Flute for Beginner: Dixon 3-piece or Tipple?

[doktor73]

Hi!

I want to try to start with playing Irish Flute.
So I am looking for a "beginner flute", and for this aim I want to try one of these two models:
1) the 3-piece Low D from Dixon
or a
2) Tipple Low D (with Fajardo-Wedge? 2- oder 3-piece?)

Which flute YOU would recommend me?
By the way: A few weeks ago, I tried to play the cheap Dixon one-piece Low D, but I didn't like it very much - after reading in this forum I know tha the 3-piece Dixon Low D fortunately seems to be better...

Greetings from Germany,
Michael

[jemtheflute]

Greetings, Michael, and welcome!

There are many old threads here on exactly the question you are asking, which the forum Search tool should help you to find, but in brief, both are decent beginner instruments and will serve well enough, though they have quite different characters. Assuming that you are buying new at full price, the Tipple is much the cheaper and will also make a bigger, more satisfying sound, IMO.

I can also highly recommend Walt Sweet's new "Sligo" flute - similar to the "Ceili" one on his website, though I don't know about availability or price - I think it will be a comparable price to the Dixon polymer 3-piece and a far better player.

[doktor73]

Hi!
Of course I used the SEARCH tool, but now I would like to get your advices concerning the following question:

Which of the following flutes would you recommend me to start with playing Irish Flute?
I have just read a lot about them, but I am not able to make my decision...

By the way, I like to play Low Whistle (just learning-by-doing), and now I want to try an inexpensive flute...
I short-list these three flutes:

1) Tipple Low D (with Fajardo-Wedge? 2- oder 3-piece?)
2) Hamilton practice flute
3) 3-piece Low D from Dixon

I am looking for an easy-playing flute with the "typical Irish Sound" that should be powerful!

Thank you!
Michael

[Akiba]

I would not get a Dixon.

Lot's of folks love the Tipple, but I found the holes and spacing too big and wide. If you have hands on the large side, it should not be a problem. If, like me, you have medium/small hands, it may be more challenging.

The Hammy flute has had good reviews and has an expert embouchure/tone hole. Of the three I'd go with that.

For the same price range as the Dixon, you may want to consider a Sweetheart flute: http://www.sweetheartflute.com/irishflutes.html
I like their old classic model, not the resonance, in maple or cherry for $295. It's conical and all wood, not cylindrical and made of polymer/metal like the Tipple or Hammy, which means it's much easier to finger and get's more of a conventional "irish" flute sound.

Cheers,

Jason

[jemtheflute]

Well, I think in effect I have already answered it - maybe others will chime in - ah, here they come!

I have not played a Hamilton Practice Flute, so can't make a fair evaluation of it; the other two I know well. I believe the Tipple (as I already said) is less than half the price of the Dixon (unless you can get a cheap second-hand one), and without checking, I think I recall prices I have seen for the Hamilton also being rather more than the Tipple, though less than the Dixon. I think I would myself prefer the Tipple regardless of price (I have no financial or other special interest here), and as you are already getting on with low whistle, both the Hamilton and the Tipple would be more similar to that than would the Dixon. The Dixon will not meet your criteria of a rich, typically Irish sound - they are quite sweet but on the quiet side and not at all "open" voiced.

I'm afraid I disagree with Akiba about the older Sweetheart models - I thought they were very poor. The Resonance was the first one they produced that approached being a usable instrument, IMO.

There's always the Casey Burns Folk Flute.......

[Akiba]

No big deal, Jem. But I would have to disagree with my colleague from Wales--I tried the Resonance for a bit and thought it very poor, with significant flaws I pointed out to Mr. Sweet on returning the flute and he agreed with me. That said, I wouldn't say the classic model is the answer to an Irish fluter's dreams either. I do think it's a decent starter flute, though.

Based on the OP's criteria, only a higher quality flute would measure up. The Forbes delrin flute is excellent as well as the Copley flutes in delrin; these would be the next step up and better than all the aforementioned.

[plunk111]

OK - not sure I want to get in the middle of this, but I've owned the Tipple, 3-section delrin Dixon, and the Resonance. I've also played the Hammy practice flute. The Dixon comes in last, in my humble opinion. