Chiff and Fipple Forums

oleorezinator wrote:Dully literal suits me just dandy and the perfect answer. I always trust your good musical sense Nano.

Duly literal would have been better, though. More interesting, at least.

Before I send the Ellis flutes off to Pat later this morning, I thought I’d write some impressions after spending a few days with them. Steve gave us all the measurements, so I won’t repeat any of that; micro-specs are not my thing, in any case. My regular flute for the past dozen years is a Pratten...

What's really impossible to determine, I think, is an impression, the one we get actually playing a flute, and not speculating about it, or the wood it was carved from. Before flute, I'd dealt with factory-made guitars, ostensibly identical, factory specs and all. I'd sit for hours playing through t...

On the other hand you might be able to get past the "two identical flutes" problem by creating multiple identical flutes of varying woods. I was wondering if a study could be conducted using multiple flutes made of 2 different materials and using Terry McGee's raised lip plate head design...

Yep, just like flutes, guitar construction has far more to do with sound differences than the wood, although wood in a sound-box instrument, guitar, violin, whatever, does make a difference. Just not all that much. Oh, and I've got 30 plus years guitar experience, too, Jim. Doesn't make me right, or...

Looking forward to it, Steve, and will do the same when I've spent a few days with it!

That said (about guitars, Jim), the difference between solid wood guitars and guitars with solid wood soundboards and laminated backs/sides is extremely small - the latter can actually sound better in the short-term - louder and brighter - than a solid wood guitar. Perception has it guitars sound be...

Personally, I think our use of language is fine, as long as we use follow-up descriptors for the more ambiguous words. "Dark" is ambiguous, unless followed-up with what the user means by it. Jim's "clear and bright" was not really all that ambiguous - it implies a bell-like clari...

Oh, yeah... a cran... It's a kind of berry. Very tart, grows in a bog, which is why old tunes are called bog-standard.

Sheath your swords, gentlemen! Come, gather round, and drink some ale. :lol: I'm sure you'd say that there is a difference in tone of a wooden versus an aluminum versus a PVC whistle. My ears aren't particularly good, but even they can tell a difference. Material used can make a very big difference...

I'll agree to disagree. Strongly. My objection was over the statement that flutes were somehow homogenous, or more-so than whistles. Which is patently untrue, and why I stepped in and commented on the statement. My self-deprecating nod to 'whistle deafness' was an attempt at diplomacy - my ears are ...

No flame, really. As a flute player, I concede a certain whistle-deafness; in the same key, all whistles sound pretty much the same to me. There is, IMO, considerably less tonal variety possible from a fipple, even a very good fipple. Flutes come in many keys,so that distinction from whistles doesn'...

One thing that has not been said I think is this: There is much greater variety in sound and playing characteristics among all whistles including low whistles than among flutes. Flutes are far more homogeneous in this respect, as much of the tone depends on the player, whereas it is built into the ...

Nanohedron wrote:

Gordon wrote:Saliva seems to bring out oils in the wood that fingers don't.

But I don't drool.

No drooling involved, actually - wetting your lips will do it. You do that at all when you play?

Saliva seems to bring out oils in the wood that fingers don't. That, and your hand surfaces, particularly the fingertips, are exposed to many more things each day, everyday, and far more impervious to skin sensitivities - faces and mouth areas, in particular, are that much more prone to allergic rea...