A woman customer from my home state of Indiana sent me a photo of one of my flutes that she decorated with stick-on designs, which only goes to show you that with a Tipple the design possiblities are endless.
Taking the monthly liberty of self-serving promotion of my most frequently-ordered flute, I received an email today from a woman in Pennsylvania. She wrote: “I received my flute today and it’s more beautiful than in the photos! Truly it sounds amazing! The flute is worth every penny and you are a true artist. Thank you so much for offering a quality instrument at such a reasonable cost!”
It seemed to be my day for comments from woman customers. This customer from Norway was a little hard to understand, but I think she liked my flute.
“Doug!! Wow!!! I just… WOW!!!
I got the flute in the mail today, and… Its just... Wow! Wow... Im speechless… Its so easy to play, and... Wow!!! Wow... *laughs* Im not one to be gobsmacked like this, as i`ve usually always got something to say… But this time..
This is a $200 valued flute, for sure!
I will be sure to let everyone i know that are interested in irish flutes, onto you and your flutes.”
Ha, Ha,… lovely but I think I’d lean towards a scrimshaw design instead of a floral motif. If I only had the time… perhaps paisley designs would be cool too? You could even do a flower power 60’s line of flutes w/peace signs… ; )
I love my Tipple, but wish I had a lip plate and a more oval embrochure… Doug??? I see you’ve got the lip plate - any new embochure designs?
That’s cool! After I got my Tipple flute a few weeks ago I wondered about decorating it! I join in with your other women customers Doug!
I LOVE MY FLUTE!! I have gotten used to the size and spacing and am having a wonderful time playing tunes! It has a wonderful tone and the people that I have shown it to and played it for can’t believe the sound coming from PVC pipe! Thank you for making such a great affordable flute!
Hum… I’m currently working on “playing myself in” to one of these for purposes to be revealed in due course - and am very impressed - more than I expected to be. They’re indubitably every bit as good as everyone says. AND they are amazingly tactile and aesthetically pleasing as Doug finishes them. (We don’t get any kind of plumbing pipe in that quality plastic over here!) Objets d’Art as they are. Putting tacky, kitsch floral stickers or owt else such on 'em - Yeeeuuuuuck. Personal taste and my two pennorth FWIW etc. etc., I know.
Heh, to each his own. I like my pvc flutes to be nice and…plain but did have someone ask me recently if I had thought about offering painted ones.
Man, I am always sooooo impressed with Doug’s work aesthetically. I haven’t seen one of these in person but from all the photos they look so nice! Arg! I want a Tipple all over again!
I’m not sure if you are referring to the chemical composition, wall thickness, concentricity, or condition of the pipe surface. My one time of being in the UK last year I didn’t have a chance to do any research on pvc pipe available, but I suspect that the surface condition of the pipe I buy from the home improvement stores in the USA is very similar to the pvc pipe that is available in the UK. I’ve had similar comments to Jem’s above from Australia and other countries. I may be wrong about this.
The point that I am trying to make is that the pipe that I buy looks very plain with a dull surface and, well, like plumbing pipe usually looks. When I am making a flute, after I layout and finish the finger holes, I do a heavy water sanding of the flute surface with 320 grit sandpaper to remove most of the surface inperfections. After a close inspection I usually have to repeat the same process with 320 grit. When I am satisfied that most of the surface defects have been removed, I use a series of other grits of sandpaper to finish the flute (400, 600, 1000, and 1500 grit). For the two finest grits I use detergent in the water, a technique that is also used with automobile painted surfaces. After I dry the flute I then take it to the polishing machine, using a soft cotton wheel and tripoli stick polish, so that the completed flute comes off the polishing machine with a high polish.
I’m sure you’re right about the surface finish issue, Doug, and you do a magnificent job on it. I was referring more generally to the composition of the pipe. I have not researched the stuff exhaustively, but I cannot recall ever having seen pipe of such wall thickness nor density and resonance (hardness) of composition as your stock, regardless of interior or exterior finish. Our standard plastic pipes for plumbing purposes are much softer (nowhere near as hard as the electrical conduit tube I have often referred to here, which itself is far less hard than your pipe) nor in such useful extruded dimensions. Your pipe has almost a porcelain or ivory look, feel and heft to it, enhanced, no doubt by your careful finishing, but I would think intrinsic to it anyway.
Doug, that is an INSANE amount of finishing work! No wonder these look so amazing!
I recently bought some of the same PVC from a Home Depot in the US to see how it compares to what I get in Canada and it is slightly different. The canadian sched 40 is actually slightly thicker. Sounds like standards are not so…standard across borders.
As an FYI, I am using these measurements for calcing the hole placement; inner diam - 0.781, wall thickness 0.125
Yes, I get a little carried away. Obsessive compulsive disorder runs in my family. It’s OK for flutemaking but not for organizing my socks.
With pvc pipe the only thing that is standard is the outside diameter of the pipe so that all pipe will fit into standard couplings. Otherwise, there is a lot of variation in pvc hardness, wall thickness, concentricity, etc. from brand to brand and from batch to batch. For example, Home Depot may have some suitable pipe and some not so suitable. I walk into the store with a dial calipher so that I can measure wall thicknes, and I am picky about the pipe that I buy. And when I find good pipe, I’m prepared (cutter in hand) to buy in quanity.
Jem sent me several videos of him playing a flute like the one on the photo in this thread. I had asked him if he would make a video for me, as I am not much of a player, but I didn’t expect him to have to work so hard on his holiday in Spain. I could have waited until he returned to his home in Wales. Thanks, Jem.
I just uploaded seven videos to my new YouTube channel, which is obviously still under construction. Here are the tune selections on the videos:
Lliw Lili Ymysg y Drain (The Colour of the Lily Amongst the Thorns) (Trad. - Welsh) Air.
Si Beg, Si Mhor (O’Carolan - Irish) Air
The Dusty Windowsill (John Harling, Chicago - USA) Jig
The Maid of Mount Kisco (?Paddy Killoran? - Irish/American) Reel
The Windy Gate & Jenny’s Wedding (Jem Hammond -English/Welsh & Trad. - Irish) Reels
The Dowlais Hornpipe (Trad. - Welsh) Hornpipe
An Phis Fliuch (Trad. - Irish) Slip Jig
Thanks for posting the videos - not enough of Dougs flutes on youtube IMO. I happened to see you playing Si Beg, Si Mhor last night but did not know it was you. ; 0 Great job.
Thanks for the kind words, guys. Just to clarify, I made the video clips for Doug at his request in exchange for a sample flute. I sent them to Doug and he has posted them to his new YouTube channel. I haven’t made any other use of them myself, though I may in future. It was a pleasure exploring the capabilities of Doug’s flute and making the clips (with the able assistance of my media savvy nephew Joss Brightwell behind the camera).
Jem also sent me a video of him playing scales and arpeggios in D, G, and chromatic, and I have it up now as a YouTube video. After taking a few seconds to find the fingering for the 2nd octave D, he aptly demonstrates that it is possible to play into the third octave with my pvc flute. I’m especially impressed with the two octave scale in G. I usually don’t play those upper notes. The chromatic scale is interesting but reveals some of the inherent limitations of a flute with only six finger holes. http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=X58w-deHkQo
