FYI all you polymer fans. I found a new flute maker, Rob Forbes, on the mustard board the other day: http://www.forbesflutes.com/
There’s a nice clip from a current board member on there if you dig around a bit, and his prices seem good.
I’m in no way associated with Mr. Forbes, but I am a polymer flute junkie so I thought I’d share.
One nice thing about buying a polymer flute made in the USA as opposed to Ireland is that the delrin will be acclimated to our climate… 
Eric
That is great that someone (else) is making delrin flutes!
His Patent pending slide looks interesting, it doesn’t have a barrel, so I guess the slide is worked right into the delrin design, looks like a good solid instrument.
Jon - are you secretly farming out the delrin work to Colorado? 
The slide does sound interesting. I’ve not seen one of his flutes, so all I can imagine is something similar to the MDT Terry makes - but it must have something different about it.
Eric
Otherwise me will be hearing from a Australian lawyer! 
and “Bob’s your uncle”… 
It appears from the photo (no metal showing at tuning gap) that the tuning slide on Rob Forbes’ flute is machined from the delrin, thus not requiring a metal tuning slide. I never have understood why a material as strong as delrin needed to have a metal slide anyway, as a long socket in the flute body and a turned tenon on the headjoint should make a good tuning slide. Tuning slides on flutes made from metal are also made this way because metal is strong enough to make a durable tuning joint. Wood, however, is not as strong as delrin or metal, so a separate joint with a metal slide is needed.
Terry’s MDT slide is made of wood, and cork, there is no metal in the slide we were talking about. I personally like the the “Trad look” myself, but I am sure that these slides would work just fine.
I wonder how smoothly the plastic-on-plastic tuning slide works? The joints in my M&E never get stuck or anything, but they definitely don’t work as smoothly as the greased metal-on-metal of the tuning slide.
I think that plastic-on-plastic tuning slides can be made to work quite smoothly, but it does take time to machine a tenon that accurately. Even .0005" makes a difference whether a tuning joint is too tight or too loose. As I am fitting a pvc tenon and getting close to the final cut, I remove it from the lathe to test for fit in the socket. If a tenon does get a little loose, it can be adjusted for a perfect fit with a small piece of box tape applied to the tenon. The exposed surface of the tape is smooth and slick, so it makes a good spacing material, one that is easy to remove and reapply if need be.
I am guessing that the delrin slide with patent pending by Rob Forbes has another material that is more compressible than delrin that is used in the construction of the tuning slide. That way you wouldn’t need to machine the joint so precisely.
Plastic-on-plastic joints other than the tuning slide ideally need to be fitted with a tighter fit. The M&E joints mentioned above are deliberately made to fit tightly so that the joint will be secure and will not wobble.
Well, I’ve lurked here for a long time but I figured I should join after searching for, and finding this fairly recent post regarding Forbes flutes. We recently held our annual Rocky Mountain Irish Music Rendezvous RMIMR here in Cody Wy. Two flute players, one of them being an Olwell player like myself, arrived with these flutes. This is a very impressive flute. By the end of a very long weekend of playing tunes, I sold my Seery to an aspiring flute player and placed an order with Rob. Another one of the flute players mailed Rob a check the next day.
As to the speculations regarding the joints and the slide. Rob uses a system of double O-rings to make it work. Simple yet very effective. This flute has great volume and a very strong bottom end. We had over 25 musicians in our home and the sessions were mighty. My Olwell has never had a problem cutting through a session. My Seery was a great sounding flute but could never cut through like the Olwell. The Forbes was able to cut through with the best of them.
My flute should be ready in a couple of weeks. Perhaps I’ll submit a better review then.
Cheers
Richard
I like the “O-ring” idea – that’s what Mike Burke does with his whistles (and when one of mine gave way (it was easy to replace, BTW), it was great fun to say I’d finally and officially blown a gasket).
The price is nice, too. Might be just the ticket for those 40-degree gigs, etc. when you spend half the set with the flute up your sweater sleeve and the whole set quaking in fear for your $2K instrument (BTW, have you ever noticed how those gigs from Hades that you’re sure will bust your flute wide open are the ones that pay the least, too?) – thanks!