trill lever). Anyone who has any information or insight (is this a reform flute? a simple system flute? somewhere in-between?) is welcome to share.

I have brought it to local music teachers but they can't say anything certain about it either.

[Napoleon the Clown]

Take that bitch to Vegas and get on Pawn Stars, they Know a Guy.


Just think, the flute was quite probably made before anyone on the planet was even born. You own a piece of history.

[Zixinus]

What I find odd and pleasing is that I own a piece of intact history. It isn't just good to hang on a wall or put in a museum (which I'll probably do if the wood cracks or something): I can pick up and play the thing.

I met a guy that inherited an infusion-needle kit. It turned out that the proverbial big needle was once quite literal.

Oh, and if anyone knows and good instrument forums, particularly flutists, please give a link! I am still unsure where I should republish the above pictures.

[Isolder74]

Cool, I have an ebony clarinet. The fact that it had a wonderful sound meant that I could never get away with anything. If I wasn't playing the conductor always knew it.

[Broomstick]

Unfortunately, my spouse's contacts haven't any further information they can give you on the flute which, yes, is absolutely marvelous.

Most musical instruments do better if they're played on a regular basis.

Take care of it and enjoy your piece of history.

[SCRawl]

I have a friend from my high school days who has a friend who knows about these sorts of things, and I asked that they review this post. Here is the report:

It's a standard no name simple system flute ca. 1870-1920. They were the alternative to the Boehm system instruments and took a while to 'disappear' from the marketplace !
...
No particular value they are easy to locate..... Celtic / Irish musicians sometime even play these old instruments but in this case : A = 435 isn't practical . Furthermore, Irish flutists prefer the 4 to 8 keyed ones. It was probably made in Bohemia (eastern Germany) .... Or England. Models similar were available from Sears catalogs right up to the late 1920's

So enjoy the flute, but it isn't the woodwind equivalent of a Stradivarius.

[Zixinus]

I have a friend from my high school days who has a friend who knows about these sorts of things, and I asked that they review this post. Here is the report:

Thanks for forwarding this to your friend and for having them take a look at it.

So enjoy the flute, but it isn't the woodwind equivalent of a Stradivarius.

I figured. It's still not a bad flute though.

[Zixinus]

I have wanted to do this for months and before school starts, so here it is in the last minute.

I have made mistakes (I once actually had to restart a song), the mic is not quite up to the task, I fumble for sheet notes, this is completely unedited but I finally did this.

Behold, me playing this in greatly-diminished glory.