- Made in France in 1915
- Silver
- 0.014″ seamed tubing
- Soldered tone holes
- Open hole
- Pointed keys
- Inline G
- C-foot
- 14k rose gold lip plate by Miguel Arista (Tally cut)
- Embouchure: 10.24 mm x 11.93 mm x 5.59 mm (0.220″)
- Weight: 445 g
- Head sounding length: 148 mm
- Sounding length: 598 mm
- Traditional scale
- A=440-442 Hz
The Bonneville workshop was known for its finely crafted silver-plated flutes with seamed tubing, contributing to their vibrant, voluminous sound. On occasion, they would construct silver flutes. 3977 is one of those rare silver flutes from the Bonneville workshop.
While the Bonneville flute is excellent in its own right, the addition of a Miguel Arista gold lip plate (Tally cut) extends the brilliance further. First, it is straightforward to play. You get an energetic sound with minimal effort, yet you hear many elements characteristic of the textured Bonneville sound.
Secondly, the tonal quality is consistent in all registers. The first register is beefy and dense. The resonance carries effortlessly into the second and third registers.
Thirdly, this flute can handle a lot of air for a booming, operatic sound. Overall, the Miguel Arista lip plate seems to accentuate Bonneville’s best qualities.
Sometime during the life of this flute, the headjoint tenon was shortened by 2 mm (1/16″). The ferrule was also moved up by the same amount. Honestly, we’re not sure why this was necessary because the flute plays well at A440 with the head positioned at 1/4″ (from the original position of the ferrule). There was also already enough clearance to play comfortably at A442. Perhaps someone needed to play at A444 or higher? Regardless of the pitch, the Bonneville scale is consistent with other traditional scales.
The pads are new, and the flute is housed in a non-original wooden case.
Price: $3,950
Sold as is. Sales tax applies to purchases within California. For inquiries on purchasing, please contact Gary Lewis.
