Delrin or Wood?

[In The Woods]

From a Highland bagpipe player/tin whistler: Why would you think of keeping an instrument in places where it can get damaged? I've owned the same set of blackwood pipes for 18 years, in the Midwest, and now in the Southeast (read: Virginia) and aside from oiling the outside of the drones and chanter, every now and again, I've never had any trouble with them. But then I don't expose them to weather extremes. Go for the blackwood.

BTW, the Highland pipes have been played in really extreme places (read battlefields) and they still come up smiling.

Of course, my tinwhistles are all metal cheapies.....

But even then, I treat them like real musical instruments (which they are.)

With best regards,

Steve Mack

[Cork]

all right.....fine....

I prefer my blackwood, I play the Delrin more often just cause it's always out

Your Delrin flute is always out? So is mine. In fact, I got this one some months ago, then put it together, and have not yet taken it apart. And, the news gets better, or at least I think so, for I have not suffered from the plague or any other such maladies, at least not yet, and the flute hasn't complained, at all.

[Denny]

I have rinsed it out 2 or 3 times.....

oh, yeah.....the Boehm is out also....I wish someone would polish it someday.

[Cork]

Nah!

I just cover all of the holes, and then give it a hard blow.

[Denny]

so, you don't play it outside in the mud as much as I do?

ya need more horses

[tin tin]

Tintin - I play an M&E which is actually made from solid rod stock foodgrade PVC...it starts getting soft at 140 farenheit which isn't out of line for a car in the midwest on a 105 degree day.

Still, if your delrin has rings, the glue can fail in high heat.

Eric

When I said a wood flute would survive fine in the midwest, I wasn't imagining keeping it in a car!

[Sillydill]

MORGAN

I live in the blessed Midwest and we get temperatures from -20 to +100 F, and humidity from 0% to 100%. And all in the same afternoon, sitting under the same tree.

What, you live in Kansas City too?

WOOD IS GOOD!

[morgan]

The End of the Tale:

I ordered the blackwood.

Thanks, folks. The Chiffers come through again!

[talasiga]

......
WOOD IS GOOD!

PLASTIC IS FANTASTIC!


Seriously,

....

I ordered the blackwood.

.....

I think that overall a blackwood flute will be lighter than a delrin one. IMO the weak point in the wood will be at the barrel and the head (especially if you have metal slide) and this weakness may become evident over a prolonged dry (low humidity) spell and particularly if there are extremes of temperatue in that dryness.

A nice compromise is to have a delrin head and barrel and wood body.

This is, of course all "IMO" and from my own experience, an experience which does not allow me an H between the M and the O.

[rforbes]

I think that overall a blackwood flute will be lighter than a delrin one.

According to the figures I've seen, Delrin is a bit denser than the tropical hardwoods like blackwood, but not hugely--Delrin weighs 1.4 g/cc vs. approximately 1.2g/cc for blackwood. Of course, a fully lined head and slide adds some weight as well...

Rob

[Gordon]

Balance is more important than a miniscule amount of weight, one way or another (or is that one weigh or another?). Becomes even less of an issue once keys come into it - then it's all balance, really.

Blackwood will do Morgan just fine, as long as the flute's treated like a flute, and not like a billy club. When not playing it, keep it in a case that doesn't allow the humidity and temp swings to occur too quickly. Play it often, swab it out, put it away. In general, blackwood (and most woods, for that matter), seem to pretty much handle any conditions your body can handle. Almost every flute crack I've ever heard about was avoidable (including the one I just set up -- go ahead, make a crack..)

[bogtrumpet]

I've got a blackwood flute stuck in the garden with beans growing up it. I can't see any cracks or warping - but then it's covered in beans

[Tony McGinley]

I am a new comer to the flute and have come from the whistle.
I found it hard to believe that different materials could greatly affect
the tone of a whistle. I soon learned that even in all metal whistles,
different metals produced quite different tone.

When I moved to the flute, I first got me a Doug Tipple flute made
essentially from plumbing material - a really fantastic starter flute,
and one I am holding on to. At a certain stage I thought I would like
a more up market design and was convinced that the way to go
was with plastic materials, delrin etc. I was afraid of wood splitting etc.

However, I was persuaded to blackwood by two factors. 1. I played
and listened carefully to several different types of flute. I listened with
my eyes closed and had no trouble telling the ones I preferred. These
were invariably blackwood. 2. The other thing that convinced me was
talking to some of the guys who have used, and oft times misused,
instruments for years and years and they survived fine.

I got me a beautiful Copley and Boegli from Doc at a very reasonable
price, and I am as happy as a pig in s**t.


.

[jim stone]

Which is REALLY happy, no question.

[Bridges-PdP]

Glad you made a decision, I'm sure you'll be happy with wood. I have the C&B blackwood and an M&E PVC, and like a few others might have mentioned, a PVC/delrin flute is always assembled and ready to play. I realize it doesn't take long to assemble the blackwood, but its still not as absolutely handy as the PVC.

I enjoy playing them both and prefer the BW sound a bit. But handy is as handy does.


Scott