Rare Louis Lot Ring Key Piccolo-Restored to Playing Condition-Sweet Tone!

Description

Beautiful
and Rare!
Louis Lot Ring Key Piccolo
No serial number-Made c.1890
Restored to Playing Condition
A Must! for Any Louis Lot Fan or Collector!
There's just something magical about the sound of an old French flute or piccolo. And this one made by the master himself, Louis Lot! This beautiful piccolo was in the possession of a famous professional musician who recently passed at the age of 95. This was his treasure and he was still using it for recording sessions!
It was recently repaired less than a year ago because the tenon had snapped off and was lost. I fitted a new tenon out of brass, not silver, because the owner needed the instrument in a couple of days and that's all I had in the shop. Even after this the piccolo was in need of a lot of work. So he brought it back to me a week later and I cleaned it, fixed a huge headjoint crack and fitted the instrument with all new pads and corks. The cork pads had to be covered in leather to insure a tight seal over worn and irregular tone holes. Nothing mechanically was changed. The mechanical condition is quite worn and the screw and post threads also very worn. Everything was left original to insure the highest value for a collector. The only part which is not original is the tenon. Despite the apparent wear, this piccolo can be played! All of the notes work from top to bottom. And the tone is amazing!
This instrument does play at a lower pitch than we use today in orchestras. Therefore it would be best used to play on recordings where the other musicians can tune down to the A=435 pitch.
Here we have one of the finest and most unusual piccolos from the era of the master French flute makers. The ring key system does not imploy your ordinary ring keys which when depressed surround the tone hole. Those piccolos have rings as on a clarinet where the fingers actually cover the tone holes. In this fine example, the tone holes are too large for the fingers to cover, so the ring also includes a pad in the shape of a donut. The pad is made of cork with a thing layer of leather to improve the seal.
Someone wishing to study this design and perhaps recreate it, or someone wishing to study the development of the piccolo would gain a lot of insight from this instrument.
Flute and piccolo makers, collectors and players, take a look at this instrument: for the sound, for the design, for the history!
OWN a piece of HISTORY!
No reasonable offer will be refused.
Email me with any questions. I also have many more photos and can take photos at your request.
Thanks for looking!