Chiff and Fipple Forums

Thanks for the mentions Normski & Fatmac. My flutes start at £185 for the most basic (tunable) delrin 'two piece' model.
I am in Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire, UK.
More details/pictures etc on the links below, cheers!
https://www.thompsonflutes.com/
https://www.facebook.com/thompsonflutes/

Thanks for all the info.

Go low or go high? What a question. 'Go high' puts more pressure on me to stick at learning to play, 'go low' is less risk.

I will need to ponder this..... but welcome any more suggestions.

If you are going to stick at it, an M&E in F is a nice, but heavy, flute, but it's about £200.

(You could of course just buy a Tony Dixon high D piccolo to try out embouchure on, for a cost of about £22.)

Don't bother with the bottom line Dixon thingy. IMO those are a waste of money. The best-cheapest option I'm aware of is Garry Somers' aluminium body/Delrin head flute. I acquired one second-hand and it is brilliant. The embouchure cut is especially good. It sounds and plays better than many flutes I've tried costing 3-4 times the price. It would be an excellent choice for a beginner in terms of being a reliably workable instrument that will bring a player on, not hinder them. Of course, it doesn't look "beautiful", but it does the job extremely well.
http://www.somers-flutes.com/aluminium- ... elrin-head

A while back Hobgoblin were stocking them at about £120, though last time I looked they had no stock

Here's a short demo video on my one:
https://youtu.be/oUvRZCOQopo

On the subject of Garry Somers, his delrin Pratten is awesome, too (but a bit more expensive).

Pat

Thanks for those suggestions..... There seems to be a jump between the bottom and the next step up which is not unexpected, but will take some time to consider.

I am glad that there are several UK makers.

Phill

IMO the "bottom step" isn't a step at all, more of a quagmire, to be avoided at all costs.

BigDavy wrote:Hi DrPhil

If you are thinking of learning flute Comhaltas branches in the UK might be a good place to start.

David

Odd, but I can't get that link to work. It may be that theirs is one of those sites that doesn't work well with IE (I know, I know). Anyway, I was only following the link out of interest. My personal experience with Comhaltas in the UK (only two branches) has been awful. I won't identify the branches, but I've found there people who assume that they are the arbiters of everything about Irish traditional music, but can't actually play. Maybe it's better in some places than others, and I've just been unlucky. And in one of those cases, it was several years ago, so things may have changed.

Hi benhall.1

The link works ok for me, (I use Vivaldi to go onto Chiff)

Sorry about the numpties that put you off at your local Comhaltas branches, it is not something that I have experienced in my local branches.

David

This Doug Tipple, will get you started, even with international postage:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Doug-Tipples-3 ... OSwNSxVXrS~

And this Shannon would be a step up:

https://www.irishflutestore.com/product ... -sweet.php

Sorry if I missed a mention above. Has anyone tried the M&E beginners flute "The perfect flute to practice with before moving onto a full sized flute"? It's not immediately obvious what key it is. https://www.mandeirishflutes.ie/product ... er-s-flute

What a terrible M&E web page of the novice flute. The header is blurred beyond recognition. The actual photo of the flute is an artsy, blurry effort by someone who knows nothing about flutes or the need to illustrate the embouchure, finger hole sizes and hole placings, length of flute, bore size, wall thickness, or manufacturing material. There's no sound offered nor any attempt to offer descriptive details in a caption. Worthless.

K.

That M&E beginners flute is a new product, probably haven't had time to get proper photos done yet. I'd give them the benefit of doubt, because, if you email him, he will send you details, I did when I wanted to know the hole spacings of his 'F' flute, which I purchased.

P.S. That initial blurry image clears after a few seconds.

Thanks for more input everyone.... sorry for delay, but I am handling a family crisis.
I will ponder these points and any new ones since I will not now be in a position to act anytime soon.

hpinson wrote:This Doug Tipple, will get you started, even with international postage:.......

Might have been tempted, but in the UK a little red warning appears on the listing 'does not ship to UK'. You may not have been able to see this where you are.

keithsandra wrote:What a terrible M&E web page of the novice flute. The header is blurred beyond recognition. The actual photo of the flute is an artsy, blurry effort by someone who knows nothing about flutes or the need to illustrate the embouchure, finger hole sizes and hole placings, length of flute, bore size, wall thickness, or manufacturing material. There's no sound offered nor any attempt to offer descriptive details in a caption. Worthless.

K.

I wouldn't slag on M&E. They make great instruments and are probably still in the process of updating their website. Not everyone can be a web designer AND a flutemaker, not everyone can pay for a Wix or Squarespace site, and not everyone can quit their day job to make flutes AND run a website.