Flute Maintenance- Wood Vs. Plastic

[Doug_Tipple]

ONly this:

if I don't have a flute and seriously wish to learn,
and it's a choice between a tough, easy to care for flute
that sounds very good and a tougher, easier to care for flute
that sounds less good, the first flute is the prudent
choice--supposing other things like price are equal.
Wooden flutes are pretty tough flutes
and easy to care for. Tough is tough enough, usually.
Generally they sound better
than delrin flutes. So it's prudent to go for a
wooden flute as one's first--unless you live under
extraordinary circumstances.

Not that delrin flutes are drek or that there's no place for them.

Being the logician that you are, you make an unrealistic supposition in the above statement, and that is "supposing other things like price are equal". I would very much like to buy a new wooden low D flute for less than $100, because, like a lot of poeple, I have to watch my pennies. I don't think that my circumstances are extraordinary; I think that it is a very common reality. Bt the way, I would like the flute to have a tuning slide, and I would like it to play easily and be in tune throughout two octaves. Jim, dear fellow, can you make a good recommendation for a starter wooden flute?

[jim stone]

I had a seery pratten, which I wish I still had, frankly,
which I never swabbed. No problem. I blush to confess
I often don't swab wooden flutes, just shake out
the moisture. No problem there either.
The flutes just dry out pretty quickly when they're
dissassembled. I also play the same wooden flute
all day, on and off, making sure to stand it up
between tunes.

I suspect there is some legitimate disagreement
about how delrin flutes sound. I think some of them
sound better than some (reasonably desireable)
wooden flutes.

[Jon C.]

Hi,
If you are going to "beat a dead horse", use a Delrin flute!
For a beginner, I would recommend a Dave Copley Delrin flute, if you want a wood beginner flute, get a Casey Burns wooden flute. These two flutes are cost effective for a beginner. ( then I don't have to make them...)
I will play my antique Cocuswood flutes over delrin, but if I head camping or to the desert, I will bring along a Delrin flute to take hiking or just to have kinking around on the table. In adverse conditions why not use delrin? I would go as far to say that Delrin is similar to Blackwood or Cocuswood as a tonal material. The bottom line is how well the flute was made, mainly the embouchure cut. You can have a dud fr a flute made out of fine Cocuswood, that just isn't fun to play, or a nice responsive Delrin flute that plays constant 24/7.
My two bits worth...

[Denny]

What are the consequences of not swabbing out a plastic flute? Will it grow microbes and begin to smell funny?

probably...
sink, warm water, shake
repeat every 3-4 months

[fearfaoin]

I don't know where cocus came upon this "all thing$ being equal"
statement. If I could find a wooden flute with a full tuning slide
that sounded as good as my M&E polymer for the same price, or
even up to $200 more, I'd trade up in a heartbeat.

I may even forgo the tuning slide and get the Burns folkflute, but I
stilldon't think it's a fully equal price/value trade. Cost keeps me
in plastic. I don't complain, though. I like my M&E pretty well.

[Jack Bradshaw]

Just to cover the bases...I have two ceramic flutes (D and F ...tapered bores) that stand in the corner w/ the Delrin and are also ready to play etc etc.......can't say I'd want to try whacking them....but they were the least costly of all !

[jim stone]

ONly this:

if I don't have a flute and seriously wish to learn,
and it's a choice between a tough, easy to care for flute
that sounds very good and a tougher, easier to care for flute
that sounds less good, the first flute is the prudent
choice--supposing other things like price are equal.
Wooden flutes are pretty tough flutes
and easy to care for. Tough is tough enough, usually.
Generally they sound better
than delrin flutes. So it's prudent to go for a
wooden flute as one's first--unless you live under
extraordinary circumstances.

Not that delrin flutes are drek or that there's no place for them.

Being the logician that you are, you make an unrealistic supposition in the above statement, and that is "supposing other things like price are equal". I would very much like to buy a new wooden low D flute for less than $100, because, like a lot of poeple, I have to watch my pennies. I don't think that my circumstances are extraordinary; I think that it is a very common reality. Bt the way, I would like the flute to have a tuning slide, and I would like it to play easily and be in tune throughout two octaves. Jim, dear fellow, can you make a good recommendation for a starter wooden flute?

all thing$ being equal

That was cocus. I included it in my rendition of his argument.
It of course carries through to the conclusion. It's prudent to
go for a wooden flute as one's first (all things $being equal)--
unless (like Denny) one has extraordinay needs.

You're rt that it doesn't follow that it's prudent to go for
a wooden flute as one's first. If a delrin flute (or a plastic)
is the only one you can afford, and there is no competing
wooden flute in your price range, it's prudent to go
delrin or plastic. Under 250 dollars plus I can't think of a wooden
flute that would do what yours do.

Again I'm not sold on this argument--the premise that strikes
me as weakest is the claim that delrin sounds less good than wood.
I think some delrin flutes sound better than some desirable
wooden flutes--I'd prefer the seery to the folk flute, though
the former costs more. There's actually a range, I think,
where wood is cheaper than delrin.

