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Kingston
Washington
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Ordering and other matters
STATUS AS OF MARCH 2025!
I AM NO LONGER TAKING ORDERS!
I am retired from the business of making and selling musical instruments. The last 43 years has been a good run with an estimated 5000 instruments produced.
I am still planning to innovate in the workshop, pursuing a few collaborative projects with other artisans, as well as prove that Crystal Flutes similar to the ones made by Claude Laurent can be made again.
Meanwhile, if you seek an instrument you might want to keep an eye out for my flutes in the used market. I am also hoping to influence a few of my colleagues to consider making small handed ergonomic flutes based on my designs. The younger generation of flute makers are producing some lovely instruments!
I am also no longer offering repair service for my flutes and have generally NEVER offered repairs and restoration services for antique flutes, or flutes by other currently active makers. I was never good at repairs, and consider working on my colleagues flutes as forbidden.
(FROM PREVIOUS UPDATES) For now I am leaving up parts of the old pages of my website as an archive, including the old prices. Eventually I will be downsizing the website to something that doesn't cost an arm and a leg yearly.
I have over 5000 flutes out in the world. I have a recurring nightmare where these all develop cracks and people expect me to fix these as soon as possible. At this point in my career, cracks rarely happen. Unless your flute was recently delivered in the last year, you will have to find someone local to handle these repairs, or do these yourself. Usually the local band instrument repair workshop can attend to this type of work. For the DIY, I will eventually have a page at cbwim.substack.com and will post links here. There will also be video showing how to rewrap and care for your tenons and service the tuning slide, tighten loose rings etc.
Frequently I get this question: "Do you buy flutes back?" Apparently the people who ask this fail to see the "All Sales are Final" above. For one thing I do not have the money to offer any kind of refund, especially for something purchased in the last century. I am in the business of selling the new flutes that I make, instead of used ones that may have several years of mishandling and abuse. If you have a flute you want to sell, contact the Irish Flute Store online, sell it on eBay or consign it with your local folk music store.
Legacy Flutes: Occasionally I get contacted by the relatives of previous clients wanting guidance about the flutes that were left behind when their loved ones passed away, or commonly wanting to return these to me without any refund expected. If you are in this situation, please email me. I am here to help. Usually I regift these flutes to the needy or retire them, depending upon their condition and quality. A few of these are useful for documenting my career path and may end up in a museum or in the Dayton Miller Collection at the Libary of Congress. There are also a few instrument lending libraries that will accept these.
These flutes are usually robust. Problems usually happen due to mishandling. I will discuss any necessary maintenance or repairs on a case by case basis. Read your Care Instructions - you will find most of the answers about oiling etc. there. I will be posting a Care page that you can refer to. DO NOT send me your flute to have repairs done without talking to me first!
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Page last modified: November 28, 2022 |
© Casey Burns 1981-2015 |
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