My main flute these days is my Hamilton blackwood 6-key, and it's a wonderful flute! It easily gets the most play.
In a non-IrTrad vein, I've been working on some old jazz standards using my Gemeinhardt silver flute, so it's been getting played at least a couple of times a week as well.
I keep both Seery and M&E R&R flutes assembled on my computer desk so that I can grab a quick tune if I have a minute but not really long enough to break out a wooden flute. Of these two polymer flutes, it seems the Seery gets grabbed more often, which is more a function of the fact that it's typically closer on the desk than the M&E.
My old German 8-key gets played from time to time, it's the flute that got me into this obsession with wooden flutes and Irish dance music, and I enjoy playing it, though it doesn't have the power or the elegance of the Hammy.
I have a 6-key M&E that gets broken out when I have a tune I want to try that needs keys, but don't have the time to break out the Hammy. Also, the 6-key M&E gets played with I'm playing classical or early music because of a unique tone that I can achieve on it far more easily than on my other flutes. It'll also easily produce a hard-edged "driven" sound that works well with Irish tunes.
My old Sweet Baroque flute almost never gets played anymore; also my recorders are rarely played. I wish I had more time where I could break them out more often.
My Sweet Bb fife only sees play anymore for funeral duty. Here lately, it's been getting played way too often.
I have a little high-F piccolo which Michael Cronnolly made me which plays and is fun but rarely gets played as it is very hard to control and is very shrill.
I have a Hall pyrex flute which almost never gets played and usually lives in the back of a closet, safely tucked away in its padded case.
And of course, I have my whistles, but that's getting to be OT, so there ya go.
--James
