Building the White Gold Flute - Part 1

Entering the order

As we prepare for the 2014 NFA Convention, we'd like to highlight the process of building a flute -- but not just any flute.  In fact, we are building a 14k white gold Powell Custom with 14k rose gold keys specifically for this year's Convention.  In our series of posts, we will follow the white gold flute from start to finish!  Recently, we discovered letters of correspondence between Verne Q. Powell and Fritz Baker.  Baker was the former principal flutist with the Denver Symphony and owner of Powell #900, the only completely white gold flute made by Mr. Powell.  Click here to read a previous post on the color of white gold and here for a detailed post on Mr. Baker's white gold flute.

The process of building a Powell flute begins with a sales order being entered into our computer system.  The order specifies the details and specs of the flute, and then a work order is generated.  The work order follows the flute along every step as the flute is being made

In the videos below, we see the next two steps that take place after the work order is generated.  First, materials must be inspected.  Then, the body kit and stringing kit are put together.  We visited the materials area of the production floor to film the following videos of the materials inspection with Materials Manager, Dawn Rothwell-Mann, and assembly of kits with Materials Coordinator, Helen Power.