Materials and Manufacture
All flutes are made of African Blackwood unless otherwise  specified.  The flutes are made in three pieces. The head, the body,  which carries the six finger holes, and the foot. All flutes are mounted in sterling silver, with sterling silver keys. All instruments have a tuning slide  of nickel silver tube.  The 'cork' which blocks the head behind the embouchure is normally  made simply of cork, or of blackwood lapped with cork.

Nowadays, I  make the head corks from a type of plastic lapped with cork. The  reason for this is that cork or wooden corks swell very easily and  can become jammed in the bore. If they shrink, as they will when the  flute is dry, the cork can shift, with consequences for the internal tuning of the instrument. Plastic corks avoid this problem.

The springs on  the keys of keyed instruments are stainless steel coil springs as opposed to the traditional brass leaf springs. These springs are easy to replace, don't corrode or break, and  give a very even touch on all the keys. For the traditionalist, keys can be sprung in the old way with brass or cupro-nickel leaf springs.  Joints are cork lapped, and keys are padded with best quality stuffed leather pads.Keyless and keyed flutes are identical in terms of manufacture. The keyless flute although recommended for beginners, is of exactly the same design and quality as the more expensive keyed models.