Someone can help me to choose between two flutes?
a delrin Des Seery, and the casey burns folk flute
how they compare in tone and playability? I’ve read more
good things about casey, but i don’t know about the delrin Des.
Thanks.
Unfortunately, I can’t compare the two because I don’t have a Casey Burns folk flute, but I can tell you some obvious differences between the two as well as comment on my delrin Seery.
The Burns folk flute is, as per Casey’s website, a good basic starter flute. It’s not upgradable, so you can’t add rings, slide or keys later if you want to do that. It’s also amazingly well priced and made of wood (I happen to like the look of mopane a lot), but it requires normal wood care (oil periodically, dry out after playing, don’t leave in the boot of your car in hot weather, etc.).
The Seery has a tuning slide, silver rings, and you can add keys later if you like. It’s also about $150 more. The delrin looks exactly like African blackwood - I have to tell people it’s not a woodenflute. Personally, I think it requires a well developed embouchure to get the best from a Seery, so it’s not the best starter flute. To hear what one sounds like, listen to the first 2, maybe 3, Danu albums (Tom Doorley played a delrin Seery on those albums). Additionally, it’s very difficult to harm a Seery (tough as nails), and it needs very little care. I really like my Seery.
Does that help any?
Eric
Yes, i’ve got a look at the Seery website. It seems to be a wonderful flute. I play several differents flutes and i need an easy embouchure (i found that playing some flutes with specific embouchure down my skill in other flutes playing) , so it seems that Casey is more convenient to me. Rest the upgrade facility of the Seery …
there is no best choice, only compromises.
Patrick.
I’d say you have another good choice here - the M&E R/R model: http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=27570
Bob
It’s a very good day, i just received a beautifull Seery, but now, it’s too late to play it.
I like the delrin more than i think. Surprising, i don’t feel the holes under my right hand’s fingers, need some training 
I really think the Seery is a wonderful instrument. Good design, well made, and I think the partially lined headjoint adds to its wooden tone.
Have fun playing!
Eric
ho, lichatt! Congratulations! 
So, I guess it will be safe from that darling little boy of yours. 
Do other people agree with this? I got a Seery as my starter flute, and I’ve never been able to get a good enough sound out of it to encourage me to practice, if you know what I mean. (Except for one or two flukes where I got it to sound like a flute for a minute or two, and the world was awesome.)
If the Casey Burns would be significantly easier to learn on, I think I might have to get one…
Does anybody know of any top-tier flute player who plays a Delrin flute? People have mentioned Hammy. But Hammy didn’t use the Delrin, AFAIK, when he recorded.
I prefer the feel and sound of wood. I think most long-time players feel the same way.
Tom Doorley as mentioned was playing Delrin on a professional level for quite a while. Turlach Boylan plays an Ebonite flute, not quite Delrin, but closer to Delrin than to wood anyway. Those are the only two I know of besides Hammy.
Tom Doorly now plays an Olwell.
Well my opinion is that flutes in general require a bit more commitment and faith on the part of the player relative to say, whistles. If you want to be a flute player you simply have to motivate yourself to practice in the first place because if you don’t you will never even get the stick to sound properly. Have faith in your practice. Getting another flute simply on the basis that it plays easier might not be the best move I feel. When you need some instant gratification there’s always the whistle.
If I had to start all over again with a limited budget, I would actually go for a Seery. (or maybe a Doyle if I can find a good deal on one) Of all the below $500 buck flutes I’ve tried - including 2 Burns flutes - I felt that the response and feel of a Seery is the closest to that of the “serious” range of Irish flutes. Its one of those flutes that can help beginners get a nice Irish flute embouchure.
Isn’t personal preference such a wonderful thing?
Yeah David, I know Doorly now plays an Olwell, but he still sounded wonderful on that Seery…
Boylan is the only other professional player I know on a plastic flute, but Hammy prefering a delrin when playing in sessions, but not recording on it - well, we have no idea when he made that delrin flute and if he’d record on it now.
Don’t get me wrong, I really like wooden flutes, but a Seery is quite a good flute in it’s own right. Heck, some folks go gaga for any flute with a partially lined head, and the Seery has one of those…I just think they’re well made flutes.
Eric
I think I read on the WFO website that Hammys contribution to the first cd was recorded with the Delrin Eb Hammy. I might be wrong though.
Why note drop him an email and ask?
Hammy is a very nice, approachable fella. He won’t bite ya.
–James
Man, I wish that were true in my case. Practicing is a matter of faith, as you say. I’ve thought alot about that this week!
Not Delrin, particularly as that track was not one of the 6 new tracks he recorded to lengthen the Moneymusk reissue on CD.
Hammy was here in Los Angeles, oh, about 4-5 years ago, with a flute he had made in Nylon, as a trial. Very flexible, and sounded great. A bit slippery - I told him that Des Seery deliberately flattens the finish on his Delrin flutes for appearance and grip. Anyway, the nylon flute did sound great, and Hammy had machined it precisely enough that there was no need for cork or thread - just a perfect fit at the joints. That flute sounded very good, and Hammy has just found it safe to travel with. He’s not particularly taken with plastics, as it’s just as much work and not the easiest on the lath.
Kevin Krell
Even though I haven’t played many wooden flutes I’d have to agree that the “feel” of natural materials can’t be beat. But as for tone?? I think delrin and wood can be on par with one another. A thread not long ago discussed this. Delrin is denser then blackwood. I would bet that if more of the great makers had to use delrin over wood for whatever reason that the instruments produced would sound just as grand as their wooden counterparts.
I can speak to this. As a novice, I have little to offer regarding the qualities of various fllutes, but I do have a CB folk flute, a Tipple and a Firth Pond & Hall. The CB definitely has an easier embochure, even than the Tipple. I was able to get a note from the CB right away and get it into the second octave with very little practice. The other flutes take so much more concentration that I rarely practice with them any more. In fact, I am considering selling the Firth once Jessie has finished glutting the market with fine instruments.
Roger