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Eldred Spell
Flutes
I’ve been making
piccolo headjoints for just over twenty years and have been pleased to have heard
them in a number of major orchestras. Over the years, I have been the subject of
some interesting rumors: You have to beg for an Eldred
Spell headjoint, or He doesn’t make them
anymore, etc. The web offers a chance to communicate a bit about what
I do. I hope you’ll find the following information interesting.
Well, first of all, I’m not a full-time flute maker. Most of the time, I’m a college flute professor. Here’s the generic biography:
Eldred Spell is Professor of Flute at Western Carolina
University. A popular recitalist and clinician, he has appeared throughout the United
States, Canada, and England. For many years he served as principal flute of the
Sewanee Summer Music Center. Dr. Spell has recorded for the CRS, Early Light, and
Sonus record labels and many editions of his music are
available through ALRY Publications. Spell has been a member of the Board of Directors
of the National Flute Association, the Performance Health Care Committee, and an
editorial adviser for the Flutist's Quarterly. He maintains a substantial collection
of historic flutes and performs primarily on a nineteenth-century instrument by
famed French maker Louis Lot. Spell holds a Ph.D. from Michigan State University.
His teachers include Clement Barone, William Bennett,
Israel Borouchoff, Geoffrey Gilbert, and Stephen Preston.
Also trained as a flute maker, Spell has done considerable research into the practical
acoustics and tuning of the flute and has been a consultant to numerous flute companies.
As a teacher, Eldred Spell offers a unique blend of personal warmth and musical
expression, combined with a thorough knowledge of historical styles and the practical
mechanics of flute playing.
I
made my first piccolo head in 1968 ¡ª I was in the ninth grade. I literally bored
out a tent peg in my father’s shop and used a rifle cartridge to make the tenon. Amazingly, it played ¡ª though not particularly well.
It wasn’t until the late 70’s that I began to get serious about it. By then I had
trained as a flutemaker and was back in school working
on my PhD (in flute, of course!). I was also studying piccolo with Clem Barone and had been working on intonation and flute scales with
William Bennett (WIBB). One thing I learned from WIBB is that the size of a flute
embouchure hole actually alters the tuning of the harmonics. One swipe of a scraper
can make a huge difference in tuning and response. It began to bother me that, compared to a flute, most piccolo embouchure holes were
proportionally huge. If you made a flute that way it couldn’t possibly play in tune.
So, I made several experimental heads. I found that a tiny hole does give good intonation,
but it’s impossibly difficult to play. Guided by Clem Barone,
I worked out some compromises with under and overcutting to make a head that felt
larger than it actually was. I made one for Clem and to my amazement, he played
it until retirement and his successor, Jeff Zook, is still
playing it. What a stroke of beginners luck! Clem showed it to few friends and Ethan
Stang (Pittsburg Symphony) bought the second one. And, . . . I suddenly found myself in the piccolo headjoint business.
For the next fifteen years I averaged a two-year wait for delivery. This was due partly to a lack of time (I was in graduate school and later teaching full time), but also to my peculiar method of working. I found very quickly that no two piccolos (piccoli?) are remotely alike. This meant that I had to approach each one as a new project, with subtle differences in the bore, tubing and socket; (What an annoyance!) and, I have not yet found a way to streamline the process. I still start with an individual instrument and draw tubing, make rings, and drill the wood to suit. Even the head crowns are individual. My headjoints are not interchangeable, even among the same maker’s piccolos.
And what’s really so different about them?
There
are so many wonderful instrument makers in the world today, that one really needs
a niche to justify their existence. My particular specialty is making, what many
piccolo players believe to be, the best sounding and playing piccolo headjoint available;
custom made for a particular instrument to bring out the very best aspects of that
instrument. I have reason to believe that my heads play well, and I can say that
quite a few knowledgeable folks seem to like them. Here’s what I see as the major
distinctions:
- They are
truly hand
made.
Because every little part is made just so, I can get an
optimum result. Also, because I spend a considerable amount of time on each
one, I have a personal investment. Each head gets my full attention.
- The wood.
One of my favorite rumors is that I use rosewood. What I actually use is mountain
mahogany. It looks a bit like rosewood, but grows in North America. There are
none of the environmental or allergy concerns that arise with tropical hardwoods.
The sound is less bright, and seems to blend better in the orchestra.
