Buying a new Murray flute
Brannen Brothers Flutemakers will provide an estimate for anyone considering a new Murray system flute. The model they have made in the past is the Cooper scale one (a gold flute for Pat Zuber); They are not currently making the newer Lasewski scale model.
Juan Arista has the mandrel made by Tom Green needed to make the Lasewski scale Murray flute headjoint. The newer Lasewski scale Murray flute models cannot be played with a standard flute headjoint, the head tapers more at the top end on Lasewski scale, like a Baroque flute headjoint, to keep the octaves in tune. The Arista head has a wider embouchure hole than either the Tom Green or Jack Moore Lasewski scale headjoints and is just fantastic.
Miguel Arista has the tooling and schematics from Tom Green used to make the 1998 Lasewski-Murray-Moore (owned by Lynne Lasser, your website author ;D). I believe this is the second-to-last Murray flute made as of this writing.
The Finale model was made in 2004 by Jack Moore and differs only slightly from the 1998 model: It is a unibody design and the D crescent lays just over the D# key, with a small pad between. See the Murray Companion Booklet for visual comparison.
Schematics to make the Lasewski scale Murray flute are here. We are working on obtaining the schematics for the Finale.
Secondhand Murray flutes
Murray flutes can sometimes be found on the secondhand market and tend to be very reasonably priced. We’ve seen them offered at Flute Center and Flute World, among other sources. We hope to establish a direct, buyer-to-seller marketplace for Murray flutes on this site in time.
If you’re looking to ease into learning Murray flute, you may look for a secondhand flute in the so-called German system, with Open g# and reverse thumb, as that would help you get comfortable with the left hand. Most flute and piccolo manufacturers will make open g# and reverse thumb upon request; They are quite popular overseas.
We have also seen some flutes that can use either a Murray foot (including the D crescent) or a standard foot to ease the learning curve or maintain a consistent right hand with another standard instrument.
It’s also possible to buy a German system piccolo and have the foot modified for open D#. Pat Zuber’s husband, Greg, figured out how, much to Alex Murray’s delight:
trying a Murray flute
We are working on a “lending library” to help players get a feel for the Murray flute before they take the plunge. We are also working on establishing a marketplace to directly connect buyers and sellers of Murray flutes on this website. If you are looking to sell or loan, please reach out.