AlMount pvc Flutes - Review

Irish Flute
1

For those interested, here’s my review of Alan’s flutes. Here is his website, he’s got pictures, info, and clips up for you to check out. http://www.geocities.com/zozm/

About me, I’ve been playing the flute (and whistle) now for just under a year. I’ve played a few nice quality blackwood flutes, a pakistan flute, a dixon one piece pvc, and now a AlMount pvc flute.

I’ve had this flute for a few weeks so I’ve played it awhile and I’ve given it a good test run.

My first impressions of this flute were, “Wow, it’s pvc and looks fantastic”… Not really but it looks like a piece of pvc pipe with holes drilled into it. It is tunable so that’s a plus and a bonus over other flutes in this price range. The finish was very nice, very smooth, no left over or jagged piece of pvc anywhere. More like jeep than a BMW. Very fuctiony and practical.

Grip and/or Reach - Alan cut the holes offset for ease of reach. I was not wild with this idea in the first place, but after playing on it awhile, I actually rather liked the feel and it is very comfortable. So I give it a plus, and I’m sure it would help somebody with much smaller hands. For instance the distance between the E and D hole on my dixon is 1 1/4 inches and on the AlMount it is only 1 inch. Basically every hole on the thing is nice and reachable, so it didn’t even make my hands cramp up at all. And the flute is nice and light so holding the thing isn’t an issue. There is one slight detraction in my book. The B hole is quite large, bigger than any other B hole I’ve played on, so it was ackward at first but I got used to it. Other than that, the flute feels quite natural in my hands.

How does it sound? Good question. Put short it sounds great! Better than the dixon pvc tenfold. All of the notes are in tune. The lower octave sounds great, I mean it. Very strong and full. I can even get it to growl on occasion. The upper octave sounds good when I hit it right, and it sounds great on Alan’s clips on his site. But I cannot play it as consistant due to the fact that switching between flutes, is not as easy as switching between whistles. Besides my lact of skill and embouchure the flute sounds great. It is very responsive, and even across both octaves. And as far as “filling” the flute goes, the AlMount is very easy to fill. I could hold notes and play longer without loosing breath on the AlMount than I could on the dixon pvc. Overall the flute sounds better than many flutes that cost 4 times as much. Anybody who gets one of these will be pleasantly suprise. I can’t say enough on how great the sound is for the cost. Don’t take my word for it, a sound clip is worth a thousand words. Bare in mind that by listening to me, I’m doing the flute a disservice.

Good ole geocities protocals will have to be followed here so cut and paste these tunes to your browser.

The Banshee reel on the Almount
http://www.geocities.com/thesocialistdragon/bansheereel.mp3

The Battering Ram jig
http://www.geocities.com/thesocialistdragon/batteringrampvc2.mp3

Kerry Fling
http://www.geocities.com/thesocialistdragon/kerryflingpvc2.mp3

And for comparision The King of the Fairies on the Dixon pvc.
http://www.geocities.com/thesocialistdragon/king1st.mp3

Be kind!

Commentary - From now on I’m giving this flute high recomendations to anybody starting out on flute or anybody who wants a flute that they don’t have to worry about or mantain or anybody in general who wants a killer flute without paying an arm and a leg. I know for a fact that Alan makes his flutes by hand so you won’t get a factory taco bell poorly made flute. As far as flutes in the same price range goes, it beats the dixon in every catagory. I’d be really interested in comparing it to a Olwell Bamboo flute. But the Olwell cost twice as much and availabily is sometimes an issue. Even though Alan makes these per order he could have it to you in 1-2 weeks. You couldn’t even get a Hamilton practise flute through customs in that time. ignore that cause I’m still mad that my hammy hasn’t come and it’s been nearly a month Anyways this flute smokes. And the price is amazing for the sound you get out of these things.

So there you have it, if you’re thinking of playing the flute and don’t have much cash or if you know somebody who is thinking about playing the flute and they don’t have much cash go, I strongly recommend the AlMount cause they’re GGGRRRREAT and won’t dissapoint.

Jack Murphy

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Thanks for the review Jack. I have been looking at this flute as a first step into flutedum. I made an offer on a used Dixon Low D Combo and it should be here tomorrow. I didn`t know about Alans flutes when I made the offer. I have read in past posts that the Dixon is not a bad Low D whistle but the flute head has mixed reviews. Thanks to your review I now have a resanable fix for the possibility that the Dixon is not up to snuff.(flute wise that is) I listened to Alans sound bites and it indeed does sound good. I just hope a total newbee can get a noise out of it. My dream of playing the flute is sweet right now, the reality is scary. Thanks again.

Tom

3

Flute playing is not for the faint
of heart, somebody here advised
me when I once posted a similar
message! But it’s doable and
well worth the (considerable) effort.

4

Hmmm. I’m getting an error from Geocities when I follow the links to your sound clip… I don’t think Geocities likes it when you don’t direct people in through an index page, maybe?

