Buying a middle-range irish flute - advice needed

[MarkP]

sorry, I obviously haven't got my head around what is and isn't allowed (post edited accordingly).

[I.D.10-t]

Next year I think I am going to buy a Copley and Boegli flute without rings, elliptical embouchure, and combined end cap and screw adjustable stopper. Totally personal preferences on past experiences that have nothing to do with sound. That's kind of the thing, preferences develop with experience, how you interact with a flute is personal.

I believe the Copley does not have cork on the joints and seems like a low maintenance flute. Long term, if I wanted another wood flute or something with keys, this would still be a good travel/harsh environment flute. I would not do this with the Sweet flute made of wood (although you should hear what my Sweet piccolo has endured). The Forbes flute (I believe) has cork joints and would need grease, not a big deal, and easily repaired if damaged, but maintenance none the less.

But here is the real question, what do you want out of a flute? Wood/plastic? Loud/quiet? Flexible/forgiving? Light/heavy? Etc... What do you want to play? How do you want to play?

really need an expert's advice!

Not an expert.

[Denny]

The Forbes flute (I believe) has cork joints and would need grease, not a big deal, and easily repaired if damaged, but maintenance none the less.

nope....http://www.forbesflutes.com/design.html
still gets a bit of grease

Should I be taking the thing apart once a month'r so?
Weekly, quarterly?

[Jayhawk]

Denny - if leaving together hasn't caused a problem yet, I wouldn't worry about it. O-rings are cheap anyway.

As for the Copley with no cork, my older M&E had no cork yet I still greased it...it allows it to pull apart easier. Delrin/polymer flutes can swell in the heat, and without grease there were a few times playing outside in summer it was hard to pull apart. Newer ebonite M&Es are corked (at least the few I know of...including mine). Michael felt there were less problems pulling the flute apart using cork than the tight spec's needed to machine the tennons corkless - especially for keyed flutes. Seery uses thread.

I'd use a bit of cork grease, vaseline, or even chapstick or a polymer flute that doens't have cork.

Eric

[I.D.10-t]

Thank you for the corrections to my post.

[celticmodes]

Doc is selling some Reviols in that price range. These are the wood with cast resin bores. I have one and a Forbes and I like them both for different reasons.

https://www.irishflutestore.com/newsite ... =55&c2=141

[Denny]

Denny - if leaving together hasn't caused a problem yet, I wouldn't worry about it. O-rings are cheap anyway.

Rob sends a few spares....

Eric I was bein' facetious.

The only thing is not leaving it in the vehicle with the windows up in the sun.

[Jayhawk]

It's far to early and cold to be facetious in my neck of the woods...keep your good humor to yerself my fine man!

I'm seriously losing brain cells while waiting for the bus these days. We running about 30 to 40 degrees farenheit below normal...highs should not hover around 0.

One of the unmentioned issues with polymer flutes is that they react to cold blasts of air rather quickly. Playing in the coffeehouse last Saturday, I had the misfortune of being in the direct path of the door out, so about every 10 minutes someone would walk in and bring a healthy blast of cold air. This meant that every 10 minutes or so my flute would go from lovely to all burbly with condensation and I'd have to shake the bejesus out of the thing to get playing again.

Eric

[Denny]

we were cold & clear .... back to wet & warm

but shy of flooding

[jemtheflute]

Snowing here. Again! What's wrong with this weather? We're actually having a winter - during the winter-time!!!!!!!!!!

[Jayhawk]

Jem - we're in a similar situation. All of winter the year before, I think we had 16" total of snow. So far, just one month in to winter, we've had over 24"...and more is scheduled for tomorrow (up to another 6"). My driveway looks like I live in Minneapolis with snow banks along it's side. I wait for the bus on a pile of snow that's about 3' high (have to step down to get on).

Should have bought stock in thinsulate...missed my chance.

Eric

[Akiba]

Although some of the modern-made keyless flutes are excellent, including some/most of those mentioned, personally I'd go for the wood and the keys every time

Keys & wood everytime. Keyless are for fending off drunks & general blowpipe work,H

Easy for you to say, Mr. Keyed-flute Maker!

For most Irish work, keys are a luxury not a necessity, as you well know .

Cheers,

jason

[scheky]

I know the M&E, Seery and the Forbes from experience, so I'll chime in (though my skill is much less than most on the board here).

All three are fine sounding instruments. The M&E is HEAVY though. I mean it. That sucker is not fun to hold up for a long time. The Seery isn't really all that much better. I think the Forbes seems about 70% the weight of the Seery and lighter than some wood flutes I've held. To me, that's the big point...light is good when talking about a poly flute.

Now, I'm a bit of a special case in that I won't touch a wooden flute with a 10 foot pole anymore. It's not the care, but close calls with an allergy and a very bad reaction that will leave me feeling it's better to be safe than sorry. Thus, I have a bit more playtime with the Delrins than most.

If I was choosing again, I'd still get the Forbes (which is what I'm currently using).

[b_jean]

Can anyone say something in particular about Seery flute?
As long as i am listening to different sound sampes i'm starting to like pratten more than R&R. (At least i like Seery's sound better that M&E, but it's a taste matter i guess)
But what can you say about this exact model? How large are those "large wholes" , etc. ... For example, according to scheky it is rather heavy.

And thanks a lot to everyone for taking part in discussion! It's really usefull.)

[kkrell]

Seery keyless weighs 13 ounces.