Piccolo – POTTER

Flutes

This piccolo is made of beautiful boxwood with ivory ferrules and a single brass key. It was made in London by POTTER, most likely Richard POTTER (1726-1806). Its flat plate D-sharp key is nicely scalloped and very typical for the time.

The nominal pitch of this Potter instrument is C. The lowest note is D – hence the D stamped on the head joint. The figure ‘8’ is a pitch mark to indicate that it is an octave sharper than a regular one-keyed flute.

The piccolo has been completely restored with a new cork, pad and tenon thread. The embouchure and tone holes are unaltered and in fine condition. The pitch is around a=440 Hz.

A piccolo from this period of history is hard to find – an exquisite rarity.

boxwood wooden flute
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G-sharp key

Open/closed G-sharp key
The open G-sharp key was promoted by Theobald Boehm. So, G-sharp is fingered like a G on the modern-day flute and G is fingered like the modern-day G-sharp. The open G-sharp key mechanism avoids having an additional second G-sharp tone hole, which is not optimal in acoustical terms.
The closed G-sharp key is the regular mechanism on modern day instruments as well as traditional conical wooden more-keyed flutes. G-sharp is obtained by pressing the G-sharp lever. G is produced by pressing down all four fingers of the left hand.
Theobald Boehm’s open G-sharp was not successful in the end and is no longer used in flute-making, with some exceptions.