Cheap non-Pakistani flutes on ebay

Irish Flute
1

Hi. I am not very good at music, but I like to try and play multiple instruments, and I am always
looking out for new things to try and play.

I was looking on ebay, and I saw some hand made flutes made from pine and oak wood.
Now, I am no expert on flutes, but I know flutes are normally not made from these woods,
but I decided to take a chance, since the flutes were very cheap, and I bought the last
remaining oak flute in low D.

I picked oak over the pine, because as far as I know, oak is a harder wood, and probably makes better
flutes. I know I should probably save up and buy a flute in the $300-$500 range (since that is what
the good beginner flutes seem to cost) but since it was made outside of Pakistan, I decided to take a chance.

Here is the seller, if you want to take a look:http://www.ebay.com/usr/pgrimmitt?_trksid=p2047675.l2559

2

I didn’t check your seller out, so I can’t offer any specific info. However. Oak is a ring porous wood, meaning that you can suck or blow air the length of any quarter-sawn length of it, and hence diagonally through any other portion. This is exactly what you don’t want in a flute. My advice is to RUN from this offering. You will earn back the price of a used (or new) entry-level flute from a known maker long before you make this purchase pay off.

3

Pine is also a dreadful wood for flutes. Looking at the instruments on the ebay site, they do look pretty dire. The holes look too small to me, and not necessarily accurately spaced. I tried going to Philip Grimmit’s Youtube channel, where he has two postings (there’s no image, so I wouldn’t call them ‘videos’). This is the man playing his own instruments. I take it that he would have chosen a good one, and that he is probably the best at playing his own instruments. He does make heavy weather of it. They sound terribly difficult to play, and not a nice sound at all.

I think, if you’re interested in learning flute, you should do what s1m0n suggests and get a flute from a decent maker. Struggling with an instrument that can’t be made to play well will just put you off. Flute is hard enough as it is.

4

I am going to try out his oak flute and give a review, maybe it wont be too bad :smiley:

I am not sure if I should make another thread for this or put this here but, I have been
for the last few years looking for a good reputation brand of flute that is under $500,
I wont be buying one now necessarily but I would like to have advice anyway.

What is the difference between a Musique Morneaux maple flute for $350: http://musiquemorneaux.com/flutes/

and a Casey Burns folk flute for $450?: http://www.caseyburnsflutes.com/ff.php

And if one of these is better, how much better is it than a polymer Dixon, 3 piece flute for $219.95?

If I should make a new thread I apologize.

5

I am going to try out his oak flute and give a review, maybe it wont be too bad > :smiley:

Oak is, again, not a wood associated with wind instruments so really., why bother with these things if you have, apparently, no budget to spend? I know, mistakes are there to learn from but why spend money on something cheap that is most likely a waste of money? Save up a bit for a decent instrument, it’s the sensible thing to do. And you’ll be abl;e to re-sell a decent instrument without too much of a loss, if any, while the cheap stuff will be forever with you to remind you.

6

Also if I poured something like tung oil into the bore of the oak wood flute, would it make it less porous?

7

Funds are tight yes, I have even experimented with making my own pvc tubing flutes. And I will save up for a better instrument, I just wanted to try this.

8

You’ll get a better flute, and better quality wood choice, from Casey Burns, and his considerable years of experience.

9

And if price is the main criterion, you might consider Walt Sweet’s Shannon delrin flute at ~$275. Many here have had positive comments on it.

You’ll be amazed with what a legitimate instrument does to shorten your learning curve…

Best wishes.

Steve

10

Thanks I hadn’t seen that flute before.

11

If you spend some time on this board, you’ll likely find someone with a used Casey Burns, or Sweetheart (Walt Sweet) flute in the $2-300 range. Try posting a WTB (wanted to buy) ad on the used instruments forum to see if there’s anyone willing to part with a starter flute at a price you can afford. You won’t find anyone here who’ll tell you that the ebay flutes you’re thinking of are a good idea. We did warn you.

12

I would like to give a full throated recommendation for a Copley and Boegly Flute. I just purchased a delrin one with no rings new for 360 so that I could have a travel flute. It is quite uncomfortably close to as good as my Olwell given how little I paid for it and how much I paid for the Olwell. If you like a BIG flute sound find one of these.

I have also owned a Burns in the past and it is quite good as well. If you like a little bit smaller sweeter sounding instrument, the Burns is great. It’s still got a big sound though so don’t think it is quiet.

13

The flute arrived quickly, and here is my review:https://youtu.be/Bf9OOo1KcuQ

14

Are these flutes two pieces routed out and then glued together NAF style?
I don’t hold much hope for them not splitting down the middle if they get played much considering the wood type used.

V

15

It’s a one piece flute, I think it says two piece on ebay, but that is incorrect.

16

How does Doug Tipple’s flutes compare to something like the Dixon 3 piece or the sweet “shannon” delrin flute?

If I am asking too many questions tell me shut up :laughing:

17

One immediate red flag is that he calls his flutes “Renaissance Baroque Irish Bansuri”. These are four distinct/different instruments. What are shown in the picture I looked at are renaissance flutes. These don’t have a modern scale (or they have to be severely lipped into tune) and have different fingerings in the second octave than in the first.

Oak or pine can be easily sealed in the bore, but the softness of pine and the grain of oak would make cutting a good embouchure difficult or impossible. The standard way around this would be to make an embouchure insert, but these don’t appear to have inserts.

18

… yet over the last couple of years you’ve bought a number of cheap, seemingly unplayable instruments. Wouldn’t it have been better to put those amounts that you spent on cheap instruments together and get a playable instrument?

19

True, but I had found cheap and usable instruments of other types, so I guess I tried to extend that logic to flutes also, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

20

True, but I had found cheap and usable instruments of other types, so I guess I tried to extend that logic to flutes also, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Sure it is, as long as you adjust what your perception of cheap and playable are…

Tipple flutes have wonderful embouchure cuts, great tone, and are a real bargain. I personally find the tonehole spacing a bit uncomfortable, probably the result of the cylindrical bore, but those who are used to playing using a RH pipers grip don’t complain (and it might work for me if the one Tipple I have didn’t have offset holes as I’m more used to them inline). The Sweet Shannon is under 300, the Somers flute is around 400 and so is the Burns Folk flute. If you want to sacrifice some durability and tonal “accuracy” you can always go for a really inexpensive bansauri. I’ve even got a Murphy PVC flute that I’d let go for $40, though it is really is no patch on a Tipple.

For what it is worth, I’ve found that the embouchure cut on the Dixon 3-piece is not as forgiving for a beginner as some others, but that may have only been early experience and feedback from other beginners at the time.