Just to clear the record, I myself never said any of that. For Irish music (all else aside), in simple-system flutes keys are a negotiable option, and flutes of synthetic material are perfectly acceptable; Tom Doorley himself performed handsomely on a Delrin flute for years, but the point is that it was made by an expert. Frippery counts for nothing but itself. What counts is tone and performance. What counts is that a good maker has made it; that is, an expert who knows how to cut good embouchures and bring the instrument into good intonation and performance, and this unavoidably takes time, care, and attention. That's a big part of what you're paying for in a proper instrument, and only a vulgarian would begrudge paying for such necessary expertise. If truly good flutes were a snap to make, I daresay most of us would be making our own. I know I would.farmerjones wrote:...I'm now understanding now that keys are necessarily the most absolutely required feature on Earth, and that I'm looking for something made of actual wood for the tone qualities and general cosmetic appeal...
The only option I would not back down from is to have a tuning slide.