Transverse flute

This instrument was played by the donors father, J. Hudson, in the band of the 2nd Gloucester Royal Engineers (Volunteers) until 1906. It is a side-blown flute made of cocus wood in five sections (head, barrel, upper and middle joints, and foot), with silver ferrules and keywork. It has eight keys in total, mounted in protruded knobs with pivots and foot stock bulge, of which six have saltspoon-cups and two (low C and C-sharp) have pewter-plug-cup keys (i.e. a nineteenth-century type of key in which the pad is a tapered plug of pewter or other soft metal riveted loosely to the key end, and the tonehole is lined with a similarly tapered metal bushing or sleeve that supposedly ensured an airtight seal), all with flat springs attached to keys. The low C and C-sharp keys have overlapping touches. The head has a silver lip plate, a wooden cap with ivory threaded stopper screw with silver tip, and cork stopper, and a circular embouchure hole. Nominal pitch: C.