All,
I don’t know what is wrong with me!!! I am now thinking of selling my Seery as well as my Burn’s Folk Flute so that I can order one of Casey’s Pratten models in Blackwood with tuning slide and rings…
Does it ever stop?
Tony
Does it ever stop?
I keep telling myself that it will. :roll:
NOT!!!
Tom
depending on your personality.
for me it never stops, and I’ve been getting to the point where I can’t look at my wife in the eyes for a day or two after the auction closed, and she’d pick up on it, and say: OK, what did you get? and then two weeks later, I confess to Gordon, and even though he assures me that “it’s OK” I’m sure he rolls his eyes and shakes his head, why would’nt he? that’s what I do!
I really put a lot of the blame on those makers that take so long, and I do all I can to make Peter Noy feel bad with every new flute I buy while I wait, of course sending him my new find for restoration does not help things.
Basically, were screwed.
My idol, Nancy, said it best back in the 80s…“just say no.”
Seriously, then you can be like me - it’s been two whole months since I bought a new stick… 
At least that’s my story and I’m sticking with it.
Eric
I’m Charlie and I’m a flutoholic. It started with whistles, then I went onto the hard stuff.
Actually, I have a pretty addictable personality. I bought probably 50-60 whistles over 3 or 4 years. When I decided to start flute, it was because I bought my wife a Thin Weasel that she wasn’t really crazy about. The thing is the most beautiful piece of wood I’ve ever seen, though, so I couldn’t let it go. I never got the hang of it, but bought two antiques off ebay and then the Bleazey. Ten months later, the only other flute I’ve bought is a Copley. Oh, and I’ve ordered a couple of keyless, and a keyed flute for my wife, and have one of the anitques, a four-key boxwood flute with horrible intonation, off being intoned by John Gallagher. The sound of that baby is perfect, so if it can be brought into tune, it could be a real gem.
So there is hope. Maybe not much. I’ve already begun unloading whistles, and when all my flutes are in I’m not planning on keeping all of them, but it’ll be 1.5 years before I’ve received them all, and it will take at least a year to determine which I love and which I merely like. A lot can happen between now and then.
My justification is that if I do what I’m thinking I’ll have two keyless, My Hammy and the new Burns. And two keyed, a V. Kohlert and a C. Gerock, an 8 key ebony(?) and 6 key boxwood respectively. I’m sure it’s denial, but it seems like that will be good…
Tony
If ever you’re gonna do rough stuff,
like be a street muscian or whatever,
that Seery can come in handy.
To add to Jim’s comment, I also think the longer you play, the better you get, the Seery suddenly becomes a much better flute than you thought it was…
Obsess about playing
and the need to possess much
may become less
Very true, Jayhawk.
Just relate it to what D. Migoya says about tone quality.
I add that flutes are things just expensive enough for making us happy when we can buy them, just cheap enough (compared for instance to UP) for feeling we need several: keyed, keyless, etc.
We often need more lessons and less instruments; our money would be more useful!
Philippe
PS: Grixxly! I’ve same problems! Let’s make group therapy!
These guys are on the right track. If you took the money used to buy all of these other flutes and whistles and used them to buy Scoiltrad lessons or to go to workshops, you would be much more satisfied with one flute.
The money spent on two flutes could buy you a trip to Willie Week. Or just one flute could get you to Boxwood, Swannanoa, or the myriad of other workshops in North America.
Buying all of these different flutes is fun but you have to ask yourself if you will be satisfied. I’ve seen too many adults get into hobbies which become more of a collection than a hobby or pastime. Maybe the time and effort put into an art like traditional music is more commitment than a lot of folks can manage with their families and careers so acquiring instruments is easier. One can only speculate.
Cheers,
Aaron
I would say that when you live where you can’t try different flutes easily, this buying and selling of flutes may make sense, as you try to find the flute that fits you best.
