Geoffrey Ellis' essential flute

[Steven673]

Sorry for the newb questions, but I am a newbie. I am learning the tin whistle and am really enjoying it, but at some point I think i will probably want to take up the flute. Now as a young man, when I was in band, I was never good at tuning. I've just never had the knack for it. So a one piece traditional flute appeals to me and I am really interested in Geoffrey Ellis essential flute. Does anyone have experience with this flute? I am mostly interested in irish style music. What should I take in consideration when choosing a key? Thanks in advance for any feedback.

[PB+J]

Sorry for the newb questions, but I am a newbie. I am learning the tin whistle and am really enjoying it, but at some point I think i will probably want to take up the flute. Now as a young man, when I was in band, I was never good at tuning. I've just never had the knack for it. So a one piece traditional flute appeals to me and I am really interested in Geoffrey Ellis essential flute. Does anyone have experience with this flute? I am mostly interested in irish style music. What should I take in consideration when choosing a key? Thanks in advance for any feedback.

I have one, it's an excellent instrument, very loud, excellent tuning consistency--it's vey well in tune with itself, but you can't adjust the tuning, so if you are playing with people they will have to tune to you. It's very loud, and takes a good bit of air. I wrote a review of it and posted it hear a month or so ago. The thread quickly got derailed, but I did offer some description.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=108830&hilit=essential

I liked the Essential flute so much that I bought an Ellis pratten model, a conical bore flute which is much more like what Irish traditional musicians typically play.

Irish music is overwhelmingly in the key of D. So a D flute would be your best bet if Irish music is your thing. You don't really need to worry about tuning if you are just playing by yourself. If you have a flute with a tuning slide, just set the tuning slide and forget it

[PB+J]

Also I should add that since my interest is primarily Irish music, I find the Ellis Pratten makes it easier to get where I want to go.

The Essential flute has a "cylindrical bore." It's basically a wooden pipe, with some secret sauce tapering somewhere. A "conical bore" flute is narrower at the "foot" end. One of the advantages of that has to do with the finger holes--they can be a little closer together and still be in tune.

There are some other inexpensive cylindrical bore flutes around. Doug Tipple makes flutes out of PVC pipe--I've never tried one, but you can find many good reviews. Hammy Hamilton makes a "practice flute:" https://mcneelamusic.com/hammy-hamilton ... 5OEALw_wcB

The Ellis I bought is really beautiful, a lovely object as well as an excellent instrument

[Steven673]

Thank you very much that is really helpful. They really are beautiful flutes. I never cared for the metal keyed flutes aesthetically. There is something about the elegance and simplicity of a keyless wooden flute that just really appeals to me. I'll likely go with the key of D. Thanks again.

[flyingparchment]

something to bear in mind: if you only intend to play by yourself, the actual key of the flute doesn't matter. unless you're cursed with perfect pitch, you can play equally well on a D flute as an F or B-flat flute or whichever key you prefer; the music will sound just the same, just at a different pitch. of course a D flute is much more useful for playing along with recordings, which is very helpful for learning Irish music, but i wonder if you wouldn't have a similar problem with a non-tunable flute: even if the flute itself is tuned perfectly at A=440, some recordings aren't...

[PB+J]

You're very welcome. I've really enjoyed learning both the flute and the basics of the irish repertoire. I'm still a beginner