Tone quality vs volume and tuning

Irish Flute
1

So around Thanksgiving Michael Cronnolly marked his flutes down 30% so I ordered one of his keyless deluxe D’s. By the by, he handled his part of the transaction with speed and efficiency. The US postal service, not so much.

Playing it side by side with my Tipple D, I find the following:

The Cronnolly has a slightly better tone–at least to my classically trained ear. Less “fuzzy”/“breathy” than the Tipple. Not so much as to make the Tipple sound bad, just different.

The Tipple is much louder, especially at the low end. Also the tuning of the Tipple is far superior to the Cronnolly. The Tipple has the low D, low G and middle D in tune with each other with only minor chin adjustment between the 3. The Cronnolly takes a fair amount of manipulation to the the D and G both on pitch. With the G tuned to pitch the D is almost a 1/4 tone flat. Also the low D on the Cronnolly is quite weak compared to the Tipple. Perhaps this is a C foot versus D foot thing?

I like the sound of both but find myself reaching for the Tipple more often. Not that I regret buying the Cronnolly but could have bought Tipple’s G and C for about 40 dollars less, which I might have done.

Anyway, just some observations, would be interested in the experience of others.

2

This is very apt, I am/was contemplating one of his flutes, so I will be very interested to hear what others say about theirs. :sunglasses:

3

I think you might just need a bit more practice with the embouchure of a conical flute. I also transited form the Boehm flute to a D flute made by Mr. Cronnolly. It definitely can sound really nice and loud, but I have no idea how it compares to Tipple flutes. I think that flutes with bigger bore and holes generally can be played louder, but I wouldn’t say that the M&E flute is a quiet one :wink: You probably just need more time to discover its “sweet spot”.
Have you tried turning the headjoint in a bit? I get a reedier and louder tone, doing this.
I wrote a bit more on my M&E flute here (https://forums.chiffandfipple.com/t/mcneela-flutes/99865/1).
Definitely a nice instrument and perfect to start on. I won’t sell mine, when my new more expensive wooden flute arrives.
I think it is also really good, to start on a keyed instrument, because you immediately start learning to hold the flute like it is needed for a keyed instrument.