Hi all!
Does anyone use Dixon’s 3-peace polymer flute?
The official information is, that it’s range=2 octave’s. But ican’t believe it! 
The whistle’s range is larger!!!
By the way if there available cross fingering on it?
And what the different between it and the next model with vent foot?
Thank you wery much!
Hi Sandy,
Welcome!
The Dixon is a nice flute, I used to own one. Are you trying to reach the rarefied airs of the 3 octave? Most of the Irish flutes have been modified to play better in the first and second octave and not much in the third.
There is probably some cross fingering that will correct it. When I had my Dixon, I wasn’t good enough to hit the second octave, just me… 
Maybe someone has the fingering for the third octave.
Cheers,
Hi Sandy,
try http://www.mcgee-flutes.com/fingering.html. You’ll find a complete fingering chart there.
Flutes with a short end might have a better/stronger low D than flutes with C# and C hole. I never had problems with my low D either, I own a flute with vent holes.
Happy playing!
Gabriel
Thank, but this fingering is for 8-keyed flute, and i’m talking about keyless Dixon’s flute… I still haven’t bought it yet, i just think- to buy or not to buy). A friend of mine said, that it’s only a 2 octaves range, but he plays flute only a few weeks, and i think, that it is possible to play up to third g or b flat, and to play semitones with cross finering(it has small holes). If it is impossible, then i am to look for another variant .
This fingering chart should work with a keyless flute, except the fingerings with keys.
Almost all the simple system flutes I tried could play the a in the third octave. Some are easy, others are not. There are also fingerings used in charanga music, that are supposed to work in the 4th octave, but I never managed to use them.
On my flute, the 3rd octave fingerings that work are:
D oxxx ooo (oxx xxx was better on my Pratten)
E xxo oxx (xxo xxo idem)
F# xox xox
G xox ooo
A oxx xxo
(D and E are in better tune with the D# key open)
And I have never seen a flute that was fully chromatic with cross fingerings AND was powerful enough for ITM. If you want a chromatic flute that sounds irish, you need keys.
But if you want to play irish music, keys are not very useful in the beginning.
Hope this helps 
I must admit that i didn’t like the Dixon three piece at all. I ended up buying an M&E polymer instead and i’m far, far happier with it.
Thank you all for good advices!
Well, yes, you are quite right. In irish music i am not to need chromatic scale. Then’ i’ll buy Dixon’s flute. One more question- what model to buy- 30 or 31, 31- with vent foot,mm-m…IT IS SO SIMPLE TO SPEAK RUSSIAN!!! Why no one understand that? 
mmm-m… Is the vent foot a helpful thing or not?
I had a 3 piece Dixon flute - it was my first real Irish flute. I thought it played quite well. With practice, you can either cross-finger quite a few of the accidentals (except D# which really isn’t used much in ITM) and you can half hole some of the notes, too. It was very well made, and Tony is a great guy.
Why not drop him an email and ask what benefits Tony sees with the vented foot? He’ll email you back in a day or two.
Personally, I have a Seery with a vented foot, and a Sweetheart without, and I’m not sure the foot makes much difference except I think a hard low D is easier without a vented foot and the upper octaves are a tad easier on a vented foot…but then again, I may be imagining these differences.
As for range of an Irish flute - it’s always going to be more than on a tin whistle. The third octave D and E are about all you’re ever going to need for Irish music, though, and it’ll take you time to get good enough to hit those notes so don’t expect them at first.
Eric
Hi Sandy; for some reason Dixons flutes get little praise around here. I have both a rosewood Dixon and the poly 3 piece. I think they are both very fine flutes. The design is his own and the holes are small and they are quite easy to play. The volume is much greater then the holes would suggest. I see no reason for the vented foot and the third octive on both of mine is pretty easy to get to. They are well made and quite capable of a good hard D with practice. Now I have some pretty nice flutes laying around my place but have never even thought about selling either Dixon. They are unique, simple and sweet to look at. The rosewood is a treasure that will go to the grave with me. Like I told Tony a couple of years ago when he made it for me, it was the best flute he ever made and he could never have it back :smiley: I havent checked in to his website in a while so I dont know what he is asking now a days, in fact I didnt even know he was doing a vented foot model, but I do know you can`t go wrong with one of his flutes. Of course this is just my humble opinion and worth no more then what it cost me to express. There are so many flute makers out there now a days and the choice is stagering. How great is that If Tony makes a flute you can afford then I say get it. You wont be disapointed. Have fun and
Take care
Tom
Here is a fingering chart that I have made for an open hole Irish flute.
here
The reason is the Dixon two-piece (the second flute I owned) 
With all due respect to Tony, it made a much better whistle when I was able to get the whistle head. In short I think he made a marketing mistake offering that as a flute and it put a number of people off the brand (I believe there is still some confusion about what is meant when one refers to a Dixon three-piece ie., the real flute or the whistle w/ extra “flute” head)
Good point Jack; I forgot about that one. I had one of those also way back when. Real hunk of garbage as far as the flute head goes. I don`t think I ever got a note out of it when I was trying to learn the flute. Though I do seem to remember at least a couple of posts saying they could play it. The rosewood flute I have was my first wooden flute and my objectivity might be tarnished a bit because of that, but I doubt it. Course I also think that rosewood is the king of flute woods, I have 3 made of that wood. But , as always, it is personel preferance that points us in the direction of one flute over another. Heck I just rediscovered my 8 key rubber tire east Indian Eb the other day and am shakin my head at how grand it sounds. And so it goes…
Take care
Tom
I have a dixon 3 piece polymer flute and the third octave is fine.
fingerings are on my flute:
third oct a XXX XXX
third oct b XXX XXO
third oct c# XXX XXO
third oct d XXX
takes a bit of more practice but you should be able to get them all in the end…
good luck and have fun practicing!
berti
I had both the 3-piece and the “Duo.”
I can see where people have difficulty with the “Duo.” It was not easy. But I cut my teeth on it well enough.
The 3-piece was a significant upgrade. Perhaps Tony has upgraded the stopper but on retrospect I think the stopper on my flute was a source for less than optimal tone. It was just a rough slice of cork. A delrin stopper or denser slice of cork would have been much better. It played well enough but I found the flute had a limit.
The bamboo Olwell is by far a better flute. It’s a great flute overall and a great intro flute.
Cheers,
Aaron
Wha’ happen’d?
again?
I think we got your point Aaron
By the way I glued a dime to the face of the cork in my 3 pc poly and it made a great difference.
The Olwell might be a little scary for a beginner because of the hole size and the stretch but man oh man I wish I had mine back…
Take care
Tom