buying my 1st wooden flute - advice needed!

[Jayhawk]

I've not played a DeKeyzer flute, but I got a chance to play a few tunes on a Doyle flute (one of his slideless models) and thought it was a wonderful flute. Harry Bradley has had nothing but good things to say about Doyle's flutes on this board and he certainly should know what he's talking about.

Eric

[Flauta dolce]

I am playing on a Martin Doyle flute.

It has a rich "big" tone on the low notes. Is that what you are looking for?

If the low notes are loud, the 2nd octave is harder to blow. Still he gets top marks for afordability and service.

I tried a Sam Murray flute at his workshop in Galway. Lovely! However, the price range starts at about 750 euro.

Go to a session and try other people's flute. Take your time to decide.

[pinkyirl]

I am playing on a Martin Doyle flute.

It has a rich "big" tone on the low notes. Is that what you are looking for?

...erm...see....i am such a beginner i dont even know the answer to that. i know very little about flutes. although learning more every day thanks to slipping on here for a peep when no-ones watching.

i am gonna take my time deciding, but still cant wait to get off the metal yoke & play a real one

[Flauta dolce]

I am very happy with my Doyle flute.

Note, this is important...If I had taken my time, I'd have chosen a flute for smaller hands, or a three-piece flute with smaller bores (holes in flute)

The three-piece flute can be turned to adapt to hand size as the instruments was made to be more adaptable to be change to your physical make-up (short/long arms short/long finger, wide/narrow palms of hands...etc). A two-piece flute cannot.

This was not explained to me and I am now adapting but it is taking a lot longer.

Make sure you do have an appropriate reach as you won't be able to play fast later on.

Murray, Hamilton and Casey Burns are adaptable enough in my experience. I tried an antique English flute (Made by Flutemaker by the name of "Wilde") last night belonging to Cian O'Sullivan, the reach and bore sizes are perfect. If only I had known....

[michael_coleman]

The three-piece flute can be turned to adapt to hand size as the instruments was made to be more adaptable to be change to your physical make-up (short/long arms short/long finger, wide/narrow palms of hands...etc). A two-piece flute cannot.

This was not explained to me and I am now adapting but it is taking a lot longer.

This is one of the nice things about Rudall type flutes, although some Prattens are in three sections, but definately not the norm.

[Eivind]

Hi all,
just wanna mention that while Doyle makes superb flutes;
they cost only $150 or so less than the Olwell... I dont know his waiting list right now, he might have some in stock; but I have a friend that bought one and waited "some" months for it.

So, my advice:
- snoop around the board and pick a few makers that seem to be popular advice for beginners (there are plenty of topics like this one around the board). Always check such details as prices, waiting lists etc.

I went for the Delrin (a kind of plastic) flute made by Desi Seery.
Also, M&E makes a different style of flute from the same material.
These are not wood, but perhaps they are closer to wood than your metal flute anyway?

Just my $0.02;
Eivind



Oh, by the way, I am surrently waiting for a blackwood flute Olwell

[Azathoth]

Hi Pinkyirl,

My recommendation would also be a Casey Burns folk flute. He's a great maker, and his Folk Flute is really top-notch. I've heard top Irish flute players (I don't number myself among them, though! *G) recommend it as a flute in its own right.

And I wouldn't bother about keys, right now, myself. I play Boehm flute as well, and playing keyless is sometimes a welcome relief from all that fiddling about

If you really want to get a keyed wooden flute then I'd recommend Maurice Reviol (www.reviol.co.nz), who has just made a wonderful keyed bocoté flute for me. Everything you could want in a flute, with a choice of woods, bodies and keywork, and a short delivery time -- mine was just under a year. If you really want to, you can send him the wood you want it made out of: I did!

On the subject of wooden flutes, one point which hasn't yet been made which IMHO needs to be made, is that you should remember that you will need to "play in" any new wooden flute you get -- this includes the Folk Flute. Otherwise you risk cracking it. So, don't forget that you will at any rate need to play your Hamilton for most of the time before the new flute is played-in properly. Opinions differ as to how much time this takes -- something like 2-3 months is reasonable I think, assuming you play it a few minutes a day and gradually increase this each day or couple of days.

This doesn't apply to Delrin flutes like M&E and Seery, of course, which are made from a very hard plastic (*not* to be confused with PVC flutes, the Delrin flutes are in a class way above those). You might want to buy one of these first, since they are pretty much 'maintenance-free'. I find the Seery has pretty stiff finger-stretch requirements though, so I wouldn't buy it unless you have largish hands.

Anyway, like any advice given on this forum, don't feel you have to take it just because you're new to playing the flute: probably your teacher is best placed to give the best advice :=)

That's all I can think of for now -- welcome to the flute-playing club and I hope you decide to stay!

Cheers,


Ed