Many 17th and 18th century folk tunes appear to be Americanized Scottish and Irish tunes. For example, “Streets of Lorado” = “Pills of White Mercury” and “Johnny Gone For a Soldier” = “Shule Agra”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDHwAoBQWJA
I never realised these songs were this old! I like his work and Willie Nelson’s.
Just think it’s nice (romantic?) if you end up with an American made flute to play early American music 
I was kind of hoping to spark a response with my original post, such as “hay I’ve got that old flute in the closet; I bet that guy would get some good use out of it”. Though, I am a little short on cash right now. That’s the same situation that got me into making whistles in the first place.
All kidding aside, I certainly am serious about learning. I am a little tired of the whistle because of the lack of dynamic range. I have made a few flutes out of aluminum and PVC, but I can’t tell if they were anywhere near playable. (I doubt it very much) I want to get just one good flute (for now) and get beyond the squalking and squeaking and learn to play a few tunes. I want to do it soon, while I am still excited about it… 
There is another aspect to my desire to play the flute. They are simple. Just a tube with holes and a stopper. BUT the variations are endless. To make a really good one takes patience and genuine love for the craft. Flutes are also old. Older than humanity. (http://www.greenwych.ca/fl-compl.htm) Flutes are ubiquitous. Every society that has ever existed has had some kind of flute. Flutes are magic. Up until fairly recently in human history, the shaman was the musician in the group. The more I look into it, the more I love it.
Haha. I’ve always wondered what it would be like for me to play to an audience filled with Neanderthals 
Err..right. Maybe I’ve got the wrong end of the flute. Well my neighbour doesn’t think flutes are magic. She hasn’t yet penned a letter to the newspaper to complain to the civil aviation authority for aeroplanes creating noise over her garden routinely…nor has she complained about dirt track bike riders screeching up and down the field at midnight…and when my magic flute comes out on an afternoon, unfortunately I’m no shaman charmer…but she does come across as being a bit of a witch!
Thanks for your anthropological reminder of the importance of flutes 
You need to play in the 3rd octave more…
I daren’t … she might break my little trill finger…
Not your trill finger!!! She is a witch!
I thought you guys might like to see my latest PVC flute. It is a G made with 1/2" sch. 40 water pipe. Like I said, I can’t tell whether it plays worth anything. I do not have access to my “good” tools right now, so I made it with all simple hand tools.
Irish to the core:
Git Along Little Dogies
As I went walking one morning for pleasure,
I spied a young cowboy a riding along;
His hat was throwed back and his spurs was a jingling,
And as he rode he was singing this song.
Chorus
Yippee Ti Yi Yo, get along little dogies
It’s your misfortune and none of my own
Yippee Ti Yi Yo get along little dogies
For you know that Wyoming will be your new home.
Slightly off topic: Jim Stone wrote
Irish to the core:
.
Having visited a number of the ‘Boot Hills’ in several of the Old West railhead towns, I can attest to the fact that there were a high percentage of Irish and Scots-Irish surnames among the rough and rowdy drovers coming out of Texas. When the little headstone didn’t say something like:“They called him ‘Curley’. We think he was Twenty-three” It very well had a name like MacLanaghan or McGraw or some such Mhic name.
Bob
Yes. See photo at upper left.
Seems strange someone keeps recommending a Mcarty [sic] here to others with no knowledge of the flute yet when loads of folks on here who play Irish flute well are giving the usual recommendations of proven Irish flutes and Tipples. My own opinion is if Mcarty’s [sic] were good instruments we’d know about them by now.
We do know something about McCarty’s flutes. He sells these flutes on Ebay and has over 800 positive feedbacks with zero negatives. So he is probably doing something right. He offers money back within seven days. I support Tipple, Copley, Burns, et. al. but I would like the new guy to be given a chance.
In fact you don’t know how well (or even if well at all) those people who make recommendations can play. So far I agree with Jim Stone: buy a really good flute and save yourself some time and money. You will progress faster with a good flute. And if you don’t like it you’ll be able to sell it easily enough and lose very little money, if any. People in Ireland know this. Parents will often buy their kid a spectacular instrument if the kid shows promise: i.e., desire and discipline. Sometimes the parents will borrow money to fund the kid’s expensive pipes or concertina ($5,000-10,000). You should do the same ( a great flute will cost less than $1,000) and fund yourself an instrument that will give you joy through the years.
I don’t know of any accomplished fluter who would recommend the Boehm system flute for Irish music. A Boehm system flute for $150 could present big problems. There is a lot of mechanism to go out of whack and to get in the way of the music.