Hey all-
This was posted on my board, thought I’d give it a shout here as well, since I don’t have a lot of traffic yet.
http://www.gaeliccrossings.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=20
Aodhan
I’m a flutie-pie newbie…what’s the
significance of the term “Metzler style”?
Did a search but nothing satisfied my curiosity.
This is not a recommended flute. Save your money. Even the maker has ceased making flutes (he makes affordable pipes). That the flute is based on a Metzler is neither here nor there, Metzler being another flute maker of some reknown during the 19th century, as Sloan’s flutes were neither great reproductions nor great originals.
I’m sure Gordon has played many a Sloan Flute and he is entirely justified in ditzing them on the board. In fact, I have had very good reviews from persons who know flutes and who have heard and played Sloan flutes. True, Metzler has nothing to do with the quality of the flute–that was just included to give some idea of the design. Anyway, I have decided to keep the flute. It has made a good deal of money for me at funerals and weddings so I suppose it has a place in my collection of wooden flutes. It sure beats the plastic tubes that folks seem to be drooling over on the board.
Best Wishes.
Thanx mucho for the info. I was just wanting
to know for general knowledge. My Copley
is working out fine as my first flute.
yep, great flute, the Copley. I have a six keyed made by Dave. Only Irish Flute I will ever want or need.
Just for clarification, I wasn’t so much bashing Sloan as recommending that the person not buy one sight unseen (unplayed), based on my limited experience with them and on advice others relayed to me back when I was flute-searching myself. In general, they are not quality flutes. That said, there may be a few playable ones out there, so I don’t mean to insult anyone who owns one already and likes theirs.
In any case, since he no longer makes flutes, I didn’t feel I was infringing on his business by giving my opinion on the flute in question. I have no idea or opinion on his main business, making various pipes.
Just for clarification, I could send you an e-mail I have kept from Rob Greenway in which he praises Ray Sloan’s flutes. Rob really knows flutes. Anyway, it does not matter at this point. I had guessed that your “opinion” was not really based on personal experience and knowledge. I have decided to keep the flute. Good sound and well in tune with itself.
On 2003-01-30 20:26, piper7 wrote:
Just for clarification, I could send you an e-mail I have kept from Rob Greenway in which he praises Ray Sloan’s flutes. Rob really knows flutes. Anyway, it does not matter at this point. I had guessed that your “opinion” was not really based on personal experience and knowledge. I have decided to keep the flute. Good sound and well in tune with itself.
You’d be wrong then; I have played his flutes, though only two. Not very good. Intonation was off and the tone was poor on both. This corroborated what I’d been told by others when I’d inquired, before I got a chance to play the ones I did.
Yes, Rob certainly knows his flutes, but so do others who have disagreed, myself included. As I said in my post, yours may be a good one – my opinion doesn’t matter anyway. I have no need to quarrel with you over this. Feelings about flutes are often personal, and ultimately, that’s what makes horse races.
Enjoy your flute.
On re-reading these posts, it occurs to me that you (Piper7) were/are the seller of this flute.
I apologize if I hurt your sale – an opinion was asked about these flutes in general and I responded.
Perhaps saying that you are, in fact, the seller and that this is a good flute would have sufficed; I have an anonymous German flute (I’m not selling) that – based on the rep for these flutes – I probably would not make much on it. That said, it’s a pretty good player, worth much more to play than, as you called them, those plastic tubes out there, and I gigged with it for quite awhile.
If I ever sold this flute (I don’t for both sentimental reasons and because it’s not half-bad), I’d have to deal with it’s rep, and present it as a decent flute in spite of itself.
All the best
No need to apologize. I suppose I should thank you. My experience has been that way too much emphasis is placed on the instrument and not the musician. Many times one cannot get good intonation from a particular instrument because that person is just not a good intonator. I agree, we have spent much too much time on this and I would rather practice my intonation now.