Andyman, I was referring to your picture. It looks like a flute in the key of C which has a B flat foot. The extra lever key is for the footjoint. That is just what I get by peaking a glance at the picture you posted.

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Okay, so maybe it is a B flat flute with a B flat footjoint. I have never seen or heard of one before. Strange...

Hi KAra,
"It looks like a flute in the key of C which has a B flat foot. The extra lever key is for the footjoint. That is just what I get by peaking a glance at the picture you posted."
This is very true. I think that my decisiion is based upon the yardstick next to it and that if one had placed a C Concert flute next to it side by side, we'd see that the two are different sized. The Bb flute would be simply a larger version of the C flute in most all dimensions.

If it were an alto flute which is even larger, the mechanism begins to look different because our fingers need to reach the keys and levers.

Hi:

I have a Bb open hole in-line (alto)flute d'amour. It was one of a small manufactured run of around six from the KinStar company of Taiwan.
It is a well made silver plated model, with an extended foot to low Bb (concert Ab) as well.
It plays great! not as fat and mellow as my regular wider bore alto flute in G, but with open tone holes, it suits jazz and blues playing better, and if you have a Bb Real Book (or play clarinet or tenor sax) you can read tunes (and chord changes) without that dreadful alto flute transposition!!

So, they do exist, and are very user friendly.

HI JimJazz, Thanks for your sharing on the B flat Flute discussion.
I'm convinced, based on this on line forum and speaking with local Woodwind repair/sales people here in NYC, that the Flute I have is a B Flat Flute. Would you consider these Flutes "rare"? And what is the sale value? (Excellent condition, Solid silver body, keys with holes).

Best regards
andyman

Thanks Suzie!
That's helpful.
Best AM

One thing to add - I did some searching at a music store recently of their old catalogs from the 80s and sure enough, Emerson did list a Bb flute as a custom order option - buried in the pages of other stuff. And an Eb flute as well(pitched between a flute and a piccolo).

reportedly they were made as well as Emerson's top-end stuff at the time and play very well in addition to being extremely rare/hard to find. I almost bought an Eb years ago, and my brain remembered seeing other types listed, so I double-checked.

I'm quite jealous. Heh.

hehe I never tried Bb flutes before neither alto nor badd flutes before. :D

HI Plekto and Mormika, Thanks for jumpin into the chat here.
I did not realize that this B flat flute was so rare. I appreciate your input.

Best
AM

i play the flute! idk if it is a Bb flute

http://www.box.net/shared/6d6lfvqdk6
There's a picture of the flute. Also look at the spacing of the trill keys(back side of the flute) in relation to the main line of keys. There look to be extra supports for a much longer set of rods to those trill keys. Lastly, the spacing of the left hand keys is progressively greater than the right hand ones. Enough so that the last key on the main tube is almost half a key farther apart than the G to E key distance.

https://www.prowinds.com/merchantmanager/images/uploads/Std_Flute.jpg
Normal flute for reference. Note how the left hand keys are in a nice line and about the same distance from each other. You'd clearly have to stretch your hands on the other flute a bit to reach the keys properly. The biggest giveaway, though, is the size of the tubing. It's clearly closer to an alto flute in diameter.

Hi AndyMan: there is a photo of my Bb King Star flute on page 35 of Flute Focus International magazine, issue 4 Oct 2005. It is rare in the sense of difficult to get, but not expensive - from memory around $500.

It does not have the full large tone of a good alto flute in the lower octave, but it is more like a C concert flute in general playing characteristcs.

I hope you can find one - there is a Canadian distributor for Kin Star

cheers

jimjazz

Emerson DeFord of the Emerson Flute Company built
many Bb and Eb flutes.
They are very hard to find any more because when
he sold his company to Selmer/ UMI they decided not to
make these specific instruments. They just
make the normal Emerson C flute line, Bass flute, Alto flutes ect.
Sherry Lee/ Emerson DeFord's Daughter

HI Sherry Lee,
Thanks so much for you response.
I sent you a reply to your email (thank you).
I really appreciate your information in helping me to determine the value of the flute.

B/rgds
AM

Glad to help Andy !
Sherry