Occupation Flute maker Name William Haynes | Role Business person | |
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Born 1864 East Providence, Rhode Island Website William S. Haynes Flute Company Died 1939, Florida, United States | ||
William S. Haynes (1864–1939) was the founder of the William S. Haynes Flute Company of Boston. The company was founded in 1888 and is one of the world's leading makers of concert flutes.
Haynes was a master silversmith. He was the son of a sea captain and a school teacher. Haynes established his flute-making shop, Wm S Haynes Co., in Piedmont Street in the Bay Village district of Boston, where the business was until moving to Acton, MA in 2010.
Haynes patented his distinctive flute design in 1914, and the company has since become a provider of silver and gold instruments to many of the world's most prominent orchestral, chamber and jazz musicians. High-profile soloists to have performed on a Haynes flute have included Georges Barrère and Jean-Pierre Rampal. They made silver, gold, and 90/10 platinum-iridium alloy flutes for Barrère. The piece Density 21.5 was composed for the latter flute's premiere in 1936 but in fact its density was a bit higher than pure platinum at about 21.6 grammes per cubic centimetre. At US$3,750 in 1935, it cost about four times more than his gold one purchased in 1927 (in real dollars: US $1,250 in 1927 and US$3,750 in 1935 are about US $16,000 and US$65,000, respectively, in 2014 dollars).
Haynes retired to Florida in 1936 and died there in 1939.
When the recent owner John Fuggetta died, his widow, Stella Fuggetta, sold the company to Eastman Strings in 2004.