Vintage Gerhard Rudolf Uebel Metal Flute

Description

Vintage Gerhard Rudolf Uebel Metal Flute

This Vintage Gerhard Rudolf Uebel Metal Flute was manufactured by Gerhard Rudolf UEBEL in Eastern Germany (GDR) in 1967.
Gerhard Rudolf Uebel experimented with new materials and mechanical construction techniques and this flute is a fine example of his innovation work.
The body of the flute is made from one single rod of aluminium – silver grey anodised. There is no separate foot joint. It is therefore made in a similar way to a wooden flute rather than a modern metal flute. The flute is tapered at both ends so it looks a bit like a cigar, which is where its nickname ‘cigar flute’ originates. The head joint and deep-cup, undercut keys are made of silver-plated German silver. The head joint itself is simply inserted directly into the body without a tenon socket. There is no head joint cork assembly. The aluminium crown is fixed in place. It has a black plastic reform lip-plate. Tiny screws rather than pins are used to connect the rods of the keys. The posts have set screws which enable the pivot screws to be finely adjusted. It is a closed G-sharp flute. Production of these flutes lasted from 1959 for around ten years.