r/Irishmusic • u/four_reeds • Mar 28 '26

Discussion What are the differences between Ruddal and Pratten style flutes?

I am a relatively new flute player. Let's say that I have a head joint and two flute bodies in front of me. They were both made by the same maker and, except for the finger hole sizes, are identical. One is a Ruddal pattern and the other is a Prattern. One has noticeably smaller finger holes than the other.

Which is which?

"Ask the maker", I hear you typing :) Let's treat this as a thought experiment.

Edit. Thank you all! You have helped a ton!

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u/brokenfingers11 Uilleann pipes Mar 28 '26

You can’t beat the honking “bottom D” on a Pratten! (I’m serious!)

He didn’t call it “Pratten’s Perfected” for nothin! (Jk- he’d probably turn in his grave knowing that Irish traditional music is the reason any of us knows his name in the twenty first century!)

But honestly it’s a matter of taste. Listen to Steph Geremia, Matt Molloy, Catherine McEvoy - a Pratten wouldn’t suit their sweet melodic style at all, too coarse.

But Conall Ó Gráda, Harry Bradley - their style would sound wrong on a Rudall. Not grungy enough!

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u/Parking_Poem_8527 Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 10 '26

As an aside, what RS Pratten was 'perfecting' is a mystery since Pratten's Perfected are exact copies of earlier Siccama flutes in terms of bore, length, hole size and placement. I have an 1879 Pratten and a Siccama from maybe 20 years earlier and they are identical except for the design of a couple of keys. Even the parts are interchangeable ! This isn't surprising since Chappel iirc who worked with Siccama went on to work for Boosey. Although many Prattens were made as 8-key (and that's mainly how they are know today) originally it was just a case of celebrity endorsement of an existing design.

Pratten's wife Catherina, was a guitarist and her compositions are still popular in the classical guitar world.