I am new to the 6 hole unkeyed flute. I have played a regular flute (Gemeinhardt 2SP) for a while with no problems. I recently bought a Dixon 2 piece plastic tunable flute (not the polymer 3 piece). Anyway I am having a hell of a time with it. I start of with a semi-decent sound and then it just gets real windy sounding. When I play my Gemeinhardt I don’t have this problem at all. I realize the the technique is different but this is driving me crazy. Is it because it is a cheap flute? Is the Dixon 3 piece polymer flute
a lot better? I just wanted to see if I would like the unkeyed flute before I bought an expensive one. Thanks.
Mike
Welcome, Mike. It’s likely that it’s both; possibly mostly one or the other. The fact that it happens after a little playing time makes me think that it’s mostly the adjustment in your embouchure. If it was entirely the flute, I don’t think you’d get a good sound out of it for some period of time.
Forming the airstream uses a lot of muscles; even the adjustment from one wooden flute to another can take some time.
Stick around; read the archives, too, there’s some good stuff in there.
What Charlie says makes sense, but the Dixon 3 piece is an infinitely better flute.
Eric
I remember when I was trying flutes out (before I had one) at a music store, and one of the hardest to play and get a good tone from for me was the Dixon 2pc like you have. I’m sure an experienced fluter can make it sing, but I don’t know about a great tone.
In contrast, I once picked up a Gemeinhardt at an auction-the first time I had one in my hands, figured out how to put it together (it was the first Boehm flute I ever tried), put it to my lips, and played a scale (in the lower register) and got a wonderful tone from it. I bid on it, but didn’t get it, oh well.
I got a Doug Tipple white dimpled pvc 3pc, well under a hundred dollars (closer to $75) that is much easier to get a consistent and great tone from. I plan to keep it, no matter what wooden flutes I may buy in the future, for the tone and easy care. Here’s Doug’s webpage:
http://home.earthlink.net/~life2all/dougswebspace/
You might be experiencing some moisture build up if it goes “airy” on you. Try swabbing the bore when this happens and see if it helps.
I just did a search on Dixon, and came up with this thread about it that might help you, as it addresses some of the same problems:
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?=300466&highlight=dixon#300466
the casey burns folk flute goes for
250 and is probably much better.
Also resellable.
The dixon you are playing gets
consistently low reviews.
What Jim and Barry said. The Burns folk flute is a great flute and it’s easily resellable when you decide to upgrade. I’m not sure you can lose with it.
I’d think that you have moisture problems, too. Condensate seems to build up quickly on plastic. My Dixon floods. At 60% humidity, in order to play it, I have to mop it out about once every 5 minutes.
Hmmm.. Interesting stuff here about moisture buildup in plastic flutes.
I have Tipple myself (had it 2 weeks), and I too noticed how moisture beads up inside. I suspect with a wooden flute, this will be much less of an issue, since the wood will absorb much of the breath moisture – but is this better? I mean, I don’t want to have to mop out my flute every 5 minutes - especially in a long session - my mop will have to be wrung out too! And the humidity in the summer in my neck of the woods is dreadful! It will get even worse then.
Also, I imagine even the high-end plastic flutes have this problem – the Seery mopane, for example.
Please comment!
Geez, the answer is . . . depends. I don’t like metal-lined heads on wooden flutes, to a great extent because they have moisture problems. My experience is that a metal-lined head is actually worse than a Delrin head. I’ve had both Dixon and Seery polymer flutes. This may be a surface-tension problem – Delrin doesn’t wet water at all, whereas silver and other metals do.
Different woods have different properties, too, and the way you treat the wood will affect it. Again, one of the reasons I’m not crazy about blackwood is that it tends not to absorb any moisture at all, plus it takes a really long time to warm up. Boxwood is the other extreme – it absorbs water, so I never have to swab out the head while I’m playing. OTOH, as it absorbs water, its character changes, so the flute might not really come into its own till it’s been played for half an hour or more. Some of the rosewoods offer a good compromise – they don’t gush, but they’re pretty stable after 15 minutes or so.
Also, it depends on what you oil them with, how often, etc. My boxwood flutes seem to be absorbing less with age; whether it’s my treatment or their stabilizing, I dunno.
In any case, moisture buildup only be a problem for the first 15 minutes or so, as the head should warm up by then and condense less. With my silver-lined head, I only had to swab it out once or twice during a session, then it was fine. Still had a lot of drippage out the end of the flute after that (as any flute does), but there wasn’t any condensation near the embouchure.
Thanks for all the information folks. This is all great stuff. I take it that a good flute is much easier to play and get a good tone out of than a cheap one. For instance the Dixon 3 piece polymer flute would be much easier to play and get a good tone out of than say, the the cheaper Dixon plastic two piece tunable flute. I hear you on the condensation issue. I have a friend that plays and gets much less condensation than I do, so i’m guessing that technique has a lot to do with it. I want to upgrade soon and i’m debating between the Dixon 3 piece polymer and the casey burns folk flute. Any advice? Thanks.
Mike
Fyffer–mopane is a type of wood, not plastic.
Metal lines heads don’t absorb any moisture, so the flute may tend to be somewhat wetter, but I don’t think well seasoned and prepared wood absorbs a whole lot of moisture. The moisture beads up inside my (wood)flute.
To get back to the original question, the Burns folk flute is the best of the budget flutes, in my experience.
Second the plug for the CB flute over the
Dixon three piece, which is good, too,
but more expensive.
Some other options.
Blow into the embouchure hole occasionally,
hard, while covering the finger holes.
This tends to blow out moisture, out
of the headjoint, anyhow and
improve tone.
Also if there are a few moments between
tunes, hold the flute vertically,
head up, so that moisture runs
out of it.
Small things but they help.
Has anyone else had any experiance with the Doug Tipple flutes? I went to the website and listened to the sound clip. I thought it sounded pretty good for an inexpensive flute. What is the difference between the 2 and 3 piece flute? Is it that the 3 piece breaks down smaller?
Mike
Yeah, oops. My bad. I’m still very green when it comes to all this flutey talk. What I meant was Delrin. You have to admit, “mopane” does sound like a polymer, doesn’t it? Anyway, I humbly stand corrected. 
Thanks.
Again, plugging the Tipple …
I like mine, though I’m an inexperienced fluter. Another “real” flute player played my Tipple at a session, and said he was pleasantly surprised at the sound as well. I like it too.
To answer your other question, I believe you are correct in that it it “breaks down smaller”, and that is a huge advantage, I think, since I have the 2-piece, and it’s a bit unwieldy in my briefcase. Also, the extra joint allows for some rotation to possibly make for a more comfortable playing position for some (not me). Why don’t you email Doug? He’s very responsive, and he’ll help you choose what’s best for you.
For a non-conical flute, Doug’s is hard to beat.
I would definately recommend it.
M