- The secret process. Um,
er, well, . . . I actually
do treat the wood. Untreated mountain mahogany absorbs water and doesn’t sound
all that great. I began with the traditional raw linseed oil but eventually
rejected it because over time it deteriorates. For the past quarter century
I’ve used tung oil, with pretty good results. After
the head is completed, I put it under a high vacuum to pull out all the
air and water, then fill the pores with tung oil.
- Recent developments.
There are good reasons no one else uses this wood:
- . Mountain mahogany is inherently unstable. The wood I use
is very well seasoned (cut in the late 70’s and early 80’s) AND treated with
oil. Even so, it continues to shrink and swell with changes in humidity. Most
players don’t worry unless a head actually cracks and this is relatively
rare. My heads work well, there were no complaints, and for years I didn’t
give it a much of thought. About a decade ago I began measuring older heads
and the results were frightening. Boring accurately (to about 0.0001”)
isn’t difficult with the right equipment, so I make my heads very accurately.
When I measured old heads, I found the bore had changed as much 0.012” –
that’s an enormous change. I was
(and still am) somewhat incredulous. If a flute head changed that much it
wouldn’t work, but several of these piccolo heads were being played in
major orchestras. A couple of things seemed obvious: 1) piccolos work differently from
flutes, and 2) since changes happened slowly, the players had
adjusted. Again, I’ve never had a
complaint about any of this, but still found it unnerving. What to do? I
could have just ignored it, but about this time someone in Canada ordered
a head and was particularly concerned about having a head crack. I simply substituted epoxy for tung oil and got a very good result. I can’t tell you
what a mess it made, but the head turned out quite well. This began a
two-year investigation that led me absolutely nowhere. Epoxy is thick and
hardens quickly, so I wasn’t confident that it had really penetrated the
wood. There are commercial products made for “stabilizing,” typically
used by folks making fancy pens and knife handles. I duly ordered some
resin and quickly found that it wouldn’t harden with mountain mahogany.
It eventually emerged that the wood has water chemically bound. A vacuum
won’t remove it, but heat will, so I set up a laboratory-type oven and began
baking wood. After quite a bit of trial and error I made a head for
Heather McKee, who was at that time a graduate student. It turned out
beautifully and played very well. The wood was harder and denser, so articulation
was easy. The sound was a little bright for my taste, but the experiment
seemed a great success – briefly.
After just a few days the head cracked
from one end to the other. The wood was hard to the point of being
brittle. A few experiments showed that the resin absorbed a tiny bit of
water. Since the wood was now inflexible, it shattered. ‘Back to the
drawing board.
- Mountain mahogany is scarce.
It’s actually common in some parts of the country – people burn it for firewood.
It has no commercial use, so you can’t go out and buy it.
And here's
one for an Opperman piccolo.
Since they
are all made "one off," unusual sockets are no problem.
Can you send a few heads for me to try?
The answer is
simple – NO. If you want to try one of my heads, here’s how it works:
- Get in touch and let's find a time
when you can send your piccolo and I am free to do the work. It helps me to
know something about how you play and what you're looking for. Besides, I like
getting to know other piccolo players.
- Send me your piccolo and I’ll make
ONE headjoint to fit (unless you want to buy more than one; some people
seem to collect them!). This represents a big investment and a gamble on my
part that you will be pleased. If you happen not to like it, I'm screwed ─
so rest assured that I'll do my best.
- Try the headjoint for about a week.
Most folks know within two seconds, but it’s still a good idea to play it in
your orchestra and in a variety of rooms.
- If you don’t like it, send it back.
Mercifully, this doesn’t happen very often! If you do like it, send me a check.
I've done business
this way for a long time. I assume all the risks - you make no deposit and no commitment
to buy. It works because of my customer's integrity and because the headjoints really
are good. Please don't order unless you are seriously interested and prepared to
make a purchase. Remember that you are dealing with an individual human being, not
a corporation. When you do decide to purchase, I really appreciate prompt payment.
BTW, the current headjoint price for a traditional style piccolo is $1200.
Flute related:
email: eldred@eldredspellflutes.com
Phone/FAX:(828) 293-7457
***********************************************
Academic Inquiries:
Dr. Eldred Spell
School of Music
253 Coulter Building
Western Carolina University
Cullowhee, NC 28723
Studio Phone: (828) 227-3952