This ebonite flute was made by Rudall, Carte & Co Ltd   – England’s finest flute-makers of the mid-twentieth century.  The company was set up in 1872 as successors to Rudall Rose, Carte & Co. Later in 1943-1944, it was acquired by Boosey & Hawkes. For more details on this fascinating company, we recommend reading Robert Bigio’s fine work on the subject.

The Radcliff flute (John R. Radcliff –1843-1917) was essentially a simplified version of the Carte 1851 model. It was based almost entirely on simple system fingering.

This particular Rudall Carte & Co, Radcliff model, ebonite flute was finished and recorded in 1882. Its maker was a certain Johnston who seems to have been the main maker of Radcliffs at the time. Ebonite was a new material in those days and its main selling point was that it did not crack in any climate. The ebonite flutes made by Rudall Carte & Co tended to be more expensive than the wooden ones.

The flute looks fantastic, doesn’t it? It is beautifully made and a real pleasure to behold. The solid silver keywork in elegantly elaborated. The key cups are all the same size and the touchpieces feel so great.  Look closely at the touchpiece for the long F-key – isn’t it a strange shape? The reason why is so that it fits perfectly around the ring of the foot joint. Otherwise, the case would have to be 5 or 10 mm bigger. A lovely snug fit! The case itself is of course original and comes with a wooden grease pot.

In terms of condition, the whole mechanism is working quite well. It is in English high pitch at a=454 Hz. The sound is very bright and shiny and it is very easy to play.