Rob Forbes Flute

Cathy Wilde · Post by **Cathy Wilde** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 3:51 pm

Speaking of on-time delivery ... I ordered one of Rob Forbes's Delrin flutes for outdoor gigs, leaving assembled on the kitchen counter, etc. about a month ago. He said it would take about a month, and yup, it arrived last Friday. I even paid him in advance as I wanted to give him the money when I had it.

All that said, this little flute is terrific! If anyone's in the market for a keyless Delrin with a tuning slide, at $400 Rob's flutes are a great deal. I got way more than I expected, that's for sure; everything mentioned about his flutes in the earlier Forbes thread is definitely true in my experience. It's an easy player, well in tune (in fact, it's so well in tune it's a little disconcerting at first -- I'm assuming it's because the Delrin doesn't share some of the vagaries of wood?) -- and has a really great tone; nice and rich.

I couldn't be happier with it.

dow · Post by **dow** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 3:55 pm

Cat, could you bring that to Augusta?

Thanks,
dow

I.D.10-t · Post by **I.D.10-t** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 3:55 pm

Rob Forbes web site for tose that are interested, or at least I assume so.

Cathy Wilde · Post by **Cathy Wilde** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 4:00 pm

Ooops, thanks, id. I should have included that

!

Sure, dow! So far it's been stuck in my hot little hands three or four hours a day, so I don't think that will be any problem.

I.D.10-t · Post by **I.D.10-t** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 5:23 pm

Well I opened a link and my wife said it sounded pretty, so here is the link and quote from the site.

Here is a sound clip of David Migoya playing this model on John Lardiner's (with Kevin Rumery on bouzouki).

http://www.forbesflutes.com/files/dave.mp3

Cork · Post by **Cork** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 5:37 pm

I.D.10-t wrote:Well I opened a link and my wife sead it sounded pretty, so here is the link and quote from the site.

Here is a sound clip of David Migoya playing this model on John Lardiner's (with Kevin Rumery on bouzouki).
http://www.forbesflutes.com/files/dave.mp3

For 400 USD? Nice going!

Nice piece of flute playing, too.

Lee Stanford · Post by **Lee Stanford** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 11:27 pm

Cool! i've been waiting for folks to start talking about this flute. I'm a fan of delrin since I hike so much and like to bring my flute everywhere.

I have a dixon polymer flute. Can anyone compare the two. The Forbes flute, from what I read is "pratten-ish"

I think the dixon is somewhat "RR-ish" with its little holes and all.

I'm moving to Colorado in September and I'm going to stop by Rob's shop.

Bruno Sa · Post by **Bruno Sa** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 11:50 pm

Nice Cathy started the exact thread I was willing to. I just got a Forbes flute as well, and was just spending some more time before venturing in a review. Perhaps I'll write something more elaborate in the future, but for now I could not let this pass.
The flute is unbelievable rich in harmonics and LOUD. In fact, I compared it with my Susato High D Kildare S series, and both high G notes were almost in the same dB, with the Forbes being a wee touch louder!
Theres no hard D, but a whole "hard lower octave".

I'm a professional musician (piano, keyboards and now the flute), so the advantages of not having to worry about it cracking, swelling, leaving it assembled or whatever is a must.
It is very simple in design. No fancy silver rings (in fact they are smooth and made of some unspecified metal) nor detailed caps, yet very sturdy and innovative in the joint design. No threads, no corks, just Delrin and some O-rings. I even received some extra rubber rings for any eventuality.
For $400, I believe it is the perfect choice for somebody who's looking for a professionally-sounding Irish-like flute for gigs, sessions, everything.
Rob Forbes has been a very attentive and amiable person, patiently answering all my inquiries and anxieties.
I promise some pics and perhaps even some audio/video thing soon.
Buy one!

