Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Clarification on Butch Hall flute tunings

On a earlier post I mentioned that Butch Hall flutes are typically tuned with an extended scale tuning. This tuning allows the flute to have an extended upper range, but it doesn't use the 'traditional" mode 1/mode 4 fingering.

I wrote Laura Hall an email to inquire about their flutes and fingering and here's what Laura wrote back:

"we make 4 flutes in the "traditional" mode 1/mode 4 tuning: our high Bm Little Bird at $49, our high Am Little Horse at $49, our Gm Le Mita Cola at $55 for spanish cedar (while a few remain in stock), $65 for eastern red cedar (due out of the finish room in 2-3 weeks, and the new standard), and our bass Cm in spanish cedar at $225.

I have often said that the Little Horse is the "Best Flute under $50" - with the traditional tuning, making it an excellent investment as an entry level instrument for a beginning flute player. I now have to add the Little Bird to that same category, although I would recommend the Little Horse over the Little Bird since it's in the more common key of A.

No comments: