Who has the information about the weight of different brand keyless Irish Flutes and would like to share the information with us.
Thanks
KC - If you don’t get too many replies here try the http://www.woodenflute.com/ site. register and sign in and make the post. There are many more flute makers there than here.
BillG
Is there a particular concern?
Maybe KC is finding his new flute a bit challenging.
Yes, my right shoulder, elbow and neck are in pain.
Admittedly, recent 3 hour sessions didn’t help.
I wouldn’t be this bad if I’d played a D key bamboo flute instead.
My osteopath said he gets a lot of flute players with this problem.
My osteopath treats lots of musicians and dancers.
He is musician and singer himself.
We discussed the weight of my flute.
He started talking about shakuhachis as a more “ergonomic” flute.
I changed the subject.
I weighed a few of mine:
Bleazey boxwood 9 oz
Schultz cocobolo 9 oz
Burns blackwood 9.5 oz
Dixon 3-piece polymer 10 oz
16 oz = 453.5 g / 1 oz = 28.3 g
The Bleazey and Schultz have partially lined heads, while the Burns and Dixon have unlined heads.
I know these are not the most popular Irish flutes, but if your taste isn’t really toward honkers the first two are really quite nice.
Hmm…
Seery keyless African Blackwood c. 10.75 oz
(good Swiss “not legal for trade” kitchen scales)
FYI KC
(also
Eb Indian Bamboo (cane quality) 3 oz ) 
Using a postal scale and not guaranteeing accuracy:
Copley, blackwood, w tuning slide, keyless, 13 1/2 oz
Healy, silver tenons, no slide, keyless, blackwood, 9 1/2
Ormiston, short foot, tuning slide, keyless, blackwood, 12
Casey Burns Boxwood, keyless, no slide, 9+ a tad
M&E standard keyless, 14 1/4
BillG
Lift weights, I think it really
helps flutists. Not joking.
Best
Had a couple of tunes on a nice, fairly new, boxwood, fully keyed Sam Murray flute yesterday at a session in Copenhagen. I was immediately struck by how light the flute was compared to my blackwood keyless Wilkes. I’ve never though of the Wilkes as heavy, and have no problem with it, but the boxwood Murray was a little too light for my taste. Prehaps it’s what you get/are used to, but I personally prefer a heavier, more solid feeling flute over a lightweight flute. The previous owner of the boxwood Murray, a very good flute player, said that he also preferred his older, heavier flute when I asked why he had sold the Murray. The new owner was pleased with the Murray so it all worked out to everyone’s benefit at the end of the day. I can understand though if someone’s having shoulder/neck problems then a lightweight flute could be preferred - the problem may not be the weight of the flute though, could be because of tensing up for other reasons?
Well my wife has pleaded with me,
“You won’t ever sell the Irish flute, will you?”
So I won’t be parting with it, “heavy” though it is.
And yes, you could be right there.
The weighty flute may just magnify something wrong in my posture
or some such. So its not the instrument but the player.
I was hoping someone may comment on this.
My osteopath said a lot of flautists (more profesionally trained
than me) have the problem
at precisely the point where I have it.
Anyway, I compose best with the weighty flute.
It may not be light but it has GRAVITAS.
So be it.
The heavier flute could be useful if you have to defend yourself against music lovers .
Sweetheart Rosewood 1-key : 5-7/8 ounces
The Sweetheart is a very light flute. In comparison, my 19th century 6-key comes in at 11 ounces. (unlined, short foot)
Ay-yi-yi, it looks really nerdy … but for me, assuming exactly the posture young flute players are first taught – ie. both feet flat on floor, bum on the front half of the chair, back straight, flute level with ground, and head straight – seems to fix the neck/shoulder issue in a day or two.
Then of course it’s back to noodle neck and associated aches and pains.
Cathy said: “ie. both feet flat on floor, bum on the front half of the chair, back straight, flute level with ground, and head straight – seems to fix the neck/shoulder issue in a day or two.”
For the life of me I could never sit when playing the flute. I’m always standing, probably got the habit from the fife. But when I played clarinet in school, plixityyy years ago, we had to sit - and the above position you mentioned was A MUST!! as in, “You vill zit like dis . . .” I had some back and shoulder probs when sitting but now, standing, I don’t have any of the listed problems - and I am eternally grateful for that.
BillG
very clever
Thanks Cathy.
Do you mean flute parallel to the ground?
I just need to confirm this.
And I didn’t understand your last para.
Ooops, sorry! I was just laughing at myself, there. The noodle-neck is what I call one of my awful habits that, in fact, causes me those terrifically twanging neck and shoulder pain & spasms – but I must be addicted to it, as I just fall into into such a pose on a regular basis
Yes, you are correct, the flute would be parallel to the ground. Don’t be surprised if your right arm gets a bit tired, but it does get better, and it still feels much better than a sore neck or shoulder.
On a wooden flute it is better to tilt it slightly downward so that condensate can move down the bore as you play.
On a keyed flute, this protects the B-flat key from becoming waterlogged, and also helps slow the buildup of water in the flute, which will impair tone and response as it builds up.
I think one thing that helps a lot with flutes, especially the heavier ones, is to keep the elbows well out from the body, and to try to keep the wrists as straight as possible when playing.
–James
Good point, James. A slight tilt would be fine if condensate’s a concern; but if that still bothers your neck you can also achieve a similar angle by spreading your feet wider and leaning right just a bit from the waist.
Most important, I think, is to just pay attention to what feels/sounds good, the same as what feels/sounds bad. And in my experience, pain generally sounds pretty bad. 
unfortunately, the flute presents quite a challenge ergonmically. Even with doing things right, I have problems with pain. I’d found that changing my RH thumb position, helped a little with right wrist pain I was having (even with my wrist relaxed, straight and inline) the problem is that my thumb gets tired in that position, thereby causing tension again! Also, In order to play in a position that actually eliminates any wrist discomfort, I have to play in a way which causes shoulder and upper back pain! Oddly enough, my LH wrist, which is a common pain site, hasn’t bothered me a bit, even though it is bent. Am I weird or what!? Funny, playing the fiddle doesn’t bother me a bit anywhere, can play for hours.
Corin