I am looking to buy a wooden flute in the UK.
Thinking Fred Rose… are these good?
I only play whistles up to now and don’t know where to start.
Help please!
I don’t know about Fred Rose’s flutes.
I got a lovely keyed flute made by Dominic Allan.
His workmanship and his customer service are superb.
He offers wooden student flutes for £165 plus postage, and an option to trade it in later if you want one of his regular flutes, keyed or keyless. See here:
http://www.djallan.co.uk/page3.htm
He lives in Somerset.
Fred Rose’s flutes aren’t talked about too much on this forum, but they’ve always received good reviews. That said, I’ve not played one.
Eric
Martin Doyle makes what is widely thought to be one of the best flutes.
Yes, I’ve played some of them. Easy playing and holding, and beautiful. Among
the best flutes for ITM.
If you are seriously interested you
will probably treasure the flute for the rest of your life. If you decide
to part with it, you can sell it easily.
A lot of new folks waste money on cheaper flutes which they later replace. If you have the bread,
a good flute will serve you well and ultimately cost you less.
A lot of new folks waste money on cheaper flutes which they later replace. If you have the bread, a good flute will serve you well and ultimately cost you less.
I can’t imagine! 
The Dominic Allan ones sound fantastic - he takes the student flutes back for part exchange for a advanced one if you stick with it!
Check this out…FWIW
I’m sure Mr. Doyle makes some excellent flutes. But the OP was asking about a 200 pound flute. If he/she were a professional, this would be an excellent investment. But he/she appears to be a whistle player switching to flute. Let’s go with the low end. 
I see nothing about 200 pounds in the post. Further, my whole point is that the Doyle is an excellent investment
for a beginner switching from whistle to flute. I gave my reasons in earlier posts in this thread. By the
way, most of M. Doyle’s flutes are not keyed, and are often favored by teachers of beginners.
Nor are they terribly expensive.
There is something to be said for starting on something that plays well and easily, something you
can succeed on, something you won’t replace, something that, if things don’t work out, you can
sell probably for more than you spent for it. IF you have the money to buy it, you don’t lose
that money. That’s a good place to start if you can.
I feel I’ve caused offense where none was intended. The OP was asking about Fred Rose flutes which start at 200 pounds. The flute you recommended was more at the 500-600 pound range. It seemed to me this was a bit beyond what he was asking. I can not argue in anyway that the flute you recommended was a good buy for the dedicated flute player, but for someone switching from whistle to flute it seemed a bit much. 200-300 pounds is a lot of money.
If buying mail order considering one from Ireland would open up more options and still be easy for shipping, tax and language purposes. You may find someone nearby who has, for example, an M & E you could try.
Dwilbur3, I don’t think you did anything to offend. I also see Jim’s point. The original posted did not indicate how much he was willing to spend, but the flute in question is about $325 USD. Martin Doyle’s current price is $845 according to this morning’s exchange rate, so it is a significantly more expensive flute depending on your financial situation…especially in light of the world’s current economic climate.
Woah, chill people!
Thanks for the advice though!
I am a slow learner and quite poor at the moment so wanted a cheaper student type model. I hope this clears things up!
There’s nothing to chill about. I’m not offended.
The advice I gave is pretty common from experienced people to slow learners who are new to flute,
FWIW. There’s much to be said for starting on the best instrument you can afford–it maximizes your
chances of success, you learn faster, and saves (even makes) you money–IF you have the bread in the first place.
The Doyle is recommended for newbies–I hope by now I’ve communicated why–but is also played by pros.
If you want a ‘cheaper student model,’ that’s fine with me.
Hi technowhistle
jemtheflute is relatively near you, he might have a restored antique flute around your price range - you will likely get more bang for your buck and jem will not sell you a crap flute.
David
Hi BigDavy,
With relatively being the key word 
your suggestion is a great one!
I’ll send him a PM…
Thanks for the recommendation, David. I’d be delighted to try to help technowhistle and he’s very welcome to contact me, but I fear the geography is less conducive than you indicate! I don’t know where he is in West Wales, but it is unlikely to be less than a c3.5 hour drive one-way, 250+ miles round trip costing £30+ in fuel in even a pretty economical vehicle… rough equivalent in Scotland would be Edinburgh-Fort William.
Technowhistle, if by any chance you are visiting the National Eisteddfod in Wrexham this week (if that’s something you do, which might bring you the length of the country!), or indeed if anything else ever brings you to NE Wales, give me a shout - I live about 2 miles from the Maes.