After reading reviews on the wooden flute mailing list and on the Chiff and Fipple's Flute Forum I had my flute choices narrowed down to an M & E or a Seery (apparently a common problem). One website I found particularly informative was that of James Peeples where he offered information regarding a Seery and a a modified bore split-front M & E. Anyway, I decided to go for the regular old plain Jane M & E opting out of the fancy bells and whistles. Since I thought James's site was a great place to look for info I figured that I would make a similar site on the original bore M & E flute. I haven't made much of an effort to separate emotion from fact here so please recognize this as an opinion that you can either listen to or not. I received my M & E flute in March 2002 and so far have been quite pleased with its performance. Breath requirements are quite modest, and it plays well in tune over both octaves. It doesn't have quite the buzzsaw tone or the oodles of volume produced by a large bore flute with monsterous finger holes, but can produce a lovely hard-edged tone if you push a little and has enough volume to keep you from getting lost in all but a large session. In fact my only real beef with the M & E is with the tuning slide (this is more a matter of personal preference). In order to play at A=440 Hz the tuning slide has to be extended about 4mm, personally I would prefer to play an A=440 Hz with the slide extended 10-15mm so as to facilitate tuning either sharp or flat if needed. Like I said, not a serious problem. The joints on this flute are not wrapped with thread or cork, I assume because polymer is more stable than wood the worry of a joint changing shape is non-existent. I am pleased to say that when assembled the flute is very solid with no noticable wobble at the joints and I'm quite confident that you could really do some damage with it (not to it) if you started swinging. The joint rings, while purely decorative on my flute flute, are not made of sterling silver (nickel silver perhaps?) and are attached quite securely. Cosmetically, the finish work on my particular instrument could have been done a little better. In particular, the edges of the finger holes appear to have been rounded with a sharp blade but were not subsequently sanded smooth (third pic from top). While this is not uncomfortable while playing is detratcts somewhat from an otherwise attractive instrument. As well, the inside walls of the finger holes were not sanded or polished and still have somewhat rough sides. Finally, the bottom two tone holes (located on the foot joint) have drill marks on the bore surface opposite the holes (fourth pic from top). The foot-end of the flute also shows some epoxy leakage, I assume from when the joint rings were attached (fifth pic from top), but is not as obvious as shown in the picture. I doubt if these minor factors seriously affect the sound quality of the instrument but an extra couple of minutes on finishing the instrument and a little more care with a drill press would make for a more attractive instrument. So what is the bottom line that I'm trying to get at? The M&E is a very reasonably priced, well playing, in-tune flute that could help improve any novice's playing or make a great second flute for a more experienced player. I tend to be a stickler for details and am a little disappointed with the finish on my particular instrument but if you were industrious enough to get out the old 440 grid sandpaper just about all of my complaints could be easily corrected. Perhaps when I send it for keys I may have the cosmetic problems addressed. Wes
Hamlyn |
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