Chiff and Fipple Forums

I have a Chris Dawson (Rhiannon Flutes) bamboo flute in G that's powerful and has a great tone. I used to have an Olwell bamboo flute in C that was lovely as well. Brian Finnegan, the flute and whistle player, plays bamboo flutes on some of the Flook recordings. The main challenge ...

... much money. :D P.S. You could try one of Billy Miller's flutes to keep you going in the meantime. As has been mentioned, not as incredible as an Olwell, but still very good flutes at an affordable price. :thumbsup:

Does Olwell still make bamboo flutes?

I like to use bamboo flutes occasionally, particularly my low D Olwell, because of the difference in tone that you get with a cylindrical bore. Clichéd as it sounds, cylindrically bored flutes have a much more rounded tone.

... and I were lucky enough to meet and interview some of the best Irish traditional flute players around while filming for The Keymaster: Patrick Olwell's Story, and not all of them were in Ireland. Shannon Heaton, along with her husband Matt, have been carrying on the tradition here in the US ...

... instruments appear to me anyway to be up to the job, and to have interesting strengths of their own. My impression is that nothing beats the Olwells, but Billy Miller's cane/bamboo flutes are, as you say, close behind. I have a Bb Miller and it's very good. I do think, as I reckon we all ...

I suppose what I'm trying to say is that these instruments are certainly up to the job.

I was more questioning Jim's reference to the bamboo whistles in Irish music shops, not so much the Olwell (etc) bamboo flutes.

My son has a D. Olwell bamboo ( one serious piece of grass :) ) and a couple of Billy's bamboo ones in A. and F. As for myself, I just have one of Billy's in F. The Olwell is exceptional, and Miller's flutes aren't that far behind ...

I'm having good experiences playing bamboo flutes--both for ITM and Old Time music. I have an Olwell A, which is pure gold, and a Billy Miller Bb. The former enables me to play easily in D, which comes in handy. I like these flutes a lot. They are well in tune and they ...

... of 2011, Blayne Chastain and I had the opportunity to go to Ireland for 10 days to film flute players for our documentary, “The Keymaster: Patrick Olwell’s Story”. We met and interviewed 14 flute players, traveled over 1,000Km, and had one of the most memorable trips of our lives. Toward the end ...

... of 2011, Blayne Chastain and I had the opportunity to go to Ireland for 10 days to film flute players for our documentary, “The Keymaster: Patrick Olwell’s Story”. We met and interviewed 14 flute players, traveled over 1,000Km, and had one of the most memorable trips of our lives. We made a stop ...

Thanks for sharing these clips with us, Jem. What a great project!! Colm O'Donnell sure gets the "Olwell flute sound" in his playing.
Paul

... of 2011, Blayne Chastain and I had the opportunity to go to Ireland for 10 days to film flute players for our documentary, “The Keymaster: Patrick Olwell’s Story”. We met and interviewed 14 flute players, traveled over 1,000Km, and had one of the most memorable trips of our lives. On our second ...

Better off saving up for longer and getting one of the $400-$800 flutes as a starter. That being said, Patrick Olwell makes bamboo flutes that can sometimes be had for less that 400, and they are really quite nice.

Perhaps the comments was more about the flutes being from America, and the documentary about Patrick Olwell, rather than Irish-based makers (such as Hammy Hamilton, Eugene Lambe, Sam Murray & etc.).