Sideblown in Boston

David Chu; Flute specialist and owner of Sideblown Technologies

A few weeks ago I travelled down to Boston for some meetings and to visit some flute makers. An interesting fact is that most of the classical concert flute makers in the USA are located in the Boston area.  The older established companies like Wm. S. Haynes and Verne Q. Powell along with the newer companies like Burkart, Brannen, Arista, Emmanuel, Williams and Nagahara are all within 50 miles of each other. The advantage for this is that they can share a lot of the same suppliers and the same highly skilled work force. Many technicians leave one company to work at another and never have to move. Others even start their own businesses making complete flutes, providing service freelance or specializing in making peripherals.

One such person is David Chu. Originally from Hong Kong, he first came to Boston to study classical flute at the New England Conservatory. He later moved to Phoenix where he wrote music for film and television as well as playing and contracting orchestras for film music sessions.

He then returned to New England where he began working for Burkart Flutes and Piccolos where he learned the trade of flute making.  After that he worked for Arista Flutes and eventually became the General Manager of Wm. S. Haynes Company.

Now David works has created his own company called Sideblown Technologies repairing modern flutes as well as restoring historical flute by such makers as Louis Lot and Bonneville. These great French flute makers flourished during the 1860s to 1930s. Some of those flutes are pitched at        A 438 and others have had the holes repositioned to play at A440.

David has also created his own line of hardwood and bamboo headjoints.  I bought one of his bamboo headjoints that clip onto the Boehm system concert flute many years ago.  I have used it quite a bit for studio work. It is very handy when a composer needs an exotic tone but the piece has a lot of chromaticism.

The headjoints David is fashioning out of the hardwoods like grenadilla and boxwood are particularly excellent. These headjoints have wonderful sound and crisp articulation.  He offers them with and without the wooden lipplate.

Restored historic French flutes and newly made hardwood head joints

For more information please look at David’s website http://www.sideblown.com which among other things is a great resource for used instruments and other flute related sites.