(click pics to enlarge)
Well, not exactly....but a particular flute now has the moniker of "Blue Lightning"....
A few years ago I was messing around with a flute design....certainly not unusual for me, as I like doing one-of-a-kind things and creating things truly unique. I have a special knack for creating super-high key flutes, as well, and decided that "pushing the envelope" suited me just fine.
Witness an Ugly Boy Half-Pipe (flat-bottomed bore) drone, over-and-under, that is keyed in ultra-high C. If you ever even see or hear a high C drone, it will be an octave lower than this "C" drone...
A good friend and flute-maker-to-be (David Fox) became attached to what was, for me, a 'joke' kind of flute because of its impracticality. Many find the high pitches to be on the irritating side, and adding in a drone barrel only adds to that factor.
However, Dave's hands are a bit smaller than my big paws, and he has been naturally drawn to higher keys to begin with...and to this flute, especially.
Long story short, this is a flute that only someone like Dave (in this case it IS Dave!) could own and play...'tis he holding the flute...
We coined this flute "Blue Lightning" as the curly Massaranduba wood had a flaw that led to a significant linear crack at the apex of the curved body on the playing SAC (please email for a definition of that convoluted description). I first burned, then routed out a channel for turquoise 'fill', and now the flute is actually better than new...
Even I have trouble with the ultra-tight fingering pattern (5-hole being the only option in this extreme sound range)...but good ol' Dave took to this odd flute like a duck to water...
...and check out the measurements! This flute is only 11 inches long, and the 5 finger holes are just a tad over 2" apart between the highest and lowest hole. It's crazy. Any N.A. flute player will tell you it's ridiculous. It's impractical. But Dave plays it, and plays it well. I need him to record a piece for me so I can let you hear this truly "one-off" flute. Just goes to prove that just about anything is possible if you believe in it...never say 'never'...and always dream, regardless of the craziness of it all...
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Trip to Atlanta Wednesday went quite smoothly. For all the rains this fall in portions of the southeast, I just 'thought' that the Greenville, SC to Atlanta corridor got some relief, as they have held on to 'extreme' drought conditions in some areas there. On the GA/SC border is Hartwell Lake...and I'm here to say it remains significantly low, with many docks lying on the mud floor, 10-40 feet from water's edge. Ugh.
However, I did enjoy $1.34/gallon gas near Spartanburg, SC! Aho! Of course, I temper that optimism with the NPR news story I heard that OPEC, or at least Saudi Arabia, wants to cut crude oil production by 2 MILLION barrels per DAY to 'up' the price of crude...
And speaking of news headlines that made me growl, I must investigate further the news story that Goldman-Sachs is using some of the government bailout funds to pay employee bonuses for this year??? I'm smellin' a Fried Fridays, here...
Well, not exactly....but a particular flute now has the moniker of "Blue Lightning"....
A few years ago I was messing around with a flute design....certainly not unusual for me, as I like doing one-of-a-kind things and creating things truly unique. I have a special knack for creating super-high key flutes, as well, and decided that "pushing the envelope" suited me just fine.
Witness an Ugly Boy Half-Pipe (flat-bottomed bore) drone, over-and-under, that is keyed in ultra-high C. If you ever even see or hear a high C drone, it will be an octave lower than this "C" drone...
A good friend and flute-maker-to-be (David Fox) became attached to what was, for me, a 'joke' kind of flute because of its impracticality. Many find the high pitches to be on the irritating side, and adding in a drone barrel only adds to that factor.However, Dave's hands are a bit smaller than my big paws, and he has been naturally drawn to higher keys to begin with...and to this flute, especially.
Long story short, this is a flute that only someone like Dave (in this case it IS Dave!) could own and play...'tis he holding the flute...
We coined this flute "Blue Lightning" as the curly Massaranduba wood had a flaw that led to a significant linear crack at the apex of the curved body on the playing SAC (please email for a definition of that convoluted description). I first burned, then routed out a channel for turquoise 'fill', and now the flute is actually better than new...
Even I have trouble with the ultra-tight fingering pattern (5-hole being the only option in this extreme sound range)...but good ol' Dave took to this odd flute like a duck to water...
...and check out the measurements! This flute is only 11 inches long, and the 5 finger holes are just a tad over 2" apart between the highest and lowest hole. It's crazy. Any N.A. flute player will tell you it's ridiculous. It's impractical. But Dave plays it, and plays it well. I need him to record a piece for me so I can let you hear this truly "one-off" flute. Just goes to prove that just about anything is possible if you believe in it...never say 'never'...and always dream, regardless of the craziness of it all...-------------------------------------------
Trip to Atlanta Wednesday went quite smoothly. For all the rains this fall in portions of the southeast, I just 'thought' that the Greenville, SC to Atlanta corridor got some relief, as they have held on to 'extreme' drought conditions in some areas there. On the GA/SC border is Hartwell Lake...and I'm here to say it remains significantly low, with many docks lying on the mud floor, 10-40 feet from water's edge. Ugh.
However, I did enjoy $1.34/gallon gas near Spartanburg, SC! Aho! Of course, I temper that optimism with the NPR news story I heard that OPEC, or at least Saudi Arabia, wants to cut crude oil production by 2 MILLION barrels per DAY to 'up' the price of crude...
And speaking of news headlines that made me growl, I must investigate further the news story that Goldman-Sachs is using some of the government bailout funds to pay employee bonuses for this year??? I'm smellin' a Fried Fridays, here...
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