If you’re looking for something good without spending too much, Casey Burns’ Folk Flute is a good one. Also, M&E flutes are good, and Cochran flutes (by C&F’s Jon C.) get good reviews.
Well..thank you all for your helpful comments, I am all set now. I have a flute coming and am looking forward to playing it. Best,
kourtjestr
So what did you end up getting?
The suspense…
…is killing…
… us!
You guys are just plain scary.
And oh yeah – me too.
I’m a beginner here, myself. I’ve been fooling around with a PVC flute for a couple of years, but only recently broke down and got a decent “real” flute - in my case, a Casey Burns Folk Flute (these sell new for $250, and sometimes a bit less second-hand).
The differences between my PVC flute (Dixon Duo) and the Burns are remarkable. But even so, for the first few days I just couldn’t play the upper register on the Burns, while I could (sort of) on the Dixon. If I hadn’t known Burn’s good reputation, I would probably have spent a lot of time blaming the instrument, rather than myself. And it was me - I’ve still a long ways to go, but the upper register is getting better each time I play.
This is a long-winded way of saying: don’t buy it from eBay unless you know the maker. It might well be worth while laying out the money on a REAL Tipple flute - by all accounts, they are much better flutes than my Dixon, and they’re rugged.
But unless you’ve got an experienced player that you trust to go over the instrument before you buy it, avoid no-name instruments. Better no flute at all than wasting the money on something unplayable - not only does it put you further away from being able to afford a good flute, it may put you off playing for good.
From my own experience (and what I’ve read here), the cheapest decent-quality conical flutes start somewhere over $200 - Casey Burns Folk Flute (wood), Sweet (various - wood and laminate models), Dixon (3-piece polymer or wood - not the cheaper “Duo” cylindrical like I have), M & E (polymer), Seery (polymer).
If you’re willing to go with a cylindrical flute, besides the Tipple polymer there are a number of reasonably-priced cane flutes with good reputations - Olwell (may be hard to find) and Tallgrass Winds are the ones that came to mind first.
Spend some time thinking about the makes and models you’d like, and until then stick with your homemade PVC. Save. And if you see one of your preferred models offered at what you know is a decent price, snap it up.
EDIT: I see you have a flute coming. Good luck, and have fun! But I’ll admit I’m curious, too. What did you get?
sounds like a lot of nonsence.
Oh, Other Worlds, 722 Pasadena Ave S. St Petersburg, FL 33707. Not so much “other worlds” as in foreign countries, but as in “other worldly.” Spiritualist and New Age. Twenty-pound amethyst crystal clusters. Healing with panpipes. Drum circles and spiritualists. Celtic as in Nouveau Druid and “I believe in fairies.” Celtic as in Michael Flatley.
They’re right near the beaches–tourist trade. I go by them on my way to work. My hairdresser told me all about them. "Ooooo, they have everything!"
I’ve never been inclined to stop by, but certainly if anyone craves an opinion on a $146 flute . . . I’ll be happy to go count its splinters.
Hmmm, I see they also have a “blackwood” flute. “John Rutzen, a Scot, works in Donegal making great flutes using modern materials and the old traditional methods. In blackwood. The modern head joint material avoids risk of cracks.” If it’s modern and avoids the risk of cracks, then it’s not blackwood. The photo looks like three different substances. Black, reddish, and “modern.”
Celtic as in Michael Flatley.
Congratulations.
You’ve just provided my new signature!
John Rutzen is a real Flute maker his heads are delrin the idiots at the store don’t say that. Here is his site he also makes Scottish Smallpipes and I have seen his Flute on Hobgoblin. He is listed on Brad Hurley’s site.
John Rutzen’s flutes aren’t bad (unlike his website) I had one a year or so ago, nothing wrong with it good tone and fairly responsive, I just never got on with the polymer headjoint. Though at least it will never crack.
That is garbage. I’ve cut embouchure holes that would play every note except a B. No logic.
Two swipes with a needle file and the B comes out fine. No logic.
Now that you’ve developed an embouchure, take a trip, play some flutes, and mortgage the house if it’s the right flute.
And have fun. That’s an order. 
Denny’s post is not garbage.
The original poster, kourtjestr, said his flute wouldn’t consistently hit notes “it should be hitting”. In other words, sometimes he could hit the notes, sometimes he couldn’t. Logical conclusion: user error.
You’ve “cut embouchure holes that would play every note except a B”, in other words, it consistently did not play a B. Logical conclusion: flute error.
You think?
May the circle be unbroken…
Looks like they bought a Flute and forgot about us.
Ya…and they forgot about youse too !
Bla bla bla
I wanted to hear what he bought.
Well, maybe he was really from that shop himself, come here to pretend to be interested in flutes, but really just wanting to advertise his EBay sales.
It could happen.