Chiff and Fipple Forums

Wondering if anyone has a Copley delrin for sale.. ?? I am in NYC

Buy one from the maker. Good fellow to do business with.

Also, FWIW, there is a Copley blackwood flute for 389 at the Irish Flute Store (online).
This is much like the delrin flute, except made of blackwood. In truth it is a tough flute
that needs little care and (having owned a number of Dave's flutes) sounds good. You get two weeks to try it before the sale is final. Seems a good deal. I think lots of newbies go for delrin
because they overestimate the care required by wooden flutes.

Yup I have been looking at that flute.. I missed a Delrin one they had last weekend...
And you are correct about us newbies and fear of wood.. I read all these people who write about having to baggie their flutes and humidify and all this stuff.. Then I read Terry MCGee's website and he seems to say it's way less hassle.. and I guess he should know.. I live in NYC and have a mahogany Ukulele which sits out most of the year.. 6 years and no cracking.. and I think that thin wood would be way more susceptible to drying out than a flute that is getting daily humidification from breath..
So I was thinking to ask on this board and if no one has a Delrin like that available I may just bite the bullet and go for the wood one..

The things you will have to do is swab the flute after you play it and also, when central heating
or whatever makes the air dry, humidify the flute. There are two ways to do this I'm aware of. First, put the flute and a damp sponge or washcloth in a plastic container. You may wish to buy a hygrometer (which should be quite inexpensive) and when the humidity drops below 50, do this. Second Walgreens is selling a very good cool mist humidifier for 45 dollars, that works very well, is silent, has no filter, needs virtually no maintenance and will run quite a long time on one tank (fillable from your faucet). This is good for you as well as the flutes. This is what I do. But the first method works fine. There is a good deal of controversy over what I'm about to say, but (I've played for fifteen years) I think the wooden Copley will sound better. Good luck!

I hasten to add that I own a delrin Copley and play it on the street.
Certainly a good flute. I'm one of those weirdos who prefer the
sound of wood to that of delrin. Less sure about ebonite.

SirRoger wrote:I live in NYC and have a mahogany Ukulele which sits out most of the year.. 6 years and no cracking.. and I think that thin wood would be way more susceptible to drying out than a flute that is getting daily humidification from breath..

It's not necessarily about thick or thin, but more about expansion, contraction and stresses, especially where different materials (e.g. metal, wood) are involved. But Jim's right about wood not being difficult to look after. I too play both wood and Delrin, and like wood not because it plays better or worse but because it just looks and feels nice.

Also second the recommendation to buy straight from Dave, particularly if you're looking for Delrin with a typically shorter lead time.

Before jumping at the blackwood Copley on the Irish Flute Store, you might want to think about how tunable you need the flute to be, since the one for sale doesn't have a tuning slide (hence the lower price). While Copley's delrin flutes at this price point also lack tuning slides, they nature of delrin allows a longer, thinner tenon so you are able to have a bit more play with the headjoint than on a slideless wooden flute (my apologies if I don't have the technicalities exactly correct on this - but I think you get the idea). There are a lot of people who say that tuning slides aren't necessary, but I find it nice to have, especially if you play in groups that might not keep pristine tuning throughout a session, or if you are enough of a beginner that you need the flute to do a bit of the tuning for you. That for me would be more the deciding issue than the care of wood - and I would just tune out (ha!) the noise about the sound of wood vs delrin. It's a very subjective thing, and there are very few opinions on this board that I would trust.

sjpete wrote:...there are very few opinions on this board that I would trust.

Steve

The other option I am looking at is popping for a Shannon.. Or the Somers that is for sale on the Used forum.. except I have heard that the Somers is a very loud flute.. Anyone ??

sjpete wrote:That for me would be more the deciding issue than the care of wood - and I would just tune out (ha!) the noise about the sound of wood vs delrin.

If I wanted a flute to leave made up in all conditions, take away on casual holidays etc., I'd go straight for Delrin and not even consider wood, so the presence or absence of a tuning slide (which my Copley Delrin doesn't have) would be way down my list of priorities for such a thing...

It's a very subjective thing, and there are very few opinions on this board that I would trust.

While I ultimately make up my own mind about everything, there's still a useful range of experience and considered opinion here. But, even if there wasn't, I doubt I could make a worse pitch for my own than saying I hardly trust anyone!

Thats why I asked about a Copley Delrin.. I have been going back and forth but really good sense says that Delrin is the way to go... Just wondering where else apart from Chiff and Fipple and Ebay one might find a used Delrin flute..

Yep on opinions.. clearly I came here because thats exactly what I am looking for.. I can't simply trust my own as I have no experience to use in its formulation..!!

Peter Duggan wrote:If I wanted a flute to leave made up in all conditions, take away on casual holidays etc., I'd go straight for Delrin and not even consider wood, so the presence or absence of a tuning slide (which my Copley Delrin doesn't have) would be way down my list of priorities for such a thing....

Fair point, just saying that delrin flute construction usually allows for a bit more play with the tuning even without a slide, so another reason to go for delrin.

While I ultimately make up my own mind about everything, there's still a useful range of experience and considered opinion here. But, even if there wasn't, I doubt I could make a worse pitch for my own than saying I hardly trust anyone!

I apologize for how that sounded! I have also benefited from the range of experience and considered opinion on here, and if I didn't think the board were worth reading, I wouldn't be on it. However, on the particular subject of wood vs delrin, I would only trust a very few of the opinions expressed on this board - and mine would definitely not be one of them. So you are right on that count too.

sjpete wrote:I apologize for how that sounded! I have also benefited from the range of experience and considered opinion on here, and if I didn't think the board were worth reading, I wouldn't be on it. However, on the particular subject of wood vs delrin, I would only trust a very few of the opinions expressed on this board - and mine would definitely not be one of them. So you are right on that count too.

Pressing the imaginary 'like' button!

anyhow nobody is asking anybody to trust anything--that's part of the force of announcing one's view as controversial or an opinion. Just saying what we think on the basis of our experience in the hope of being of help to people who want it. Obviously when you get this deep into something (as some of us are into flutes) you are going to get differences of opinion. The reader makes up his/her own mind, which is the way to go.