hello,
I dont know if it has been discussed already but I wish to know what company\maker do the sturdiest and most protective cases for Irish wooden flutes?
thanks very much!
Yooval
the doskosport pistol cases come to mind.
berti
I don’t have personal experience of these, nor am I in any way connected to these people, but they sure LOOK good!
http://www.fine-boxes.com/pages/nsfset_fc.html
Have a browse - not cheap, but sound, I think.
For a cheaper, self-fix solution, making use of something readily available… I’ve been buying these poker set cases off eBay, chucking out the contents, removing the liner tray and putting in foam with cut-outs for the instrument(s). They are rather bigger than a standard flute case - about the size of an average clarinet case, actually, but that means there’s room in them for a piccolo and a few whistles and accessories too! They aren’t (as some say) actually aluminium - they’re metallised plastic over hardboard, but quite sturdy and with good fasteners. You should be able to get one for under c£12/$25 if you are patient. Such a pity you can’t just buy cases like this empty! The contents are heavy, so negotiate with the vendor to chuck them out before posting and reduce the P&P!
Have fun.
Second pistol cases–about 10 dollars and hard to beat
for functional protection.
also, aluminium camera cases, with the kind of foam that you can tear compartiments out of, to fit things, work fine.
very sturdy.
berti
Obviously you shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover or a flute by it’s case but I always think those plastic pistol cases look awful. Put you off even before you pick up the instrument!!
One of my neighbours for a while made flutecases for Custy’s music shop in Ennis and for local musicians. They were made out of solid blocks of hardwood. They look nice and do the job very well.
they certainly look much less good than other cases costing 10 to 20 times as much and offering considerably less protection. Depends what you want and need.
I almost thought I was on the photography forum. Photographers and I’m sure others wrestle with this issue constantly. ‘I’ve got 5-10k worth of [insert your thang] and the case should look commensurate with the contents BUT if it does, it might attract the attention of thieves…’ or ‘I need a case to protect the contents completely, but I don’t want to look like I’m carrying a portable missile guidance system.’
Perhaps the answer is more than one case. Find a cheap ‘protection over looks’ functional case and a ‘yup, she is beautiful that’s just the case she lives in’ case.
Form.Function.Function.Form. If there was a perfect case for any flute wouldn’t someone have found it by now?
Scott
I got the following idea from the cover of the Matt Malloy/Sean Keane album CONTENTMENT IS WEALTH: Matt looks like he has a converted briefcase to house his flute. There are two pictures, front and back of the album, but neither shows the case open. What I did was to take a nice black briefcase; then I got some sheets of cork cut to the size of the open briefcase; I then used an Exacto-knife to cut the shapes of each piece of my keyed flute; Using the first sheet as a stencil, I then cut enough additional sheets so when they were stacked, the cutouts were about an inch thick. Next, I lined the bottom of the case in thin foam and covered it with velvet cloth. I encased the cork stack in velvet as well, cutting slits where the cutouts were so that the cutouts were open (the lined bottom of the case would then form the bottom of each cutout. The final task was to put a thick piece of foam in the lid so that the surface of the foam (covered with velvet) was flush with the open edge of the lid. When the lid was closed, the surface of the foam would mate with the surface of the cork.
The result is very functional and, IMO, rather classy. Because of the size of the case, I also added a cutout for my whistle. You don’t need any skill or special tools to do this, and it is dirt cheap. The cork comes from a craft store; the velvet and foam from a fabric store.
You can, of course, use the same idea with a much smaller box, but if the briefcase is good enough for Matt Malloy, it’s good enough for me, and I think it looks bitchen.
The inexpensive plastic pistol cases are fine, but I vastly prefer these:
http://www.vanguardusa.com/vgp.htm
The VGP 3201 is just big enough for a keyed flute with a split midsection, hygrometer, and cork grease. No foam cutting necessary; the diced foam can be simply plucked out to create slots for the various flute sections, so the flute is in the foam and not on it. I found it locally for $30, but I’ve seen it online for less.
I agree they look down-at-the-heel, though maybe that’s not a bad thing depending on what you’ve got inside 
– sort of like having nice luggage vs. dumpy luggage. I would personally be more attracted to a lovely wooden box if I was a thieving type, fiiguring the contents were lovely as well. On the downside, I must admit I sometimes worry my pistol case will attract potential sticky-fingered handgun thieves.
Although if they’re discerning sorts maybe they’ll figure it’s a really cheap handgun … 
I have one of these that I use for my keyless flute. The flute itself is in a soft felt bag divided into three sections. The case is soft shell, but firm enough that you don’t actually need a box for protection; it’s very well padded. You can keep accessories in the pocket. Fantastic as a carry-on when traveling.
http://www.protecmusic.com/items.aspx?ProductID=48&InstrumentID=19
http://www.northwindcases.com/Flutes.htm
The best. Everything else is a compromise. Except for this:
Not a bad point if you need to leave things lying around unsupervised. I know a fellow who keeps his mando in a really cheap and ratty tennis racket soft-case that still has the “Goodwill $2.50” price tag on it (for those of you who don’t know, Goodwill is a chain of thrift stores here in the U.S.). He’s left it for all to see in his car, and for years no one’s ever bothered.
Flute camouflage might be a bit more problematic. It would have to be something pretty recognisable that no one would want. Even cheap pistols do the job, after all.
Got the camo thing covered; the flute is cleverly disguised as a banana. As long as I don’t encounter any potassium-starved simians … 
There you go.
Hola, TinTin! 
I wondered about something like that for gigs when you have to put the flute down to play the whistle or the Bb flute or whatever … I’m still messing around with the idea of a flute “bucket” of sorts. The other option is a bag that hangs off a mic stand, but I like the rigidity and “multiflute” capacity of a padded PVC pipe or some such.