Richard

[ This Message was edited by: DrRichard on 2002-12-16 11:14 ]

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Tom - As for a total flute newbie playing one of Al’s flutes, here’s my two cents: I’ve always loved the flute sound and when I found out that Alan’s were so modestly priced, I ordered one to try out and see if it was something I could actually do. I’d read a post somewhere from a music teacher in Ireland who had two young students who within two months “could play a complete scale!” That sounded VERY discouraging to me, so I was excited and pleasantly surprised when I could get notes, scales, and a very slow tune or two out of my AlMount within a day or two (particularly in the lower octave). Since this is my very first flute, of course I’m still trying to develop my embouchure to get to the second octave. I’ve been sidetracked a little recently, and haven’t been practicing with the flute regularly, but I enjoy the sound so much that I keep it on the table next to my favorite chair and play a tune now and then just to hear it.

I have quite small hands and found the offset G hole really helpful. The B hole, like Jack said, is large, but when we told Alan about it, he immediately started figuring out a way to modify it.

In short, this was a great flute for me to start with - easy to play so I haven’t become discouraged, easy to get, and easy on the wallet!

Susan

6

Thanks Sue for the encouraging words. I might also add that Alan seems like a darn nice guy. I would be more than happy to achieve your level of success and if Alans flute would give me that chance then its for me. I wounder if the flute version of WhOA is as dangerous as the whislte version. :slight_smile:

Tom

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Yes, FlOA is as bad as WhOA, and
the prices tend to be higher.

8

Oh No!! I wounder it I could get a grant Hmmmmmm.

Merry Christmas All

Tom

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On 2002-12-16 11:13, DrRichard wrote:
Hmmm. I’m getting an error from Geocities when I follow the links to your sound clip… I don’t think Geocities likes it when you don’t direct people in through an index page, maybe?

Richard

Richard when going to geocites links you can’t click on them directly, you have to copy the links and paste them to your browser. Try this a couple of times and it usually works.

10

Thanks, that works better :slight_smile: Nice samples… thanks for posting!

Richard

11

On 2002-12-16 11:57, Blackbeer wrote:
Oh No!! I wounder it I could get a grant Hmmmmmm.

Hmmmm. :wink:

I’ve written in several other threads about my high regard for Alan’s flutes, but I can’t help but second MurphyStout’s and others’ favorable comments: wonderful flutes!

Carol

12

I too, am new to flute playing and have one of Alan’s flutes. Like Susan, I was able to manage some good sounds from it quite quickly and have confidence I will be able to play well with continued practise. I also have small hands and the fingering is very comfortable for me. My flute is a G and I love the tone in particular, very rich and mellow. I also have one on it’s way for my daughter, who is the experienced flute player in the family. She wanted mine as soon as she played it but I told her she couldn’t have it..L I can only say, thanks again Alan :slight_smile: Wonderful flute..by a wonderful man…

13

Hi Jack,
I was wondering if he uses “o” rings in his head joint.
I have made a couple pvc flutes using the bell end of the PVC pipe as a tuning slide, the “o” rings helped keep the joint tight.
I made mine for about $2 and it took about
2 hrs. sounds great. I also made a low C that interchanges with the “head joint”.
Next I want to make a conical PVC flute, using my PVC oven and streching it on a conical form… Jon

14

Jon,
Alan doesn’t currently use a O ring, but if you look at his site he uses the simple slide tuning system that many whistle makers use, and it works great. The joint is quite tight and it doesn’t leak or slip around while you play. So I’m sure that he doesn’t think he needs an O ring, and I agree.

15

Jon - I’ve made PVC, CPVC & bamboo flutes. I use the whistle style tuning slide (can you say pvc connector joint?). What is this O ring thing? I’d appreciate a better discription. Also, just what is a PVC oven? That would be a fun experiment making a conical PVC flute!

I’m currently primarily making bamboo flutes since they have a bit of natural conicalness about them.

16

Hi,
If you have ever seen a Susato whistle, you will notice two rubber “o” rings at the male side of the joint. What you do is cut grooves in the pipe and slip these little rubber band like thingys in the grooves. this gives the joint a nice air tight fit so you can slide the pipe out of the joint and tune the flute.
A PVC oven is used in heating the PVC to a temp. that it can be bent, for electrical PVC underground runs. Mine will do a 6’ piece of pipe by 5". You could use a regular household oven as long as you don’t burn the pipe. Next I want to turn a conical form for the inside of the pipe and also one that makes bell ends (this is a coupling that is formed by expanding the pipe end instead of glueing on a coupler.
Does anyone have a way of calculating the location of the holes in a conical flute? I was going to copy the 1830 flute that I have now for hole locations.
I will try to get a picture of this design on the site. :slight_smile: jon

http://community.webshots.com/scripts/editPhotos.fcgi?action=showMyPhoto&albumID=57876050&photoID=57876166&security=QEwytY

[ This Message was edited by: Jon C. on 2002-12-18 01:23 ]

[ This Message was edited by: Jon C. on 2002-12-18 01:27 ]