Peace
Bruno

Cork · Post by **Cork** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 5:56 am

Bruno Sa wrote:Nice Cathy started the exact thread I was willing to. I just got a Forbes flute as well, and was just spending some more time before venturing in a review. Perhaps I'll write something more elaborate in the future, but for now I could not let this pass.
The flute is unbelievable rich in harmonics and LOUD. In fact, I compared it with my Susato High D Kildare S series, and both high G notes were almost in the same dB, with the Forbes being a wee touch louder!
Theres no hard D, but a whole "hard lower octave". :)
I'm a professional musician (piano, keyboards and now the flute), so the advantages of not having to worry about it cracking, swelling, leaving it assembled or whatever is a must.
It is very simple in design. No fancy silver rings (in fact they are smooth and made of some unspecified metal) nor detailed caps, yet very sturdy and innovative in the joint design. No threads, no corks, just Delrin and some O-rings. I even received some extra rubber rings for any eventuality.
For $400, I believe it is the perfect choice for somebody who's looking for a professionally-sounding Irish-like flute for gigs, sessions, everything.
Rob Forbes has been a very attentive and amiable person, patiently answering all my inquiries and anxieties.
I promise some pics and perhaps even some audio/video thing soon.
Buy one!

Peace
Bruno

Thank you, this flute is new to me, and your comments addressed most of my questions.

While there are those who could consider wood as being THE flute material, there are some real advantages to synthetic materials, too.

Suddenly, I am beginning to wonder...

:-)

Lee Stanford · Post by **Lee Stanford** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 6:59 am

Bruno Sa wrote:Nice Cathy started the exact thread I was willing to. I just got a Forbes flute as well, and was just spending some more time before venturing in a review. Perhaps I'll write something more elaborate in the future, but for now I could not let this pass.
The flute is unbelievable rich in harmonics and LOUD. In fact, I compared it with my Susato High D Kildare S series, and both high G notes were almost in the same dB, with the Forbes being a wee touch louder!
Theres no hard D, but a whole "hard lower octave".
I'm a professional musician (piano, keyboards and now the flute), so the advantages of not having to worry about it cracking, swelling, leaving it assembled or whatever is a must.
It is very simple in design. No fancy silver rings (in fact they are smooth and made of some unspecified metal) nor detailed caps, yet very sturdy and innovative in the joint design. No threads, no corks, just Delrin and some O-rings. I even received some extra rubber rings for any eventuality.
For $400, I believe it is the perfect choice for somebody who's looking for a professionally-sounding Irish-like flute for gigs, sessions, everything.
Rob Forbes has been a very attentive and amiable person, patiently answering all my inquiries and anxieties.
I promise some pics and perhaps even some audio/video thing soon.
Buy one!

Peace
Bruno

Nice! You'd be suprised, though. Through time, some flutes can be a real cracker. My dixon polymer flute seemed real dark sounding at first and now a few years later I can get a nice reedy tone out of it. It's just not really loud. It does work in a large session, but you need to be able to get out all of it's sound. Thanks for the review and I look foward to any pictures/video you can post. That would be fantastic!

How are things in Brazil?

Lee

dholly · Post by **dholly** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 7:37 am

I have one too, and it is amazing what this flute can do!! It is hard to put down. This flute can be pushed harder in the lower D, E F# and G than any other flute I have. It will be great to hear more from folks after they have had them for awhile. Rob has really figured something out here!!!

Bruno Sa · Post by **Bruno Sa** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 12:13 am

Lee Stanford wrote:How are things in Brazil?

Lee

Hi Lee
Nice of you to ask. Incredibly enough, we have a few "Irish/Celtic" bands scattered throughout the southern states. Mine started as a session in an Irish Pub at Ipanema beach, Rio de Janeiro. Quite recently we made a few appearances in a local soap opera and now we've just scheduled our first gigs around town.

brotherwind · Post by **brotherwind** » Mon Aug 25, 2008 12:37 pm

Hi,
here are some images of a Rob Forbes Pratten:

http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?p=816448#816448

Cheers,

Moritz

greenspiderweb · Post by **greenspiderweb** » Mon Aug 25, 2008 2:51 pm

Ditto

Cork · Post by **Cork** » Mon Aug 25, 2008 7:46 pm

Update (as this thread goes back to last year):

I've now had my Rob Forbes Delrin flute for about 9 1/2 months.

It's still right here, within reach, as I write this.

:-)