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About Terry McGee...

Terry McGee makes wooden flutes for Irish, early and classical music based on the best of original instruments, including the popular Rudall & Rose, Pratten's Perfected and Grey Larsen Preferred models.  Based in Malua Bay, New South Wales, Australia, Terry has been a flute maker since the mid seventies and exports his instruments to the four corners of the globe.

Terry's instruments are one-off craftsman-built instruments using the finest materials and a combination of traditional and modern techniques.  They show the benefit of the vast and continuing research he has undertaken in Australia and in collections around the world. The most rigorous attention to tuning makes his instruments the most precise and vibrant available, and incorporation of new techniques makes them far more rewarding to play than the best of the originals. On the practical side, he has developed a new tuning slide which does not cause splitting as did the traditional slide, and new key shapes to improve ease of playing.

Terry also makes replacement parts and carries out repairs and rebuilds for original instruments. This site includes extensive information on flute care, history, research, choosing a flute, fingering charts and links to other important flute resources.

Contents  

My Flutes 

• Flutes for Irish Music:
   
  • Introduction, and a close look at an Irish flute
  • About My Irish Flutes
     
  • My Models:  D & Eb     Bb & B     C
   
  • Materials
  • Of Heads and Barrels   
  • About Keys
  • Foot Considerations
  • Accessories
     
  • Ordering a flute
  • Prices and order form    
     
  • Flutes available now!  
     
• Piccolos
• New Heads for Existing Flutes
• Flutes for Classical Music
    
• About Terry McGee - flute maker    
• How My Wooden Flutes are Made  

My Innovations

• The New Improved Tuning Slide
• The Modern Cut Embouchure
• The McG# Key
• The Revised C Foot
   
• The Improved Cleaning Rod
• The Smoothflow tone hole
• The "Great Australian Bight" Mic Clip
• The Minimum Disruption Tenon      

Flute Repairs and Restorations

• Flute Repairs and Restorations
• A repair for cracked heads and barrels
• A repair for cracked sockets
• The immovable slide
• Broken and Missing keys, Impossible pads
• "Cures" for High Pitch flutes

Flute Information and Resources

• Getting the hard dark tone   
• Gunn, on tone and holding the flute
• Nicholson on Flute Tone and holding the flute
• Rockstro on Holding the Flute   
• Rockstro on Tone
                                        
• Humidifying Flutes                                                   
• Reel Time Tuning Analysis                    
• Historical Flute Syndromes 
   
• Flute Myths Exploded!   
  
• Frequently Asked Flute Questions
• Choosing a Flute for Irish Music
• A guide to the lengths of flutes  
    
• Learning to Play Irish Flute
• Learning to use the keys   
• Breaking in and Getting Used to a New Flute
• Care of 19th century flutes
• Care of McGee flutes
   
• Fingering Charts:
  • Modern Keyless Flute
  • Modern 6-key flute
  • French Five Key Flute (for Charanga)
  • Eight Key Flute (19th Century)
  • Pratten's Perfected Original Fingering Chart
  • Pseudo Old-System Fingerings
  • Richard Potter's Patent Flute Fingering
  • Siccama's Fingering Chart (rough - four overlapping pages)
  • Siccama's Fingering Chart (compiled and reduced to single page)
     
• The Preface, Ceol Rince na hÉireann, Vol 1
• Resources for Irish Flute Players
• Miking Your Flute for Stage and Recordings
    
• Flute and Flute-Making Bibliography
• Wooden flute plans
• How to Repad Your Wooden Flute
• Photographing flutes
   
• Recollections of Paul Davies:
  • About Paul
  • Terry McGee's Recollections
  • Other People's Recollections

Historical Flute Studies

• Introduction to the Historical Flute Studies
• My Research Colleagues
• Historical Veracity in the Documentation of the Flute 
   
• Interpreting Hole Distribution Charts
• An Introduction to Venting Charts
• Cents to Hertz conversion
    
• Movers and Shakers in 19th Century 8-key flute development
• Sales of flutes in the 19th century
• Original 8-key Flute Prices
   
• Gunn, on tone                   
   
• Charles Nicholson
  • Nicholson on Flute Tone                  
  • C. Nicholson's Improved - the turning point
  • Development of C. Nicholson's Improved
  • Nicholson's Own Flutes
     
