Williams

The Williams Flute Company was founded in 1990 by David C. Williams after more than 25 years as a performing musician in a variety of musical genres. Mr. Williams' personal quest to define a better instrument for his own playing needs has evolved into a definitive example of modern flute design.

The Williams Flute Shop produces a limited number of instruments each year; one flute at a time by dedicated artisans with a single mission: create the finest flutes in the world. Mr. Williams firmly believes that the subjective experience of making music takes precedent over any and all advice or admonition from experts. His efforts are based in empirical evaluation of all he is able to explore and he is always open to improvement and critique of his work.

The thrust of the Williams headjoint design is to create a style which allows the player the ease of articulation and projection exemplified by the best of the Cooper-related designs, while eliminating the “buzz” which has become closely associated with that design. Mr. Williams considers the tone production to be rather too directed on many modern headjoints, and so has designed his headjoint specifically to allow the broadest possible palette of tonal color throughout the entire dynamic range. The key element of this design is the utilization of reinforced resonance as the core ingredient of projection and increased dynamic capability.