The Essential Flute by Ellis Flutes
The Essential Flute is ideal for both Celtic music and World music of all kinds. Diatonic major tuning. Featuring a tapered head bore for improved intonation and projection. Ergonomic embouchure hole placement for right-handed player.
As of June of 2020, Geoffrey has released a new version of Essential Flute. This new version has been improved yet again by the addition of a choke point in the flute bore. This bore manipulation has created a delightful feel of compression in the flute, very much akin to the conical bore flutes favored by many players, giving the familiar back-pressure and punch. An added bonus is that it allows for the widening of the lowest finger hole (always the weakest note on any open hole flute), bringing greater strength of tone to match the rest of the scale.
"What an instrument! It is everything I could hope for in a ‘3/4 flute’ (speaking of the F flute), bright with loads of potential for the kind of old-school Irish trad I have been working on."
- Frank Claudy
Here's Frank rippin' on an Essential F. Hup!
Note: 11/6/2019 - Just added 3 new Low Bb flutes! The larger holed variants are best suited for players with larger hands. These also have a wider finger hole spread but, for those who can handle the stretch, yield an impressively powerful sound! The Cherry Bb with ergo finger holes is for the player who plays traditional (not pipers) grip on both left and right hand. Future models will still have a slight ergo arrangement but will be more subtle so both pipers and traditional grip players can manage the hole placement with ease.
Sound Samples:
D:
Eb
C
See Geoffrey make an Essential Flute in this film! (Flute played in score is the Essential C.)
I'm honored to be the subject of a "micro-documentary" by multi-talented film maker Blayne Chastain, who also composed and performed original music for the film using one of my Essential Flutes (the same flute that I'm making in the video, actually!). This film is an artistic snapshot of my flute making process for all of you who have wondered what goes on in the workshop :-) Thank you Blayne for this amazing piece of work! (Hint: increase the video quality in your settings to HD!)
Posted by Geoffrey Ellis Flutes on Tuesday, March 5, 2019