Hi everyone!
I am a tin whisle/low whistle player from Scandinavia. Now I am planning to start to play the irish flute and I´ve made some inquieries about good flutes (price 300-500€). What do you think of polymer flutes made by Michael and Evelyn Cronnolly? Are they good? What about the sound, is it “plastic” or…?
Mervi
Hi Mervi,
I think the M&E flutes are superb - these flutes have “woody” sound,
no “plastic” at all. I can highly recommend them for you. The keywork of these flutes were criticised a lot some years before - but, as far as I know it, Michael Cronnolly has had developed the keys.
The other, highly favoured polymer flute is Seery. I think both are great.
You should contact for further infos James Peeples: www.flutesite.com.
He has a lot of experiences about polymer flutes.
Bye,
Bennet
I really like my M&E R&R type, great flute, and has a dark woody tone.
Can’t say enough good things about my M&E R&R !
Jack
I agree the M&E flutes are wonderful. The tone is strong and full, the workmanship is great, it doesn’t take a huge amount of air and it looks nice too. I have an M&E Rudall and Rose model with the joint rings and its just great. I can’t comment on the standard model but from what other people have been saying the R&R is a bit better.
Plus: Michael Cronnolly is a true gentleman and very easy to get along with. You can’t go wrong with an M&E flute.
I have the old/standard model with the cut (“split”) embouchure, and it’s also a wonderful flute. The R&R model may have a more interesting sound, but the old model has an easier, less quirky intonation, so it’s really hard to say which one i’d recommend. I don’t feel any need to upgrade my flute to the R&R model; it’s great as it is, full “woody” sound, louder than most wooden flutes,great instrument overall.
NO plastic flute is as good as a good wood flute. There is not a single top level player who plays a plastic flute. Adjectives like “terrific” “reedy” and “wonderful” are never used by top players to describe plastic flutes.
The main reason to get a plastic flute is to save the $200 or $300 that a much better wood flute would cost. You might argue that you’re saving a tree by buying plastic or that the delrin is less pervious to changes that might adversly affect a wooden flute. But accomplished players do not choose plastic flutes based on the way they play.
David, you can’t say that without playing ALL of them! 
And even if you did, then you would still have to convince me that you’re competent to judge, and that your criteria are the same as mine. That gets even worse, because i don’t even know what my criteria are.
There is widespread prejudice against non-wood instruments, yes.
(And that’s as far as i’m going to go in this discussion.)
Plus, they make great batons for a bar room brawl!
I just wish I could play mine, but I don’t have the lips conditioned yet.
I do not like M&E flutes. I find them uninteresting in tone and rather muffled. Also, the workmanship isn’t beautiful. The holes are not sanded smooth (you can see the bits of polymer in them) and you can see glue on the nickel-plated rings. The top joint of the body isn’t tapered at all. It looks like a plastic rod.
I have a delrin Olwell (the only one he made) that is better than any other plastic flute I have ever played, but it STILL isn’t a wooden flute.
I would say saving around $500 - $800 rather than $200 or $300 for the ones I have priced…
I think many of the old traditional players don’t want to play plastic flutes because they want to remain very traditional. Folk musicians tend to be quite old fashioned and no old flutes were made of plastic because plastic didn’t exist in the 17-1800s. I have never heard a pro player say anything about plastic flutes. I have heard a lot of experienced amatures say that the plastic used by Michael and Co: compairs with wood for tone. Some even prefer plastic. And I have heard a lot of grumpy old farts say that plastic sucks without giving any explanation. Sometimes I doubt they have even tried a polymer flute of good quality.
Are you sure you didn’t get one of his very very old prototypes or something? This doesn’t sound anywhere near the description of my M&E. The workmanship on mine is superb and the top joint is tapered as well. I think the sound on mine is great and many other people seem to share my opinion about their M&E:s. Maby you just have a bad one, for some strange reason.
