There’s a blackwood and brass flute on eBay. I emailed the seller and he/she has no idea who the maker is, and was uncertain as to the key it’s pitched in. I’m guessing that since it’s 27" it’s probably in G. (?) If so, it’s not a good one for me since I’m looking to buy my first Irish flute, and I want to be able to abuse more than a handful of tunes while I’m learning.
Does anyone recognize the flute? I thought it might be one of Fred Rose’s flutes, but he said no. He said he’s seen them but couldn’t ID them, so that could be a clue. They may be made in England or Ireland.
And while I have your attention, is the Dixon tunable a good starter flute for someone who already plays the tin whistle, or is it better to start with a good wooden flute? (I love these open-ended questions! They always seem to start really entertaining debates!)
It looks too new to me for the seller to have no idea who made it. Also, if there is no maker mark/name, that makes me a tad nervous.
As for the Dixon tunable, are you talking the 3 piece conical or the two piece cyclindrical? If you’re talking 3 piece, yes, it’s a very good beginner’s flute. It’s what I’m playing myself right now. I’m waiting on a Seery though, but it’s because I want a Pratten style flute. I still like my Dixon. It does require a focued embouchure, but it can sound anywhere from pure to reedy depending on how you play it. It does have holes on the smallish side which makes it a tad quieter (but more than loud enough for a small session with a piano accordion even), but the small holes allow for very good cross fingerings to get sharps and flats. I amazed my much more experienced pratten flute playing session leader the other night with Bb, G# and F cross fingerings that work on my Dixon but don’t on the pratten style flute.
As for the 2 piece, I heard one the other night, and it’s not bad, but it doesn’t sound like a conical, Irish style flute. Actually, I didn’t think it sounded much better than my own home made 2 piece PVC flutes did. I just think there is only so far you can go with a cyclindrical plastic pipe.
Not sure of the maker, but it seems to me I had a student a few years ago in St. Louis who had a flute with these exact rings (and case looks familiar) and he got the flute through Lark in the Morning. It was okay, a bit thin in tone, as I recall.
For whatever it’s worth.
Not sure of the maker, but it seems to me I had a student a few years ago in St. Louis who had a flute with these exact rings (and case looks familiar) and he got the flute through Lark in the Morning. It was okay, a bit thin in tone, as I recall.
For whatever it’s worth.
Thanks for the warning! I’ve read several horror stories about those flutes having less than desirable tone and also about problems with the blackwood cracking.
And to Jayhawk, I was referring to the two-piece Dixon tunable, but maybe I need to look harder at the three-piece instead. And congrats on impressing your instructor! That’s not easy to do! Was this a special trick that you’d like to share, or the ol’ half hole method?
It’s just some cross fingerings that work on the Dixon that I’m pretty sure I’ve posted before like:
Bb X0X 000 or X0X X00
G# XX0 XX0
Fnat XXX X0X
You do have to bend the pitch a bit with your embouchure, too, but it’s not hard. I just messed around with alternative cross-fingerings until I found that these worked on my Dixon. Some might work on larger holed flutes, too, but they didn’t work on his Dave Williams’ flute.
This mystery flute appears to be one of those terrible Pakistani flutes that everybody hates. These flutes are seldom in good tune and seldom are able to produce a strong tone. They are heavy, the workmanship is mediocre, and they are often just unplayable. It will turn out to be no bargain, discourage a person from playing, and delay the move to a really good flute. I’m no fan of Seerys or M&Es but I like them much better than this junk.
On a positive note, it would make a lovely lamp column.
This is indeed one of the Pakistani mass-produced pieces of brass-trimmed kindling. They’re no good as flutes, but the bore and the holes should make them burn really well to help start a fire in your fireplace. Avoid it at all costs for other purposes (except maybe as a lamp, as cocusflute mentions).
As for your assumption that it’s in G, it’s not. It is a standard-sized Irish-type flute in D. They generally range from 24-27 inches in length, depending on whether they have the extended foot with the vent holes, which this one does. A flute in G is more like 16 inches long (or very much longer if it’s a bass G, which almost nobody would be able to play due to the holes being way too far apart).
Good luck in finding a flute that you can actually play, but this ain’t it.
I played some of these at Lark and liked
them well enough–not wonderful but not
bad either, I thought. Wonder how long it would last,
though. Under no circumstance would I
buy one without playing it.