Just be careful you don’t wind up finding out that the best flute for you was the one you sold two years ago…
By the way, I agree with the comment on the Seery. Getting to know my Hamilton has also given me an entirely new appreciation of the Seery. It’s a fine flute in its own right.
–James
It doesn’t stop. It may take breaks, but it always comes back. There was a time for me (between marriages) when I lost interest in instruments and I thought it was all over. But as soon as I got happy again, the addiction came back. Dan is SO supportive of it. Uh-oh.
I would add to James’s remarks (with which I agree) that some of us are interested in a few different types of music. I’m not going to play Telemann on a Hammy, nor would I play a reel on a small-holed boxwood 19th-century 4-key.
<Buying all of these different flutes is fun but you have to ask yourself if you will be satisfied. I’ve seen too many adults get into hobbies which become more of a collection than a hobby or pastime. Maybe the time and effort put into an art like traditional music is more commitment than a lot of folks can manage with their families and careers so acquiring instruments is easier. One can only speculate. >
The bottom line is, we all have our own way, and get to our passion in the way that suits our personality best. Are you telling me that going to Boxwood would mean more to me then buying a Murray (even though I “don’t need one”), I can tell you that you’re wrong.
If buying a few flutes mean that I’m not committed to playing, wrong again.
I think that most of us are ‘Magpies’ to some extent,keen to get that next shiny object!
I have above 40 whistles,and acquired another this week-I ‘HAD’ to have it for two reasons,ONE:I didn’t have an ‘E’ whistle,TWO:I hadn’t tried a ‘Jubilee’ whistle.
I have a keyed ‘German’ flute(anon)two Boxwood one key flutes.a Nach Meyer Piccolo(ivory head),a Dixon polymer,and a cheap crappy Boehm flute.
I thought that I was over the worst of my acquisistion disorder when I got my Uilleann Pipe practice set,thinking that my next step would be to order drones,when and IF I thought I was ready for them, BUT-SHOCK,HORROR!-I find myself reading up on,and looking at, Bass Rcrd*rs! 
I tend to ‘justify’ my purchases by thinking’well at least I can SEE somthing for my money’and ‘I can always re-sell it’.
Maybe I need a course of cold showers or electro-convulsive shock treatment!(Psst, hey, BrewerPaul,any Bass recorder tips? ).
BTW, Aaron, your interpretation of Breton music with your German flute was wonderful (don’t remember the link)
Philippe
Wow… Anyway… Wow…
I’d like to thank everyone for their input.
I will be talking with Casey tomorrow sometime, so I’m going to make my decision then, or shortly after. But, I’m really leaning towards getting one. I think it will go along side my Hammy quite nicely. I think it will depend on our conversation, and whether or not I can get both flutes sold. We’ll see.
BTW…
I do like my Seery, and maybe I’ll regret letting it go, but I don’t play it much: Not much at all. So why not let it go so that someone else can enjoy it? Seems unfair for it to be couped up in it’s case. I’m really starting to appreciate my folk flute a lot more too. I don’t think it can handle the air like the Hammy (one of the discussion points I’ll be talking with Casey about), but it has its great qualities too. One of the reasons I’m leaning towards getting another Burns.
I am taking the beginner’s course from Scoiltrad and I think I’m coming along nicely. I’m a little slow to learn a new tune, but I think I’m doing well. Been working on tone from day one, btw. (DM 
)
Oh yeah… almost forgot… I LOVE to play. I’d be spending this money on golf clubs if I didn’t…
Cheers,
Tony
I do both all the time. My small holed boxwood is a baroque at low pitch, and reels and jigs (slipjigs in particular) sound wonderful on it. In all fairness, though, I do mostly use it for baroque music (whatta concept!). Now, for a purist, (which I ain’t) your using a 19th c. 4 key is just as anachronistic for Telemann as playing Handel on the Hammy. That said, I do that as well; the Hamilton has a wonderful sound for classical or baroque, a wonderful sound period, and it’s no weirder, really, than using a Boehm for baroque, and that’s a precedent that’s been set for the past century or so.
Gordon