My M&E flute is very well built, without sticking bits, although the shape is simple, without frills. I think it’s attractive in its own way. Mine doesn’t have rings, so it’s all black; i think this adds to the appeal. It is heavy, but not unbalanced. The sound is complex and interesting. I also found the maker to be very pleasant to work with.
At the time i bought mine, he was amenable to taking a flute back and returning the money if you didn’t like it; you may want to check if this is still true. As in everything else i say, don’t feel you have to trust me; go check yourself. I assume this maker is under high pressure to deliver flutes, given the demand for his instruments and the fact that flutemaking is not (or at least wasn’t) his primary job. But after talking and emailing with him a few times, i came with the impression he’s a good man and honestly interested in making a good flute.
g
Yes, it was an old one. It was at least 4, maybe 5 years ago. I wouldn’t order another one because of the condition of that one.
I’m pretty sure Turlach Boylan is still playing an ebonite flute, and Tom Doorley played on a polymer Seery professionally for several years. Granted, now he has an Olwell, but I’ve not ever heard from anyone why he switched so he may just have wanted a flute from the maker widely regarded as one of the world’s best.
As for your Delrin Olwell Jesse, I’m sure it’s wonderful, but I’d be willing to bet were he to make 30 delrin flutes the latter ones would be infinitely better than the first after he became accustomed to working with something other than wood.
I’m with Henke on the bias and tradition issue here. Polymer is just so darn less romantic than wood or silver/gold for Boehm flutes.
Eric
I can’t resist popping in here. (If only to keep David from being beaten to a pulp by a pub full of irate polymer flute players in the 22nd and a half century!)
He is correct you know. There is (as yet) NO polymer flute as good as a first rate wooden one. Not even, (please genuflect at this point polymer lovers) Olwell’s.
On the other hand I will state that from a physical point of view, any material of reasonable density is as good as any other.
The magic is all in the hands of the maker. How familiar he is in working with the particular material (ask Olwell how long it took him to get the kind of sound he wanted in wood) How much time and effort he wants to put into that particular instrument…and even then, finally, the biggest variable of all…the player…
Thank you, Jack, Thank you, Jessie. Bless you both.
I am not a Luddite. I have an Ibook, an Ipod, a car, a titanium bike. I fly in airplanes and have a DVD player. I would love-- absolutely love – to have a polymer flute the equal of my wooden flutes. Tradition isn’t the point for me. I play a wood flute because it’s better than polymer.
Delrin™ isn’t much less expensive than blackwood. So why are Seerys and M&Es cheaper than wooden flutes? It’s because they aren’t as carefully made.
I have played hundreds of flutes. I have owned flutes made from blackwood, boxwood, cocus, rosewood, maple, apple, polymer, and bamboo. I have lived with and worked with some pretty good flute-makers.
Polymer flutes are dull-sounding, heavy, and greasy to the touch. Nobody who has played or owned a first class wooden flute would go back to polymer unless they needed something handy with which to whack the cat.
What is the difference in price between a Seery and a Hammy? Or a Seery and a Casey Burns? The difference is $200 to $300.
Playing a polymer flute doesn’t mean you’re not as good a player as somebody who plays a wooden flute. But you’d play better if you had a better flute.
I shall say no more unless severely provoked.
For all those reasons and then some (especially high-humidity days),
I like wood gooder.
Plastic is nice - it doesn’t require much care or maintenance, and you can get one fast. Wood can split and be harder to keep up.
That said, I personally don’t like the tone on the plastic flutes available today. I also don’t really like a whole lot of the wooden ones either.
My point here is that you should find an instrument with a voice that YOU like, not anybody else, as you are the one who will be playing it, and will be listening to it every time you practice. Regardless of the material, you are the only person who has to be satisifed. Spend some time listening to different instruments - better if in person, but there are bunches of clips to listen to on different site as well, and if you find you consistantly like the sound of the M&E then buy one - you’ll love it! If you consistantly like another instrument, buy one of those instead - with any of the better instruments you won’t go wrong if you like the sound. (same holds true for cars, boats etc…)
Yours,
Dave