Ralph Sweet flutes for beginners?

spittle · Post by **spittle** » Tue Nov 18, 2003 1:30 pm

FWIW, Hanz Araki performs with a Sweet flute (Rosewood G, with faux-ivory rings), on occasion. He sounds amazing on it - must be another good one.

Everything I've heard is that Ralph is a friendly, accomodating guy - seems like he'd work with you if there were any tuning issues, etc...

Regards,
- Ryan

Blackbeer · Post by **Blackbeer** » Tue Nov 18, 2003 2:54 pm

I was afraid you were going to say that Jessie. So its off on another flute adventure. I do have a pvc in G comming that sounded good on the sound clip so I should know what I want from Ralph shortly. I was having fun with the antisipation though Jessie.

Tom

jim stone · Post by **jim stone** » Tue Nov 18, 2003 3:17 pm

I 've owned four sweet flutes and I've played many
more--they've all been good, IMO. I like the maple
flutes best. I think they're
a good flute for beginners. There is, by the way,
a very good sweet maple D flute at The Whistle
Shop. As we've said, the Dixon price is now five
dollars higher than the sweet.

brianormond · Post by **brianormond** » Sun Nov 23, 2003 6:51 pm

-Consider a Casey Burns beginner mopane flute-featured on his site for $250.00, nothing fancy, but it looks like a fine wooden flute- likely the best flute available near this price. New synthetic flutes from Michael Cronolly and Desi Seery are considerably more money, but do offer an imperviousness to climatic abuse wood does not. I have a Burns Pratten-style flute and am quite pleased with it. Its potential exceeds my skill, but its quite rewarding when I get my beginner's embouchure right.

http://www.caseyburnsflutes.com/ff.php

aderyn_du · Post by **aderyn_du** » Mon Nov 24, 2003 5:45 am

Thanks Brian-- I was checking this out a couple days ago, and was thinking it might be a good option too.

I appreciate all the opinions and advice that everyone has offered, both on the thread and in PM!

Best,
Andrea

Kevin L. Rietmann · Post by **Kevin L. Rietmann** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 4:45 am

Any suggestions for tweaking the Sweet embochoure? I've an apple D flute I bought from Shark in the Morning something like 5 years ago, and it's painful to play - way too much wind. I've never gotten anywhere with the flute as a result, and have played much easier flutes friends have. Perhaps filling the embochure up with a plug of wood and revoicing? Sounds like good non-destructive fun.
Or I could ask the man himself about it, as some have suggested. And...I'm waiting on an old Ebay 5 key flute, too. Stamped "D." Maybe a German job? Picked it up for fairly cheap, has a quite extensive head repair, too - metal lined, pins to hold the wood on. Maybe it'll have to be replaced. I figured if I wanted an oldie it'd be good to avoid all those low C keys, etc. Looks like smallish holes, too. I don't want one of those Pratten's Perfected session monsters. Anybody tinker with flutes like this?

jim stone · Post by **jim stone** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 7:54 am

My impression is that sweet flutes have improved.
My sampling has come in the last two years,
and all were good. Yes the Casey Burns flute
looks like a tempting option, doesn't it?