Introducing the Heavy Wall Handmade Conservatory Flute

Powell Heavy Wall Handmade Conservatory Flute

In 1928, Verne Q. Powell published his very first brochure, offering flutists the choice of two models of sterling silver flutes -- the Handmade (with soldered tone holes) and the Commercial (with drawn tone holes).  The Commercial model had a long 60-year production history and is still a prized possession of many flutists today.  After the last Commercial model was produced in 1988, Powell continued to receive requests for this popular style. In 1993, Powell launched a completely resigned version of the Commercial model, the 2100.  In 2002, the 2100 was redesigned as well, marking the introduction of the current sterling silver Handmade Conservatory model to the public.

Today, we celebrate a particularly historic milestone for the silver Handmade Conservatory flute.  In addition to having drawn tone holes, the original Powell Commercial model had a body tubing thickness of .018".  Over the years, the Powell drawn tone hole models shifted to a medium thickness of .016".  For flutists who prefer the .018" "heavy wall" tubing, this option has only been available on Custom Powell models.  We are pleased to announce that the sterling silver Powell Handmade Conservatory model is now available in either .016" or .018" tubing.

The new heavy wall Handmade Conservatory offers flutists an even greater selection of options while celebrating the model's original predecessor, the Powell Commercial model (click here to view our previous post on the original Powell 1928 brochure).

If you are interested in trying a heavy wall silver Handmade Conservatory, follow this link to our online dealer locator page. For those without a Powell dealer in the area, contact Daniel Sharp at dsharp@powellflutes.com.

Tube Thickness

Have you heard the term "heavy wall" in regard to flutes?  When we go to shows like the NFA, we do have people asking if we have "heavy wall" flutes.  So, what exactly is the "heavy wall" flute?

Well, "heavy wall" refers to the thickness of the body tubing.  For our silver Custom flutes, you have the choice of three different tube thicknesses: .014", .016", and .018."  In that series of measurements, the "heavy wall" is the .018" tubing, because is it the thickest tubing of the three.  Many of our flutes have the .016" thickness, including our Signature, Conservatory, and Aurumite models. Currently, most of our orders for silver Custom flutes request the .016" tubing as well.

The Custom silver flutes have thickness choices, but what about gold?  Platinum?  All of the Custom gold flutes (regardless of karat), have a body thickness of .012,"and the body tubing for platinum flutes is .010." 

It's good to keep these different body tubing thicknesses in mind when trying headjoints as well.  Silver headjoints are available in .014" and .016" tubing.  As you might recall from a previous post on silver headjoints (follow this link to read it), we found that the .018" tubing on silver headjoints didn't produce the desired sound qualities we were looking for with the .018" silver Custom body, so the .016" silver headjoint fits that particular flute.  Of course, if you have a .014" silver flute, the .016" headjoint would definitely not fit!  From yet another post (which you can read by following this link), we learned that sometimes the barrel thickness is different than the body thickness.  Lots to think about!  So, if you have the chance to try different thicknesses on silver flutes, see if you can feel and hear a difference.  Obviously, there's more than one size to fit all when it comes to silver!