I know that the Cheaper Dixon 1 and 2 piece flutes have been rubbished on this forum in favor of the Tipple models.
But what of the Dixon 3 piece tapered bore ??
Here’s my situation, 50 yrs I ago played flute in school and a bit of sax in college.. Now re entering woodwinds playing whistle.. and want to think about getting into Irish flute.
I am not a very wealthy person but I am wondering if I should buy a cheaper Tipple now and then if I rediscover my ability to play leap to a Copley Delrin or equivalent.
Or do I go for the more middle price Dixon tapered bore now and will I be satisfied.
I know the answer is usually buy the best instrument you can afford.
Is the Dixon 3 piece Delrin a better flute than the Tipple…
I am sure many will suggest a Sweet Shannon or some such rare animal.. But I would like to avoid spending weeks searching the used ads..
Thanks for any comments
I haven’t tried a Dixon in a while, so I can’t opine on that. But I’d like to add my two cents about the Tipple flute.
I tried one recently (one that was made this year, I believe) and I was amazed at how decent it was. It didn’t feel all that different from my Copley delrin flute; the embouchure felt similar. For a flute under $100 (and a cylindrical one at that), it seemed really in tune with itself and fairly loud. I didn’t like it nearly as much as my Copley, mind you, but I did really like it for what it was. The main annoying things about it were the slightly cumbersome hole spacing and how light it was (it was so light that I felt like it would wisp away while I was playing it). Other than that, it was just fine.
While we’re on the subject of surprisingly good, cheap flutes, I know someone who plays a Randal Hauck flute, and that thing is astoundingly good for the price, if you ask me. You can get a lot of volume out of it super easily. I’d say it’s significantly better than the Tipple flute (though still not as good as a Copley, in my personal opinion). And it’s under $200.
But take all this with a grain of salt, because I’m still an intermediate flute player.
I notice you talk about loud volume.. I am actually more interested in a quieter flute. For playing at home.. I had understood the conical bore flutes like the Dixon 3 piece to be softer in tone ??
Well, again, I haven’t tried a Dixon in a while. I’ve heard them described as “quiet,” but I can’t confirm that myself.
But there are a couple of things I’d point out:
First, in general, I don’t think it’s necessarily true that conical flutes are invariably quieter than cylindrical ones. Tons of factors go into flute volume, and bore profile is just one of them. So the fact that a Dixon is conical won’t necessarily make it quieter than a Tipple.
Second, the reason flute players generally use “loud” as a positive adjective is because, in most cases, it’s possible to play any flute (even a “loud” flute) fairly quietly, if you want to. So “loud” flutes are really just flutes that can be played loud, not necessarily flutes that have to be played loud.
True, some flutes - especially ones with a very high maximum volume - are harder to play quietly than others. But this isn’t universally true. Some flutes can be played very loud or very quietly without too much difficulty.
So the real question isn’t which flute is “louder,” but which flute can be played quietly easier. And I can’t answer that myself, because (1) I haven’t played a Dixon in a while, and (2) I played the Tipple in a session, so I wasn’t trying to play quietly.
Thank you for that.. I have been refreshing my fingers on a high D whistle and thats an instrument that is hard to play softly.
I guess it makes sense that a flute would have a far greater dynamic range.
No problem! And yeah, another thing I should point out is that high D whistles are generally significantly louder than flutes at the top end of their range, and they’re very piercing up there, too, which can make it hard to practice them without disturbing people. Flutes generally don’t have this problem. I practice my (rather loud) flute in my apartment all the time and I’ve never had a noise complaint - and I’m not even trying to play quietly.
But yes, on top of that, the flute also has way more dynamic range than the whistle.