Chiff and Fipple Forums

I've been playing for 9 years and this is the first time I've seen it! I use cork grease, take care the flute, etc. If you've been playing for 9 years the flute this happened to, I'd say the corks have served their purpose pretty well :) . Cork replacement is a part of regular maintenance on woodwi...

A small bit of the cork on one of the tenons of my flute (Olwell Pratten, tenon between the body and foot) fell off. It must have been sticking up slightly and gotten caught as I assembled the flute, because it fell out when I disassembled. It's only a couple mm in total, but now there is a slight p...

Roland of Gilead wrote: ↑Tue Jul 18, 2023 6:31 pm

bigsciota wrote: ↑Sun Jul 09, 2023 1:16 pm But who's the fella playing with Molloy? Looks like some kind of James Bond-esque international man of mystery...

It's Micheal Flatley, I reckon. Lord of the dance, river dance, etc.

No, that's Victor Blackley, a former spy who must have been hauled out of retirement for one last gig.

Like the title says, wondering if anyone has a keyed flute in delrin/polymer that they’d like to offload. Based in Massachusetts, USA.

In the BBC footage that's also on Youtube, it sure looks like the flute player at around the 3:20 mark is playing some kind of Radcliffe-esque flute. Lots of silver on it, at least. Paddy Taylor comes to mind as someone who'd have been active then playing that kind of flute, although I'm not convinc...

Always fun to see Billy Clifford in action, one of the more under-rated fluters IMO. Love listening to the recordings he's made (despite some very of-their-time recording/arranging choices). But who's the fella playing with Molloy? Looks like some kind of James Bond-esque international man of myster...

I have a D from 2015 and and Eb from 2018, both have no markings at all. I think with a few makers out there now making similar-style whistles they must have figured it'd be good to put their branding on there. I actually quite like the unmarked look, the script they're using for the engraving is a ...

I'd say most if not all Irish flute players play or have played whistle at some point. However, the flute is a very different beast despite sharing the same fingerings. If you already play whistle, it'll probably be easier to learn flute than, say, concertina or banjo. But there's still a steep lear...

Think about basic economics for a second. Every time I search for something related to Irish music, I seem to see a McNeela ad. I see his instruments being "reviewed" on YouTube by people who have gotten them for free in order to try them out. McNeela seems to put a fair bit of money and e...

An alternative might be pick-and-pluck foam, chopped up into cubes already and you just pull out sections to create holes:

https://www.amazon.com/Insert-Bottom-St ... 559&sr=8-7

I actually asked Michael Burke this very question! There are two versions of the brass whistle, the "narrow" and the "session" bore. He found aluminum to be a bit brighter and louder/cut more than brass, so when he made a "session" bore aluminum whistle he made the bore...

I'll add my voice to those saying the Susato S bore is your best bet for pure volume. I have had a couple Chieftain/Kerry high Ds, and I found them kinda hard to work with. Very loud, takes a ton of air, and the high A and B are really tough to play or have to listen to. The Bb with the same bore, o...

Someday I'll get to dedisgn my own Irish tuning chromatic harmonica, which would be a Paddy Richter tuned D harmonica with the slide out and a C# Paddy Richter tuned harmonica with the slide engaged. Kind of a C#/D box in harmonica form. For the existing ones, I'd actually say G would be better beca...

One issue with fully-keyed flutes is that there is often a significant wait from well-known makers to get one. In that case, the used market is a good possibility to get your hands on a flute straight out. If money truly is no object, there's an 8 keyed Grinter for sale on the Irish Flute Store for ...

A lovely flute in delrin by Francois Baubet. The medium-sized holes and Baubet's embouchure cut make it quite an easy player, but it's still got a strong tone and good honk on the low D. This is a perfect "grab-and-go" flute since it's easy to play and fairly indestructible thanks to the d...