hey guys,
I am in the market to purchase a flute ethier from m&e or seery. Im trying to get an idea on which one people seem to be most satisfied with. I am not a total novice but am not totaly up to speed on most of my music so I would like to here what you guys think!
Check past threads on this board…we have discussed these flutes about a million times.
Jessie
I wish we had more reviews of the new M&E R&R copy…anyone else (aside from Mike E.) out there have one yet?
Loren
Hi y’all,
I have the first one in the Rudall design, as far as I know, two other people have ordered one up in L.A. after playing mine.
Cheers,
Michael
Do a search because the discussion was prettly active and maybe everyone is burned out. Search for M&E, Seery, and you might also look at the messages on the Dixon 3 piece polymer flute. The new Rudall M&E sounds intriguing and adds a little gas to the M&E vs Seery debate, which up till now has been a stalemate in my opinion.
I just ordered the Dixon because the messages were encouraging and I have a another 4 month waite on a Copley Blackwood I have on order. I look forward to the Dixon, it will be my first 3 piece flute.
I have an older M&E and have tried a Seery. I like them both. My comparison is:
M&E: More optimized for lower octave.
Seery: More balanced across the lower and upper octave.
Note: It took some work, but I have learned to easily get the upper octave on the M&E. I’d imagine with the Seery, I would have put in the same amount of effort learning to honk the lower octave. (It’s easy on the M&E).
Volume: Probably close to equal. Some say the Seery is louder, others say the M&E. So it’s probably a wash. They’re both really loud.
M&E: Uses less air.
Seery: Uses more air.
M&E: Small finger holes
Seery: Large finger holes.
M&E: Joint between right and left hand
Seery: Right & Left hand holes on same piece.
M&E: Flat low D. (He did it on purpose, so you can honk it hard without going sharp). Perfect Cnat using oxx ooo.
Seery: Flat C# (on the one I tried).
Appearance: The Seery is a better looking flute. Understand that I say that while totally loving the way my M&E plays. But the Seery will be mistaken for a blackwood flute unless carefully inspected. My M&E would never be mistaken for a wood flute.
Hope this helps; I’d imagine it’s a bit dated: I hear that Seery has done some work on intonation, and I know Mike Cronolly has changed hole and embouchure sizes from the way mine is even before he came out with his new R&R copy.
Just one comment on Jomac’s comparison:
Seery: Right & Left hand holes on same piece.
As I understand it, Seery now makes his flutes in all sorts of X-piece designs; check the picture on the http://www.csagraphics.com/seery.htm website.
Jens
One more comment: The M$E is massive. This never bothered me, after I got my hands used to playing flute in the first place, but I have large powerful hands (used to play acoustic bass). I actually like the mass of the M&E because I like to pound pretty hard with my fingers. The rhythmic pulse has to come largely from the fingers on the Irish flute, and when I play I almost feel as if I’m drumming on the flute with my fingers. Now when I do this on a whistle, for example, I really have to tone this down, otherwise the whistle is jumping all over the place, banging my teeth and bruising my lips. With the massive M&E, I can drum as hard as I like, and it doesn’t budge.
Your mileage may vary.
Joe
The Rudall M&E isn’t nearly as massive… there’s a pretty big difference in the shape of the main body, its smaller in diameter. Of course, the Delrin is heavy, but it feels very well balanced in my hands.
Thanks for all the good info. I ordered my seery yesterday.
Just for information purposes. I ordered a Seery (through Shanna Quey) and found the intonation not suited to my style… the C# annoyed me particularly. While I could blow the thing into tune it took more umph than I was used to… Well, Desi took the flute back and gave me one that fits my playing and doesn’t need to be blown like a tornado to be in tune (including the C#). I would suggest letting Desi know what you want… he may be able to give it to you. By the way, I didn’t deal with Desi directly. Steve Power at Shanna Quay facilitated all this for me. It pays to do business with people who care about customer service!
Clark
I know you already bought the Seery, but I’ll tell you a couple more things I like about the M&E, as well as another thing I don’t.
In addition to the nice intonation on Cnat, you can get a pretty good lower octave G# with xx0 xxx and on the 2nd octave G# with xx0 x0x. It’s a little sharp but just barely. x0x xxx gives a pretty good Bb as well on the lower octave, I haven’t been able to get a good Bb in the 2nd octave. oxo ooo gives a good Cnat in the 2nd octave with practice - it’s a little difficult to nail at first, but I can do it now easily.
Also, I can play with 2 different sounds: by hardly covering the embouchure hole with my lower lip and rotating the flute to compensate for intonation, I can get a really reedy, harsh sound, and on the upper octave I can control it to get just a little bit of the lower octave as well; a rough-and-ready sort of sound I really like. And by covering more of the embouchure hole and compensating intonation by rotating the flute out, I can get a much sweeter, purer tone.
One thing I don’t like about my M&E: It’s (nearly) impossible to half-hole to get a D#/Eb, or a lower octave Fnat. I can half-hole to get a 2nd octave Fnat with no problem. Half-holing to get Cnat, Bb, and G# works well as well.
Joe
You can use the fingerings above on the Seery as well… and ditto on the Eb, forget half holing that.
Clark