François Baubet
Welcome to my website ! In the late 90's I started playing the Irish flute and quickly became involved with several Irish music bands in France. I spent many years playing in sessions and on stage and eventually decided to move to Ireland in June 2003. I finally settled in Ennis County Clare in 2004 where I currently live with my new Irish family.
In 2005, based on my professional experience of woodworking and my passion of flute playing I decided to start making flutes. I sold my first flute 2 years later.
I am a self taught flute maker and I am always learning more about the art of flute making and always trying to improve my work.
I make wooden flutes mostly for traditional music and more specifically Irish music.
My flutes are based on 19th century English flutes such as Pratten, Rudall and Rose and Carte or Hawkes and son. I do not make exact copies of original instruments but I try to keep and improve all the characteristics most suitable for traditional music playing.
My flutes are made using traditional methods as well as modern techniques. I mostly use the wood lathe for shaping and finishing and metal lathe for high precision tasks such as cuttings tenons or adjusting rings. Many of my tools are hand made and designed specifically for each model of flute I make.
Flute making is not a full time job but more a passion for me, I have a day job as IT technician and therefore I cannot produce a high number of instruments each year. Because I can only make a couple of flutes at a time, I tend to focus on each of them separately. Each of my instruments can be slightly different from, one to another as I constantly adjust my techniques and improve my skills.
Once the manufacturing process is over I spend sometimes weeks tuning and trying each of my flutes to reach the best results possible. I would never sell a flute that I am not happy to play myself !
I do not make flutes for a living, therefore I have no necessity or interest in selling instrument at any cost.
All the profit I generate by selling my flutes is directly used to buy wood and tools.
Unfortunately, flute making is a very very expensive hobby...
Until now I have been making key less flutes only but I have recently started making flutes in D with up to 4 keys (C, G#, short F and Eb).
See "about my flute" for more information about my instruments.