I’ll be in Canada this summer, and I was wondering if any of you know if there are some Canadian shops that sell Dixon flutes, especially the three-piece one. I’ve been looking at some websites from Montreal and all they seem to sell are Yamaha flutes, which are surely very good but NOT what I’m looking for.
It can be a webshop based in Canada (I imagine it would be cheaper to order from a Canadian shop than for example thewhistleshop.com, because of the shipping fees and such) or a shop in Montreal (I’ll be in Montreal a few days, would be nice to have a look at the flute before buying it).
I don’t think there are any shops in Montreal that carry Dixon flutes (or any simple-system flutes for that matter). If anyone on the forum does know of any stores in Montreal that routinely carry simple-system flutes, let me know as I know a few people here in town who are in the market for one.
If you really want a Dixon flute, your best bet would probably be to buy one direct from Tony Dixon himself; he has a secure ordering form right on his own web site and he ships anywhere in the world:
And if you don’t want to order direct from him, you could at least ask him if he has any distributors in Canada. But I don’t think you’d save much by ordering from a Canadian or US distributor, as they would have to pay shipping fees too…the only savings would be if they order in bulk, which doesn’t seem likely.
I’d go with the Whistle Shop–even though you have to pay shipping. They’re at $189 U.S. compared to about $250 if you order direct from Tony (there must be some form of a discount for Thom at the Whistle Shop and on Tony’s site you having to deal with fluctuations in the dollar vs. pounds rate which is costly).
Hey Eric you are of course right as rain about the whistle shop and I think they have the best price on the Dixon poly but I just wanted to throw a thought into this thread that doesnt realy have much to do with the price of a flute or a whistle. We are all members of a realitively small group of players that occupy a small nitch market serviced by craftsman and artisins that are uniquely accesable to us. Ive been enjoying the hell out of the last couple of months of email exchanges with Tony and being able to talk to Sandy about her whistles, and Ronaldo about his and Eric the flute maker and Zacciah. I guess what I am trying to say is I am glad I gave myself the chance to meet these people and I would strongly earge any new person to do the same. Its just another one of the neat things about this road we have started down. Anyway I just thought I would mention this alternative.
Emilie, I’d check the pound againts the Norwegian currency (krone? kroner?) and see about getting it shipped to Norway unless you’ve already done so and it’s ridiculously expensive. Or perhaps an American friend could send you a gift they bought at The Whistle Shop as thank you for lending them a couple hundred dollars
Cheers,
Aaron
I definitely understand what you mean - having recently exchanged emails with several flute makers. That said, economy seemed to be an issue in this case, and I also like to support Thom at the Whistle Shop, too (as well as the craftsmen themselves - they must be OK with the rates otherwise I don’t think they’d sell to shops). Aaron made a good point to check the exchange rate of the Kroner vs. the pound (exchange rates really drive me nuts & seem vastly unfair and illogical). OK, now I’ve managed to confuse myself, because I would like to support anyone and everyone involved in flute craftsmanship and trade…It’s way too early, and I need to get ready for our parade.
I think I’ll wait until I’m in Canada and order it from The Whistle Shop. I noticed that it was cheaper there than it was on Tony’s website, and on the hobgoblin.com website, which is based in England.. pretty strange, but as Eric said, there must be an agreement between Thom and Tony. I’d love to get to know Tony but being a poor student, I have to go with the cheapest alternative!
The reason why I’m not ordering it from Norway is that in Norway they have these crazy rules about customs and an extremely high GST (24%!). I once ordered something that cost £30 from the UK and ended up paying another £30 in custom fees and GST, and that’s just too much. So I’ll definitely wait until I’m in Canada.
As for getting a friend from the USA to send it to me as a gift, it would work, but I’m not used to this.. I’d be sending a cheque or something?
In Canada (Quebec anyway), they actually charge 15% taxes on imports even if they’re “gifts”. They tax on the insurance price. So, if you don’t insure your imported items, you can get away with not paying an extra 15%, but then, it’s risky buisness. You don’t pay taxes for items that are less than 100$US, anyway this is what I’ve noticed so far.
Yeah I know.. seems like there’s nowhere to hide from these taxes. In Norway the law has been the same since 1972. There were rumours that the ‘limit’ for paying taxes was going to be raised to $200 but we never heard anymore about it.
15% is still less than 24% though, so I guess I’ll still go with that. So expensive though..
I’m going to play that flute until my fingers bleed!
I got my Dixon polymer 3-piece from Blayne at www.whistleanddrum.com ; the service and price were excellent, the best I found. The flute wasn’t on the webpage there when I was looking (some time back), but I just sent Blayne an e-mail and he got the flute out to me very quickly and at low cost.
I’ve also bought from Thom at the Whistle Shop, and was pleased, so I suspect that you wouldn’t go wrong ordering from either of those sources.
I’ve actually never done the gift thing myself but a Canadian friend of mine won an auction on eBay, had the guy ship the item to an American friend who often goes to Canada who then shipped it from Canada to my friend.
Cheers,
Aaron
OK, now I’ve managed to confuse myself, because I would like to support anyone and everyone involved in flute craftsmanship and trade…It’s way too early, and I need to get ready for our parade. 
