I’ve been thinking recently about getting more into the Irish flute, and I looked around for possible purchases. I’ve played the Boehm for half a year and I’ve been playing guitar and the whistle for 5 and 2 and a half years so I’m no stranger to music. I’ve noticed there is a rather noticeable price difference between a flute with tuning slide and one without. My understanding is that a flute without tuning slide, when tuned by pulling the mouthpiece out, it may become slightly out of tune with itself; is this accurate? Is it worth it to get a flute with a tuning slide? I own a Tipple and I’m thinking about getting a Copley in Delrin. To be clear, I think I sound allright with the flute but I have A LOT to improve on, regardless I would like a flute to grow into for years to come.
Without a slide, there can be a slight change, for example, to the high A and B…but on many delrin flutes the slide is thin enough it is not an issue. Also, several makers have a minimum type disruption tennon on wooden keyless flutes these days.
Despite the above, being slideless isn’t really an issue unless you play really sharp or flat or want to play with fixed tuned instruments that are really out of tune.
I have flutes both with and without a tuning slide. Both work equally well for tuning as far as I can tell but I think the tuning slide does look better then pulling the tenon out a little and usually it slides a little easier so you can make finer adjustments.