A couple of months back, with Jon's help, I worked out that what I was looking for in a travel flute was a Jon C Delrin Rudall; I told him at the time that I was waiting for some extra cash to come in before ordering (and resigned myself to a wait once I did order).
But about a week back, when I finally told him to go ahead, Jon had a surprise for me - someone else had ordered (then cancelled) the model I wanted. As an extra bonus, he'd had it with him last week at Friday Harbor so it had lots of good Irish music vibes
The flute arrived today - very nice indeed. The craftmanship is impressive, and it speaks easily, but I can see that it will take a while to get the best from it.
Compared to my Burns Folk Flute, it seems a touch quieter and the embouchure seems a bit more demanding (getting a solid low D requires more work), but I was surprised at how easily and sweetly the 2nd octave plays. Also (though this is probably a function of my undeveloped embouchure) it seems to take a bit more air to fill than the Burns - not excessive, but noticably more.
I don't intend to neglect my Burns, either, but this flute should see a lot of play - just being able to leave it set up will see to that (and the nice travel roll Jon shipped it in will be a help on the road). With two good (and quite different) flutes to work with, it should be a long time before my skill even approaches their limits.
Thanks, Jon
Dana C
). I imagine that more volume (when I want it) will come in time, but "quieter" isn't always a bad thing, either.
"It might be a bit better to tune to one of my fiddle's open strings, like A, rather than asking me for an F#." - Martin Milner
