A New Value Leader in Irish Flutes

Sillydill · Post by **Sillydill** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 9:29 am

Hey Gang,

I just saw on Doc's website (Irish Flute Store: http://www.irishflutestore.com/newsite/ ... .php?c1=55 at the bottom of the list) an all NEW DIXON Maple Irish Flute for $199.

This should cause a recalibration of the Irish Flute Bang for the Buck O-Meter.

This is excellent news for newbies!

Finally a competent inexpensive flute to start on. Kudos to Tony Dixon!

I've had 3 or 4 conically bored Dixon flutes (Delrin & Rosewood) and always found them enjoyable with good intonation and a nice voice.

withak · Post by **withak** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 10:41 am

Are they tuneable?

jemtheflute · Post by **jemtheflute** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 1:02 pm

This is absolutely a personal, subjective opinion and has nothing to do with how the thing may play, which I obviously cannot know at present, but that is one UGLY flute! I love maple/sycamore as a timber for its looks, so that is not my objection, and it is an excellent tone-wood for recorders. I just don't like the lines of it - it really does look like a chair-leg!

Aanvil · Post by **Aanvil** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 1:12 pm

jemtheflute wrote:This is absolutely a personal, subjective opinion and has nothing to do with how the thing may play, which I obviously cannot know at present, but that is one UGLY flute! I love maple/sycamore as a timber for its looks, so that is not my objection, and it is an excellent tone-wood for recorders. I just don't like the lines of it - it really does look like a chair-leg!

Well I'm glad you said it not me... I feel bad though because that was my VERY first thought.

Sweets have a bit of that line as well.

How porous is maple in say relation to boxwood?

jim stone · Post by **jim stone** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 1:28 pm

Can't give a precise answer, however it is common
practice to soak maple used for woodwinds in tung oil,
(R .Sweet does this) or permeate it with wax.
So one can make a pretty porous wood impermeable
to moisture. The Maple sweets sound quite good,
in fact, as do the cherrywood flutes.

Doc Jones · Post by **Doc Jones** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 2:28 pm

Ooops! Clicked the wrong button. It's pre-owned. Sorry.

Doc

Sillydill · Post by **Sillydill** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 9:04 pm

WHAT! … A Table Leg….Clicked the Wrong Button!

Here I thought someone was finally being a great philanthropist and aiding fledgling Irish flute players by offering a competent conically bored wooden instrument for under $200! This could’ve been the start of a whole new trend. With the declining prices and corresponding increasing of demand. The great snowball effect could ultimately lead to Irish flutes becoming more common place than computers. Think of the possibilities…

I could see the Great Bright Tomorrow, when all American school children would learn to play Irish flute in school and the world would reel to their exuberant pure and youthful arias. Instead of vainly seeking acoustical shelter from the ceaseless petulant squawking and squealing of their tortuous plastic fipple weapons.

Oh what great clouds of gloom and despair have obscured my bask in the warm rays of Idealism. Now it rains upon my parade.. Oh woe is me! (Well, not really too woeful.)

Guess I’ll just have to go play a Lament!

greenspiderweb · Post by **greenspiderweb** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 9:10 pm

Good recovery! And nice dream too...

sbfluter · Post by **sbfluter** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 8:49 am

I really think school kids should play fifes. They've got those drum bands with the drill team girls but no fifes.

Doc Jones · Post by **Doc Jones** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 8:58 am

Jordan,

It's important to savor the joyous moments in life...errr...even if it turns out that they are a total crock.

I'm glad my senility was, at least, able to give you a brief moment of rapt delight. Sorry it couldn't last.

Doc

Doc Jones · Post by **Doc Jones** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 9:01 am

sbfluter wrote:I really think school kids should play fifes....

This response, of course, begs 3 important questions...

1. Have you actually been in a room with children?

2. Have you ever heard a fife?

And, finally, if the answer to either of the above is "yes"...

3. Have you completely lost your mind?!

Doc

Denny · Post by **Denny** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 9:07 am

that 3rd one was rhetorical...wasn't it

jim stone · Post by **jim stone** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 9:13 am

What really matters is how the beastie sounds.
Anybody know?

Doug_Tipple · Post by **Doug_Tipple** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 11:10 am

Soprano and alto recorders and penny whistles are for kids. Children can learn to play a simple tune quite easily. Small flutes and fifes are probably not the best for children because they take a more developed embouchure and are harder to play.

I have a Weiss (West German) maple alto recorder. When I purchased it second-hand years ago, most of the wax used to impregnate the wood had bled to the surface and was a big mess. I scrapped off the wax and used varnish remover to get down to the bare wood. I think that the oiled, natural wood maple is attractive, although it appears darker than the Tony Dixon maple flute.

I was curious to see what the new price was for the flute in question. I couldn't find any mention of wooden flutes made by the craftsmen at Tony Dixon's shop. With the current exhange rate between Euros, pounds sterling and US dollars, instruments made or sold in the USA are an excellent value in Europe, whereas the opposite is true the other way around.

Tootler · Post by **Tootler** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 4:40 pm

Doug_Tipple wrote:With the current exhange rate between Euros, pounds sterling and US dollars, instruments made or sold in the USA are an excellent value in Europe, whereas the opposite is true the other way around.

I thought that, but then you have to add import duty, VAT and shipping costs. Once you do that, the price for a flute imported from the USA and one of equivalent quality from a UK maker is pretty much the same.

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A New Value Leader in Irish Flutes

A New Value Leader in Irish Flutes

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