• Bainbridge's Observations
• Thomas Lindsay's: A Few Practical Hints
   
• Rudall, Rose, Carte et al:
  
  • Before Rudall met Rose 
  • Before Rose met Rudall 
  • Rudall & Rose: Flute-Making Icons
  • Rockstro analyses the intonation of a flute from Rudall & Rose 
     
  • Rudall & Rose No 519 - early success
  • Rudall and Rose No 742 - a particularly famous Rudall
  • An Imposition against the Public - a Rudall Fake!
  • Rudall & Rose Bb flutes
  • Rudall & Rose 1832 Patent Head
  • Inside the Patent Head 
    
  • The Search for Rose's Improved Conoidal Bore
  • Rose's Perfected Flute?                                                  
  • Rudall Carte 916 - an "old-system" flute
  • 7120 - A very late Rudall Carte
  • Development of the Rudall flute                                      
     
  • Rudall Carte Workshop views (big!)
  • Some unusual Rudalls 
  • Rudall's Workers
  • Rose versus Camp at the Old Bailey                               
  • A Rudall Carte Transplant
      
  • The Rudall, Rose or Carte Models Study
    • The Questionnaire
    • The Conclusions

• Richard Carte
  • Carte's "Sketch of the Successive Improvements in the Flute"
  • "General Remarks" from Rudall Carte's catalogue  
                    
  • Richard Carte - Saint or Sinner?
    • Introduction and Biography
    • The Saga of Boehm’s 1847 “Essay”                              
    • Richard Carte’s Claims in Relation to the Exhibition of 1851     
    • Rudall Carte’s Comments on Clinton's "Extreme" Holes 
    • Richard Carte’s Comments regarding the 1847 Boehm Patent
    • Claim to Priority as an English-born Player of the Boehm Flute 
    • Carte’s Credibility – A Summary
       
• Cornelius Ward - Writings and Instruments
• Cornelius Ward Contents Page
   
• The Life and Work of John Clinton  
  • Clinton story Contents Page    

• Alexander Liddle
   
• The Metzlers and their flutes
  • The Metzler family
  • Metzler Flutes
     
• The Siccama Flute Story
  • Introduction
  • Siccama's 1845 Patent           
  • Siccama's Newly Invented Diatonic Flute
  • Siccama's 1-key Flute - A Reconstruction   
  • More on Siccama's 1-key flute                   
  • Extant Siccama flutes
  • Siccama-style flutes by other makers
      
• The Pratten Flute Story
  • Robert Sidney Pratten, the man.
  • Hudson - Pratten's able coadjutor?
  • Pratten's Perfected Fingering Chart
  • The Mysterious Anonymous Pratten-style flute
  • Extant Pratten Flutes
     
• John Pask
  • John Pask, Flute Maker
  • Ribas's Improved Flute
  • Pask defends the old flute
  • A long-body flute by Pask

• American Flutemakers:
  • American Flute maker, William Hall
  • An Interesting Collaboration on Firth, Pond & Co
  • Firth Pond & Co, New York Makers
  • Christman's Christmas Day
     
    
• Rockstro:
• on Holding the Flute   
• on Tone
   
• The Radcliff flute
  • Genesis of the Radcliff Model Flute
     
• Modern Cylindrical Flutes
  • Boehm's Schema 
  • Boehm Flute Head Bore       
  • Cylindrical flutes - a History of Holes                        
  • Some letters from Boehm                                        
  • Letter to Broadwood from Theobald Boehm, 17 March 1866
  • Letters to Musical Opinion, 1889-90                              
  • Benjamin Wells' letter to Musical Opinion, January 1890  
     
• Important Flute Exhibitions:
  • 1851 World Exposition                                                
  • Flutes at the 1851 Exposition                                     
     
  • The 1862 London Exhibition                                         
  • A Visit to the 1862 London Exhibition                            
     
  • Wind Instrument Exhibitors 1851 – 1862                        
     
  • Flutes at the Royal Military Exhibition, London, 1890        
     
• Richard Potter's Patent Flute
• Henry Potter 
• Ball, Beavon & Co - a Post Boehm cylinder flute
   
• Jordan Wainwright - Australia's First Flutemaker?
• An interesting German (?) flute
• Señor Giorgi's Flute Patent                                                    

• A Liturgical Look at the Flute
• Keith, Prowse & Co - the other perfected 8-key
• Later Bb Flutes                                                                    
   
• Left-Handed Flutes
• Flute key marks and makers
• Numerical Key Marks   
   
• Unusual flutes
• The McGee-Flutes Research Collection
• Links to other historical flute sites

Flute Research

• 2002 Self-Indulgent Flute-maker's Tour
• Solomon Blackwood - a new woodwind timber?
• Purse Pads or Elastic Balls?                                 
   
