A Keyed Flute for a Peasant to open the Doors of the Dungeon

[Animist]

Greetings,

Some voice I have been refusing to listen to is finally speaking loud enough, or I have begun to listen better, to lean into the knowing that I want a keyed flute.

I’m a multi-instrumentalist musician (there are so many sounds to love in the world!) and I’ve been playing a long time. My woodwind playing started 50 years ago with the sax which I play to this day (many strange saxophone dreams the one era I considered quitting). Started playing silver flute 40 years ago. I’ve been playing whistle (Sindt D) for 5 years or so, but not with great dedication and I haven’t developed much technique that relates to whistle specifically. I have been playing wood flute (Tony Dixon keyless rosewood) on and off for 10 years or so, but here also I haven’t developed much technique that relates specifically to Irish flute playing, and tend to lean on my silver flute skills and drop into regular vibrato easily on slower tunes.

My reasons for wanting a keyed flute are that for the last 5 years or so I have been attempting to get good at fiddle (makes perfect sense, right?) and it’s just too steep a climb for me with all that is going on in my life, so it seems to me to lean back into my woodwind foundation to gain enough skill to play what I would like with whom I would like.

I have thought about getting a better keyless flute, but I play Scandinavian as well as a number of other styles of music and I would like something that is versatile enough for that, although I could see advantages to having both. My wife and daughter are musicians as well and I want to be able to play with them, same styles as I mention above.

My budget is likely around $1k, which I know is low for a keyed flute. I could get something and restore it as I have many skills there but I don’t really have the time. As I look on the Irish flute marketplace for example, I see several keyed flutes that sell in my price range and even slightly less, and there must be reasons for that. I’m interested in the Galeon 3D printed flute at $900, from videos I have watched it seems like it would suit me well. I am a materials snob and would much prefer wood, and especially the white color makes my nose crinkle.

I have had one or two of the cheaper no name keyed wood flutes over the years, I think usually referred to as Nach Meyer, and I don’t think I would be happy with one of these. I may take a long time to get the nuance I desire out of a wood flute, but I’m a good sax player, an accomplished singer, and a decent guitar and mandolin player, all that to say I have enough of a relationship with music that my sensibilities will not be happy with a mediocre flute, but I would bet that something on the low end of professional would be just fine.

So, with all this background for those generous enough to have read this far, any thoughts or advice on a Galeon printed flute vs various offerings I have seen for wood or composite keyed flutes (generally used) for $700-$1000 (or occasionally even less in unusual circumstances) or options I may not be aware of?

Thanks.

Music is a torch with which to see where beauty lies

~Atahualpa Yupanqui

[tstermitz]

A keyed flute is a worthy goal.

I think you should save up another $700-900, at which level decent to excellent antique flutes start to be available. Consider Firth, Pond, Hall or other American keyed flutes. Non-R&R branded English flutes might show up below $2,000.

Quality below $1,000 is poor to variable for a keyed flute, just as keyless flutes under $400. And most low-priced flutes deserve to be low, due to condition, High-Pitch, or difficult intonation. Keys are quite expensive to make, if you think about it.

See Irish Flute Store, but pay attention to the descriptions, especially whether the flute plays at A440.

The ultimate rationalization: You can sell a good flute for almost as much as you bought it. Calculate how many years you will play, and the usage cost is rather less than beer expenditures over the same period!

Second rationalization: Good fiddles or Uillean pipes or concertinas are a lot more expensive than flutes.

[paddler]

I also think your best bet would be to look out for a suitable antique. It would have to be the right antique though. Ideally, not a well known or collectible maker, but still a good playing flute. To find such a flute, it really needs to come from another player, or you need to be able to try it first. There are some nice playing anonymous antique (often British) flutes around, but there are also a lot that are higher pitched or have intonation issues, or that need too much work. There are also some nice playing anonymous American-made flutes that superficially look German. And some of the Nach Meyer flutes can play quite well, even though many don’t.

When you buy through a business like the Irish flute store, you get the benefit of a trial period and testimony from someone trustworthy (Blayne) but you also pay a premium for that, which might push it outside your price range. The trick is to try to find an existing player with a nice playing, no-name, antique who wants to sell it.

[Jayhawk]

M&E makes good flutes. They have 6 keyed ones in your price range. Michael is a good guy (the maker). I think it’s a better starting point than a possibly less than good/damaged/high or low pitched antique flute.

Eric