OK, now that I have my Seery, I love it. It definitely is a harder beast to get a really good tone out of than my Dixon, but I still like the Dixon and wish it had an Eb/D# key. As I’ve said many times before, the Dixon has small tone holes that allow for baroque cross fingerings, but D# is impossible for my fingers to half-hole. I find this flute great for playing classical pieces or anything with a large number of accidentals. So…
Anyone know if there are any makers willing to take on adding a key to some other maker’s flute? I was wondering if Michael Cronnolly might do so since it’s a Dixon polymer and he is used to working with polymers.
I honestly don’t know if this is considered taboo in the flute world, but Tony told me in the past he has no plans to ever do any keys. I do know I could email a few makers directly, but since many of you know some of the makers fairly well I thought it best to obtain a little feedback before possibly crossing some unknown to me line and really irking some flute maker I might want a flute from in the future.
Thanks,
Eric
So…It sounds like the Dixon may not be for sale for a while Eric.
I was pretty sure you would keep it. I have had a couple of killer offers on my rosewood Dixon because of recieving the Lehart. Last night after a day in the fields and broken down seed drills and all that I pulled it out along with the old German 8 key and the Lehart. I am waiting for the humidor to reach the proper humidity and it is becoming winter here and the house is dry. So I felt I had to play them all for an hour or so. That Dixon is a killer flute. The Lehart has tought me how to play loud and the Dixon has once again “changed its tune”. Anyway I love it and it stays here.
I bet there are a couple of flute makers out there that would add keys to your Dixon. They are craftsmen and not subject to the foibles of manufactures. But that is just my guess. Its a good idea to ask around first though and get some ideas from those who know. There is a yahoo group of flute makers that might be another place to check. Good luck
Tom
PS: Hows your horse?
Yeah, I think the Dixon might end up staying. The horse seems fine - thanks for asking. She unfortunately has rather poor hooves (thin walled and flat pad or whatever it is - my wife knows for sure), so she is likely prone to stone bruises and such. We’re looking into something called easy boots because our farrier says she wouldn’t keep shoes on for the life of her. Horses and flutes - that’s where all our money goes!
Eric
I know of at least one flute by another maker that Seery [I can’t remember his first name right now 
!] has fully keyed - so I’d imagine he doesn’t have a problem with that.
Deirdre
Deidre - That’s great to know!
Are you still in Columbia? Is there a session there?
Eric
Yes, thanks, Deirdre! Anyone know of others who would do this? I’ll be looking into this myself before too long.
Yup, Jayhawk, still in Columbia - I’ve been persuaded to stay til next June, so I’ll be around 
! There are a couple of sessions in Columbia - there’re slow jams on Tue and Wed nights - Tue night is more about learning new tunes by ear, and I’m not quite sure about Wed… And there’s a session on Thu night as well (it’s in Cherry St. Artisan every 2nd Thu - see http://www.cherrystreetartisan.com/calendar.html - it’s in there as Celtic Jam). PM me if you’re thinking of coming, or want more details - or check http://www.moceltic.org/ .
Deirdre
Wow…there’s a lot more going on in the ITM world in Columbia than here in KC or over in Lawrence. Guess I had a slight “Jayhawk” bias going on there 
.
If I have to go over to Jeff. City or Columbia for work, I’ll drop you an email. But, married with only 1 car plus a 5 year old, I rarely just hop in the car and go anywhere these days unless work forces me to.
Eric
Well, now that you know where all the action is … If you’re around, make sure and let me know!
D