Just wanted to ask a couple basic questions to get your opinions.
I made a PVC flute and offset the holes. For my next flute am I best to get inline holes? I realize there isn’t any difference in sound but if I get used to using offset holes are my choices for flutes down the road going to be limited by that?
Also, I realize that there are alternate fingerings for sharps and flats. Is it better to do partially covered holes or the alternate fingering?
Thanks in advance.
Darren
Hey Darren,
Welcome to the club! 
When I was starting out I made many PVC flutes with “offset” finger holes. As a newbie, I simply drilled the holes where my fingers felt most comfortable. The results were pretty radical! The problem was (I didn’t know it at the time) this disturbed the natural ballance of holding the flute with inline toneholes. I can’t comfortably play those old PVC flutes now.
Personally I limit my “cross fingerings” to Cnat (OXXOOO) and Fnat (XXXXOX).
May your new Hobbie bring you much enjoyment!
I don’t know that hole placement can ruin your ability to adapt to new instruments. I have a whole bunch of instruments with varying hole sizes and placements. It takes a while when I pick up one of them to get my fingers to behave, but once they’re in the zone again I’m fine with whatever hole placement the instrument has.
I have two good flutes, one with offset holes, one with inline. And an older cylindrical PVC flute with inline holes. As well as numerous whistles in different keys and bore sizes, giving an even larger range of possible hand positions.
I agree with sbfluter; it just takes a few seconds for your fingers to adjust, and you’ll be playing as well - or as poorly, in my case - as ever.
I agree with the others about adjusting to hole positions on different instruments - provided you can actually cover them OK, you adapt to each different layout quite quickly - more quickly when swapping between familiar instruments than on first encounter with a “stranger”. Don’t worry about that.
As for cross-fingerings v half-holing, personally I dislike the latter and wherever possible use cross fingering for accidentals, but the viable possibilities vary from instrument to instrument. Do whatever works best for the particular instrument (first) and for you (second), but again, doing one won’t preclude or upset the other - if you usually cross-finger but have to half-hole in a certain context or vice versa, you just practice till you can get it right consistently, just like any technical challenge in music.
Welcome, Darren,
Others have very well answered your questions about switching from offset to inline finger holes, but they don’t answer why you should want to do that in the first place. I personally think that slighly offset finger holes for the two ring fingers make a lot of sense, whereas the straight line layout of the finger holes ought to be a relic from the past. Of course, how you decide to finger the flute also has something to do with the choice of finger hole layout. For an open-holed Irish flute I think that a conventional finger placement would be most common for the left hand, while the right hand fingering depends on whether you use the conventional or piper’s grip. People who use the piper’s grip for the right hand often prefer to have those holes inline to facilitate fingering, although I find that I can do this just as well with slightly offset finger holes. It is also helpful to have a joint in the flute body between the hands to adjust the fingering, in my opinion.
Speaking of an offset G for the left hand, the silver flute virtuoso and teacher, Robert Dick, writes, “Unless a flutist has a fourth finger that is longer than the middle finger, the inline flute makes no sense at all in terms of the human body”. He has done experiments showing that he can play faster with the offset G layout of the finger holes because that layout better fits his hands.
Casey Burns, an American flutemaker of wooden Irish flutes, writes on his website, “With a modern awareness of ergonomics, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Repetitive Strain Injury, etc., it makes sense to fit the flute to the person rather than the other way around”.
although that seems intuitive, and probably true, i have found that i was not do rolls on silver flutes with the offset g. i find that the added tension of an inline flute makes irish ornamentation easier. i prefer the old, crotchety inline-toneholed flutes.
^I’m right there with you; but I’m an old dog who’s been playing a variety of inline hole woodwinds for 2/3 of a lifetime.
That said - the ergonomic spacing makes a lot more sense; and being a beginner is likely the smarter way to go.
My small-handed folk flute has ergonomic holes, as does my boxwood flute. But the position is slight, not as dramatic as some flutes and whistles I have seen. I find it very comfortable.
Good stuff! Thanks for all the constructive responses. This really seems like a great community compared to many I have seen!
I think I will keep going with the offset holes. My hands are not too big and I am planning on getting a Low D from Mr. Tipple, so I would think the inlines might be a problem for me.
BTW, the pipe I made has the middle hole of the right hand offset, but I noticed Doug’s have the last hole offset. Guess it doesnt really matter.
btw Doug, glad to see you off the offset for your flutes. Can’t wait to order my Low D. 