• The Rise and Fall of English Pitch
• Society of Arts Pitch                                       
• 19th Century Flute Tuning
   
• The Great Flat Foot Experiment
• Determining Best Pitch in flutes  
• C# to D# - a more useful indicator of flute pitch? 
• Changes in Flute Scaling in the 18th and 19th centuries                 (New! Dec 2011)
   
• Effect of thread wrapping on flute tenons, Series 1    
  • A Survey
  • Analysis
  • A test tenon
  • Recovery
  • Musings
  • Restoration Issues
  • Your flute
  • Conclusions
     
• Effect of thread wrapping on flute tenons, Series 2     (Recent! July 2011)
  • Introduction
  • Original Bore Shape
  • Musings
  • A Plan
  • Plan B
  • Plans A & C
  • Hysteresis?
  • Plan D
  • A Test Tube
  • Ovality
     
• A comparison of flute types
  • Introduction
  • Classical Bores (I have known)
  • A comparison of Venting
  • A comparison of Scaling 
  • Comparison Summary
     
• Effect of Heat and Cold on Wooden Flutes
• Effect of Stopper Position
• Effects of Shrinkage on 19th Century Flutes (In progress)
• Effects of Humidity on Blackwood 
• A Comparison of Oils as a Moisture Barrier in Flutes (in progress)
   
• Investigations into flute tone 

  • 1. Introduction

  • 2. Analysing an existing recording 
           ...

  • n. A Picklist of Potential Investigations
     

  • Appendix 1 - Technical Resources

  • Appendix 2 - Further Reading

  • Appendix 3 - Audio Lab Control Unit

Flute research by others  

• Acoustic Impedances of Classical and Modern flutes
  (University of New South Wales Music Acoustics Group)
• Boehm flute "Revised Scale 2011" - Wye, Bennett, Spell
• Rick Wilson's Historical Flute Page
• Robert Bigio's Flute Pages

Music and Arts

• CDs of Wooden Flute Music
• Fixing Scratched CDs
• Other Interesting Music and Arts Sites in Canberra and Australia

Audio & Electronics

• Introduction to Visual Analyser
• Visual Analyser - Oscilloscope
• Visual Analyser - The Second Channel
• Visual Analyser - Calibration

Carillon

• Bell clapper impact dynamics and the voicing of a carillon (pdf)
• Carillon Bells - List of Partials
   
• Internal versus External Clappers
• High Clapper
• Comparison of electronic and real bell sounds
• Effect of slightly worn clappers

Personal

• The Family:
• Terry's partner Jesse Rowan,
  
• our sons Ciaron and Breandan, and
  
• daughter Roisin
   
• A new home for McGee flutes!
  • But where?  
  • Finding a builder                                                                
  • Building at Malua Bay!                                                       
  • Moving   
  • Settling in
  • Jesse's Sewing Room/Creative Space

Music                                                 

• Jesse Singing
• Ballyhooley
• Old Gold Folk Club
• The Canberra Ceili Band

Community

• The Malua Bay Improvement Group
• Eurobodalla Woodcraft Guild
• Malua Bay Rural Fire Brigade

You can contact Terry McGee:

• By email:  terry(at)mcgee-flutes.com (replace "(at)" with "@")

• By Phone from overseas:  +612 4471 3837

• By Phone in Australia:      02 4471 3837

• By Post:    35 Bunderra Circuit, Malua Bay, NSW, 2536 Australia

Malua Bay is about 15 minutes south of Batemans Bay on the NSW "Nature Coast"

If phoning,  please call between 9.00am and 9.00pm Australian Eastern Standard Time to avoid waking the family. Here is an easy time reckoner.

Terry's work is assisted by the ACT Government through its Cultural Council. 

This project has been assisted by the Commonwealth Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.

This web site archived by the National Library of Australia at http://nla.gov.au/nla.arc-24785