Hand Crafted Flutes

An 8 keyed flute in C, fully chromatic

An unkeyed flute in C

An unkeyed flute in D

A 5 keyed flute in D

If you click on the picture's below they will take you to George's website with larger photographs of each of the items, then you can see for yourself the high quality of his workmanship and the intricate carving he has created on each of the Sterling silver head joints , keys and many other parts belonging to the flute, once you have seen them you will definitely want to be a proud owner of one of the best flutes to come out of Scotland, and being able to state to family, friends and anyone else that "yes I am an owner of an Ormiston flute"

Please do not be afraid to e-mail George, if you have any questions about his flutes or other instruments he will be more than happy to help you, I am sure once you have seen these wonderful flutes you will want to buy one (or two) his flutes and other instruments are competitively priced and you as a new flautist or professional will realize the importance of knowing who is the manufacture as well as the quality of the instrument you are about to purchase and play. No this is not Billy Connoly, it is none other than the maestro himself, George Ormiston (Trying out some new glue)

Taking care of your flute The wood that this instrument has been made from has been air dried (seasoned) for a number of years before being hand-crafted into a musical instrument. Flutes made from good quality hardwoods will improve in tonal quality through playing. General care procedures, as described below, must be followed in order to prevent any damage occuning to the instrument. Great care should be taken when assembling and taking apart the instrument, the parts being put together in a twisting motion rather than the tenon being pushed straight in. If it is a keyed flute, it should be held so as not to apply undue pressure on the keys. On keyed flutes with 'C and long 'F' keys, care must be taken that these keys do not foul on one another during assembly. The joints, which are lapped with cork, must be greased each time before playing to help protect against swelling from moisture, by using cork grease. Otherwise the joints dry out, which is quite noticeable. This new instrument will go through a 'playing in' period. The new flute is not used to moisture or warm air. Wood expands as a result of an increase in temperature and/or because of water absorption. Fast expansion may cause cracking if it occurs too quickly. It is best not to play this new instrument for hours at a time until it is fully played in. A guide to playing in would be: Ten minutes at a time for the first week, 20 minutes for the second week and 30 minutes at a time for the third week. This may be repeated a number of times each day. After playing, condensed moisture in the bore (inside) should be wiped out with a loosely fitting mop or pull-through, so as to leave the bore evenly moist. It is not necessary to dry it out completely. The bore of the instrument, but not the head joint, should be oiled with almond oil once a month, after the flute has dried out completely, and oiling is also recommended for the outside of the flute, including the head joint (around the mouth hole in particular), to protect the wood. This helps to replace the natural oils that are lost through evaporation and during the cleaning process. These oils help to stabilise the wood and therefore help to prevent cracking. The instrument should never be submitted to extreme changes in temperature or placed in direct sunlight. All woodwind instruments perform best when played regularly, otherwise they tend to 'dry out'. The metal keys, ferrules (rings) and bottom part of the tuning slide are made from sterling silver and should be polished with a silver polish cloth, not with any abrasive polish. This is to prevent tarnishing and pitting due to perspiration acids. Finally, after cleaning, the flute should be put back in its case. George Ormiston

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