Hi all! It looks like I am not alone in wanting to get started with the flute, as I see many other “newbie” posts here.
I’m wondering if anyone has thoughts on Ralph Sweet’s flutes for a beginner. I was going to go with a 3-piece polymer Dixon, but after hearing Jessie’s sound clip of an applewood Sweet I’m tempted to go that route, especially as it isn’t that different in price and it is wood, which I would love. Just not sure if it is suited to a beginner who can’t get very far with her Hall glass flute…
Andrea, that Sweet flute is a total fluke. They vary tremendsouly. Some are unplayably awful. I would not recommend a random Sweet to a beginner or anyone else.
I think they’re more reliable now, Jessie. They do vary, but not as badly as they used to. I personally think it’s a good option. Have a friend who plays the flute evaluate it, and if it sucks, send it back.
Forgive the totally newbie questions… but unplayable, how exactly? Is it sort of like bad-Feadog-unplayable (having nothing else to compare it to )? How does one tell it’s the flute, not the player, if one is a newbie? Especially as I have no local flute friends to evaluate… though I guess I could send it to someone on the board.
Andrea, you can’t tell if you don’t play the flute. Unplayable, in the case of Sweet flutes, means the embouchure is cut and sanded so badly that, although you cannot see a difference to the naked eye, the tone is completely unfocused and dull.
I’m sure there are flute players here in the metro area-- note that I said “friends”, as in people I actually know. I’m not one for contacting strangers to ask them to play my instrument.
~A
Edited to add: Thanks, Jessie… I guess I’ll consider sticking with my original choice of the Dixon 3-piece. Unless someone else has a wooden flute suggestion that would be under $300? Is there anyone else who makes applewood flutes?
I’m not going to get into a fight about this, so this is my last post in this thread. I personally:
haven't seen any Sweet flutes that are unplayable,
think that in average they're actually pretty good, especially considering the price, and
Ralph Sweet is a reasonable guy to deal with, will probably even take your flute back if it doesn't work for you. You can easily get a hold of him by phone or email and talk with him about your concerns, before you buy anything.
Feel free to PM me if you want to discuss further. I'm not going to insist on this, i don't get any money from Ralph, and don't have any need to defend my flute knowledge in this forum either. It just annoys me to see him taken down by default and without having a chance to defend his work.
Absolutely, Ralph is a reasonable guy and will take back a bad instrument.
It is certainly possible that quality control has improved in the last couple of years.
About three years ago, I played every Sweet flute (and there were a lot) at Lark in the Morning, and of about 10 D flutes, 2 were good. I bought those two, as well as a few fifes in different keys. That leaves about 8 D flutes that were not good. It’s all in the embouchure hole, and, at that time, the Sweetheart factory was just that, and flutes were rushed and not play-tested before leaving the shop.
You can’t comment on flutes you haven’t played, Glauber. Surely you realize that. Ok, you haven’t played any bad Sweet flutes. You’re lucky.
My first “Irish flute” was a Sweet, a two-piece model, in padouk wood (it looked pretty) for $135 new.
I used it for about a year until I decided to buy a “real” flute, which turned out to be an 8-keyed Monzani boxwood (c.1813), which I still have.
I sold the Sweet several years ago to another beginner.
For what it is, and what it cost, I think they’re good. I didn’t care about tonality and loudness, etc. I wanted to learn the moves first and the Sweet did that job for me just fine.
Well heck, I want one of Ralphs flutes. Key of G. Im just waiting to see if Jessie is going to sell hers before I talk to Ralph. Now as far as beginning the flute her is what I did. First I got on a list (Lehart) then I had Alan Mount make me a flute which I used to mudel through the nightmare of developing an embouchure. It also sounds real nice and costs 50 bucks. Then I talked to Tony Dixon and ended up buying one of his wooden 3 piece flutes. I think they are real dandy, mine is in rosewood and realy is an incredable flute for the money. Then after 10 months my Lehart was ready and although I am nowhere near doing it justice I at least can feel the potential in this animal. I also picked up the sweetest antique 8 key Eb for next to nothing and I cant put it down. So now I have 3 very fine wooden flutes to take care of all in a little less then a year. Now that is what happened to me when I decided to take up the flute. The work I put in to get to the point of being able to play the damn thing was monumental. The tools I had to work with were
superb. Just an example of one way to go…
I’m glad you mentioned it, Tom, so I can tell you that I am not going to sell the Sweet G flute. I am keeping all the different keys so, if I ever want to try to make some, I’ll have some dimensions to start from.
I was afraid you were going to say that Jessie. So its off on another flute adventure. I do have a pvc in G comming that sounded good on the sound clip so I should know what I want from Ralph shortly. I was having fun with the antisipation though Jessie.
I 've owned four sweet flutes and I’ve played many
more–they’ve all been good, IMO. I like the maple
flutes best. I think they’re
a good flute for beginners. There is, by the way,
a very good sweet maple D flute at The Whistle
Shop. As we’ve said, the Dixon price is now five
dollars higher than the sweet.
-Consider a Casey Burns beginner mopane flute-featured on his site for $250.00, nothing fancy, but it looks like a fine wooden flute- likely the best flute available near this price. New synthetic flutes from Michael Cronolly and Desi Seery are considerably more money, but do offer an imperviousness to climatic abuse wood does not. I have a Burns Pratten-style flute and am quite pleased with it. Its potential exceeds my skill, but its quite rewarding when I get my beginner’s embouchure right.