My reccomendation for a starter flute is the CB Folk Flute.

I do think, personally, that the fragility of wooden flutes
is over emphasized. Tough critters, in truth. And easy
to care for. Routinely
advising delrin due to ease of care and durability
may fail to adequately count the fact that blackwood
and mopane, say, are tough enough. And often sound better.

[Sephiroth]

honestly, i've recently tried some flute in a festival. Some plastic flute, wood irish flute, wood french flute ... and comparing each sound, i've no reason to be shamed of my pvc M&E ...
I think it's better to take time to practice the enbouchure in place of arguing of wood and pvc ... try a flute and if u like it, buy it ...

[scheky]

I've been vocal about my reasons for choice of flute. I simply CANNOT use most wooden flutes. Well, I could if I wanted to fall over and stop breathing.

Honestly though, I play my Seery Delrin and I've heard what it can do in the hands of an honest good player. Perhaps you can do better. However, the price you would have to pay to sound better...even disregarding my wood allergies, I question if it's really worth it.

I'll NEVER outgrow this flute. I don't play professionally, nor do I intend to. I play for enjoyment. I know it's more than enough flute for me. Why the heck WOULD I want a wooden one over that? I could pay more for what I don't need? OH BOY! That sounds great!

[I.D.10-t]

It would be interesting to see if you ever need to wait a half hour for the swelling to go down on joint after playing on a Delrin flute before separating the two sections or if rings ever fall off of them.

[scheky]

I had the ring fall off my old style M&E, but I just dropped it back with a drop of superglue and all was well.

Of course, when it happened, it's because I dropped it...two stories. Flute + Drunk = BAD MOJO

[peeplj]

I had the ring fall off my old style M&E, but I just dropped it back with a drop of superglue and all was well.

Of course, when it happened, it's because I dropped it...two stories. Flute + Drunk = BAD MOJO

Oh man!!!

It took a two story fall and all that happened was a ring fell off?!?!?

Dang.

--James

[Denny]

Hi,
If you are going to "beat a dead horse", use a Delrin flute!
For a beginner, I would recommend a Dave Copley Delrin flute, if you want a wood beginner flute, get a Casey Burns wooden flute. These two flutes are cost effective for a beginner. ( then I don't have to make them...)
I will play my antique Cocuswood flutes over delrin, but if I head camping or to the desert, I will bring along a Delrin flute to take hiking or just to have kinking around on the table. In adverse conditions why not use delrin? I would go as far to say that Delrin is similar to Blackwood or Cocuswood as a tonal material. The bottom line is how well the flute was made, mainly the embouchure cut. You can have a dud fr a flute made out of fine Cocuswood, that just isn't fun to play, or a nice responsive Delrin flute that plays constant 24/7.
My two bits worth...

While I agree with Jon, I must add that
I have never beaten a dead horse...
mighta poked a couple of live ones

[chas]

I don't know where cocus came upon this "all thing$ being equal"
statement. If I could find a wooden flute with a full tuning slide
that sounded as good as my M&E polymer for the same price, or
even up to $200 more, I'd trade up in a heartbeat.

Last I knew, which was a while ago, a Bleazey was in the $200 more range vs. a M&E polymer. I've owned both and still have the Bleazey.

I'm on both sides of the argument.

I've owned polymer flutes by Dixon, Seery, and M&E. I really liked the ease of play of the M&E and Dixon, and the sound of the M&E and Seery. I wasn't crazy about the sound of the Dixon; found the Seery difficult to play (just because it was on the Prattenish side of the equation, everything to do with me, nothing to do with the quality of the flute), and the M&E waay to head-heavy, and a bit lacking in the finish quality. I still own an Aulos matte-black Grenser traverso, which I greatly enjoyed playing when on a camping vacation recently. It's a damn nice flute.

So I understand the lure of polymer flutes. They're easy to care for, they can be well-made in the right hands, and they can be damn good all-round flutes. Plus, if you leave one in a car, which can get really hot in the summer around here, you don't have to worry. Cars do get an awful lot hotter than the weather. I really don't wanna put a $1500 wooden flute in that environment, even if it can be repaired. I also wouldn't leave one of my nicer wooden flutes in the car for hours if the temp was 20 below.

OTOH, I took a wooden flute on vacation, too. A Bleazey -- a flute a really enjoy playing, but if it did crack, I wouldn't feel as bad as if an Olwell or Cameron cracked. Just the way I feel.

I'll confess, I keep a wooden flute assembled all the time (not always the same flute), on which I do toot a tune or two now and then. It's not moisture you don't want in the bore of a flute, it's beads of water. Tooting on a flute for a couple of minutes won't make enough condensation to do any harm unless it's REALLY cold, in which case you'd want to warm up any sort of flute.

In the end it's all really individual preference and economics.

[rama]

delrin flutes contribute to global warming