I have an opportunity to buy a Sweetheart 4-key flute, and I was wondering if it is a good flute. This will basically be my first flute (I learned on a bamboo piccolo), and I was wondering if this would be a good flute to go for. I have heard good things about Sweetheart instruments, and I have a chance to get a pretty good deal on this instrument. Thanks for any comments!
-Casey
I’m not sure how useful this will be, but here’s my experience.
I’ve never played a keyed Sweet flute, but know a woman who has one and likes it pretty well. I have a G flute in maple that I think is pretty good. I had a D rosewood keyless for years that I just couldn’t learn how to play, and finally sold, thinking it was me. A month later I bought a Tipple PVC flute that I could play from the moment I picked it up. Maybe that flute and I just weren’t meant for each other, or maybe it was a clunker. Don’t know. So, if there’s any way to try it out, I’d advise you to do that.
Incidentally, I also have a Sweet Dymondwood Pro D whistle that I love. And the Sweets are great to work with if you have questions or need any kind of help.
It is probably a good enough flute. I’ve owned a number
of Sweethearts, including a D rosewood. They’re very playable,
they’re in tune, they sound good–but they’re not great flutes.
Sooner or later, if you get serious, you may want
a better (it will be a more expensive) flute. But for starters they are fine and
at a good price, still better. Odds are you will be able
to sell this flute if ever you move up.
I have a G and an F now, both fine, the former quite good.
It sounds like a good deal. If you can, check to be sure
there’s nothing wrong with it. If there’s nothing wrong
(it’s hard to see what it would be) I’d buy it.
I am a serious musician, and perform often, but on the whistle. Would it be a bad idea to pick up this particular flute then? Again, it would be my intro to the low flute, since I owned a Folk Flute at one point and didn’t have time to learn. I have also looked at the M&E polymer. Thanks!
-Casey
I started with a Sweetheart keyless in D, made out of Purpleheart (the same design as the Rosewood). I learned the initial stages on it, but always had difficulties with the low D and E. It is a very light flute, easy to hold for long perods. Later, I moved to a Burns Folk. I can get the low notes really easy on the FF, but the higher register is more difficult - quite easy on the Sweet.
I think the Sweet 4-key is pretty much the same flute as the keyless, with 4 keys added. It is probably quite a reasonable value, but my experience suggests that the lower notes can be more difficult. My assessment is that this is a result of the narrower wall thickness in the head joint.
PS I now have a Sweet 6-key in blackwood that I bought from SpringRobin off this forum. It is an excellent flute, comparable in workmanship with Grinters and McGees I have seen. I am still a relative beginner, but I can attest that it is a very easy flute to play, through all 3 octaves, with a very pretty second octave. So don’t assume that Sweet flutes are just aimed at low-cost beginner’s instruments.
Yes, M&E polymer or Seery delrin should definitely be in your list of candidates. I’ve yet to hear a bad (or even neutral) report.
FWIW - I had a Sweet 4 key for over a year, but moved on to an M&E because I’m too lazy for wood and the M&E was a 6 key. The Sweet 4 key I had had a very easy upper register and very strong low D, too. I think it’s an excellent way to get into a keyed flute at a reasonable price. I wouldn’t be surprised if more care went into the keyed flutes, and it also has silver rings and an end cap which the basic Sweet flutes don’t.
Eric
It sounds like a pretty good flute, and the flute design does look a little different from the keyless versions. Sounds like a good way to start, and it would be cool to have keys. Thanks for the info - I’ll go for it.
-Casey
I played a bunch of Ralph’s 4-keyed flutes at his workshop when I was buying my Williams 8-key from him, and I started on one of his keyless Rosewood flutes. Jim Stone’s right: they’re good flutes, playable, in tune and a good way to get into fluting without breaking the bank. The 4 key model does give you a fully chromatic instrument, which is nice since there are times when you REALLY want to play a G# or Bb. If the price is a good step below one of his new ones and there are no obvious cracks or dings, I’d say go for it.
As with all Sweet flutes, they vary. I had a rosewood 4-key once, and it was not very remarkable. Terry McGee reseated the keys for me and it played better than it had, but not as well as other, cheaper flutes. That said, I have played keyless Sweet flutes that were great (and some that were really, really not). Good luck. I hope you get a good one.
A fellow here in town has a 6-key blackwood. His seems like a fine flute whenever I’ve heard him play it (I don’t see him much).
In praise of 4-keys:
Never had a Sweet, but I use my 4-key (short foot) more than my 6-key. Light, agile, and fun. Sooner or later, though, I reach back for my 8-key: I have a thing for D minor, and the long F and low C make it possible.
Good luck, whatever you end up with!
Well, if anyone else out there has this sort of 4 Key preference, and wants to trade their killer six key, for a great four key, let me know - maybe we can work something out…
Nano, why didn’t you at least get blocks put on the darn thing?!?! 
Loren
Jessie is absolutely right about the variability in Sweet flutes. I played a handful of his keyless ones in various woods when I was buying my keyless rosewood one. The first three didn’t sound as good as my PVC Tipple flute, but the fourth one sang and I bought it. I also played four of his 4-key rosewood flutes last winter at his workshop, and I had my keyless Sweet with me for comparison. None of the 4-keyed ones were dogs (which could not be said of all the keyless, non-rosewood ones), but then none of them sang quite the same way as my keyless. In another situation I would have put this down to the fact that I was most familiar with my own flute. However, all five flutes of the flutes I was playing were made by the same maker, to the same speicifications and of the same wood, so the difference can’t all have been me. I’d be interested to know if other folks have had a similar experience playing nominally identical flutes by the same maker.