Shoner - In an earlier thread, you mentioned having an Eb flute (the one from India that’s $35 on eBay). Is the tuning slide long enough to pull it out to play in the key of D? If it is, is it in tune throughout both octaves in the key of D?
I’m just thinking this might be a cheap way to try a keyed flute, and I recall you saying it actually sounded pretty good, too.
Thanks,
Eric
Eric, I think it does not have a slide, but a tenon.
I got one off ebay a week ago, so I should receive it any day.
eilam.
Mine only has the ability to pull out the tenon, it does not have a tuning slide as such. With the tenon out by about 16mm you might convince yourself that you are in D, but the intonation is pretty poor at this point (it’s not great generally - but it’s acceptable for $35).
I also have a Dixon poly (the way a poly flute should sound) and I just use the “$35 special” to practice any keywork. It’s just a temporary thing until I get my Ormiston on November.
But I would have to say - for $35 you really can’t go wrong.
Cheers,
Graham
BTW - the cork in the head is just a thin disk and is very soft. My flute played like a dog when it first arrived but then I noticed the cork was sitting almost diagonally in the bore. Solution - open a bottle of wine (Italian white, nicely chilled, refreshing citrus notes…no, no, wait - I digress), stuff it in the bore and of you go. 
The $35 special does have a tuning slide. The problem is that it will freeze up and not move. I was able to free mine when I first got it but i didn’t grease it up; consequently it’s frozen again and I haven’t had any luck getting it to move. But when it did move you could approach being in the key of D but I wouldn’t recommend it. As noted, you must replace the end cork. It also helps to run a 3M pad thru the bore to smooth it out a bit.
Good grief, you’re dead right. I applied a bit of force, and sure enough, 
the head rotated and a tuning slide appeared. Every day is a school day.
Cheers Shoner,
Graham 
Now I’m not so sure, but at that price it sure is tempting just to see if I’d even want a keyed flute…
I’d better go think it over. The mysteriously appearing tuning slide sure was fun!
shoner, I forgot you have wrote about the slide, that’s cool!
Is the embouchure cut clean?
Thanks, eilam.
Just took mine out and am playing on it. i usually play on the wood Boosey Eb that set me back 1K. This cheap thing sounds great. Really. The embouchure cut is just fine, better than on the Seery I had. Has got that nice compression build up feel and sound. You can really push it a lot and have to to get that buzz and whop sound. i’ve never played a Dixon but I did have a Seery and this cheap thing plays the heck out of the Seery. my D flute is a Murray. Spend the $70, you wont regret it. Oh yeah, nobody has mentioned yet the lovely burnt rubber scent that takes a while to air out. Certain minor annoyances for a great sounding flute after a wee bit of tweaking at a ridiculous price. And on this one the intonation is dead on.
I was about to get one of these on E-Bay, but someone just outbid me in the last hours of the auction. I wonder if they know that these things are always on E-Bay, and that paying much more than the starting price is a bit silly. I put a bid in on a later-ending auction; we’ll see how that goes. Guess I’ll have to wait a couple days longer to get it.
Anyway, question for those of you have one of these: are the keys laid out as per normal? That is, would playing one of these give you a pretty good feel for the layout of keys on most keyed flutes? I’m playing keyless now, and am about to get a nice wooden keyless, but am thinking that trying this Eb might give me an idea of how useful I might find keys in the venues I play most (small groups in informal sessions and with friends, mostly, and of course at home alone in the practice room!).
I hate those last-minute E-Bay snipers. Irritating. That’ll teach me to count chickens before hatching, though, I suppose.
herbivore12,
The keys are laid out in the normal fashion, C and C# have slightly different touches than I’m used to and the G# is a bit of a stretch. Other than that, it will give you a good feel for a keyed instrument.
I’m awaiting delivery of a lovely Russian Octava microphone (God bless post-communist over-production) and once I get it I’ll try to put up some sound files to let people hear what a $35 instrument sounds like played by 10 cent fingers 
(I might even adjust the tuning slide now that I know I’ve got one 
)
Cheers for now
Graham
Cheers, Graham! Look forward to the clips!
–Aaron