Bruce - The key arrangement looks similar to some altos, where the finger touch points are offset from the keys to make it more ergonomic. As for the smaller lower G# hole, it makes perfect sense. I wonder why more companies don't build it that way. Tradition?
Flute with bis key
As sax player and flutemaker I have always wanted to have a bis key on the flute. I made up a few adding it and while I was at it I made some other changes to the left hand. I did it with the offest G leaving the cups covered in the left hand and open in the right hand. This way the left hand is free to angle at a comfortable position without worry of not covering the holes. I used a smaller lower G hole positioned higher in the body to eliminate the need for a split E or donut in the lower G. With this alteration, the G# lever is elongated and more sax-like in feel. Having the A pad covered also has a small advantage of making F#3 a bit more stable. It feels pretty natural to me. Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/tags/bis/
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All this discussion reminds me to wonder why open G# flutes aren't more popular. It seems acoustically more correct and obviates the need for special handling of high E and F#. If the open G# fingerings are too hard to learn or too non-ergonomic, then why not use a pivot to reverse the G# key so you can finger it like normal but it acts like open G#?
Yeah, my brain fart on the F# there... but the Dorus G# is a neat design. Never heard of it before but I looked it up and that's the sort of thing I had I mind. Back to the big picture though - while split Es, split F#s or open G#s are interesting and perhaps useful, modern flutes do play just fine without them.kymarto said:First, closing the G tone hole independently only vents the E correctly, not the F#.
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How would this pivot work, exactly?
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There was an attempt to get rid of the duplicate G# tone hole in the early days with the Dorus G#, which was double sprung, but the reliability and simplicity of the duplicated tone hole won the day.
While we're on the subject... what do you guys think of donuts in the lower G hole? Alex Eppler's getting my flute soon for a tuneup and I was considering having him put one in. He can always take it out if I don't like it. My primary concern is that it might muff up the G (pitch, tone quality or both). I suspect the response will vary from one flute to the next so the only way to know will be to try it... Also, he can put in a standard donut shape, or a crescent moon (non-centered) shape.
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