so having completely mastered the high whistle, i am now moving on to the flute.
just kidding; actually, i heard Kevin Crawford playing and was moved to tears. i’ve heard other flute players and thought, i don’t like flutes, i’m a whistle player! but i heard his Lunasa song Inion Ni Scannlain on youtube, and i have to learn how to play that song (someday in the distant future, i’m sure
anyway, i have an Overton aluminum d whistle by Colin Goldie and a blackwood d whistle by Fred Rose (both tunable) that i would like to offer in trade for a delrin flute; preferably one someone is not using
i’ve been crawling around this board for awhile and saw the posts on delrin flutes… so if anybody has a Cochran, or Forbes, or Copley they don’t need, and would like some premium whistles… the Goldie sells new for about $240 on Big Whistle Music’s site (when they have them) and the Rose is 190L, which works out to about $290 (according to xe.com), so that’s about $530 worth of high performance whistle if anyone is interested.
i can send pictures if anyone’s interested. (and if not, i’ll just keep them and buy a tipple
You probably already knew this, but Inion Ni Scannlain is played on a Bb flute. If you have a Bb whistle, it is real easy to play along with and learn it. Or, you could purchase the Lunasa tune books where the tunes are layed out in its original format(like on the albums), and they also have them transposed so you can learn it on a D whistle too(so there are 2 variations of the tunes).
I dunno that anyone makes a Delrin Bb as a standard product. I think you’ll need to find a flutemaker who will do it as a special order. The Bb flute is absolutely nothing like a D flute – much mellower, kinda like a low-D whistle vs a pennywhistle. An entirely different beast to play, too. Not better or worse, not easier or harder, but very different.
I know that Delrin is a pain to work with. It is extremely difficult and messy to make a whistle out of delrin; I couldn’t imagine a flute. Some makers do charge a little extra for it, but I would ask and see. I am curious though: why choose delrin over a wood?
i live in arizona; it’s really dry here, i saw some photos of a flute with a totally split head joint. then i read Mr. Copley’s care instructions for wooden flutes and it scared the crap out of me. i don’t know that i’d have the time to oil a flute every 3 days and/or every time i use it…
The tune doesn’t, of course, have to be played on an Bb flute (although it is on the Lunasa album). In fact, I perused the videos on YouTube and all the versions of Inion Ni Scannlain I can see are played on either a whistle or a regular D flute. If you want a similar sound as the videos a D flute is the way to go.
I wouldn’t recommend an Bb as a first Irish flute. Too esoteric. Go with a D flute in Delrin from any of the well-known makers and you won’t be disappointed. Buy an Bb later on if you find ITM flute is something you want to pursue seriously.
I have the Lunasa tune books and they are excellent. Inion Ni Scannlain, incidentally, is transcribed in the books both in Bb Major and G Major, so it’ll be pretty easy to figure out on either a D or Bb instrument.
i’m working on a trade for a d flute; i’ll try that first before i worry about if i can play it on a Bb flute or not, and i do have that Bb whistle, so once the tune books get here i’ll start trying to learn it on that.
fyi, i’m still working on trades for the whistles, so if anyone is still interested in that, i haven’t made any final decisions yet.
Some makers do charge a little extra for it, but I would ask and see. I am curious though: why choose delrin over a wood?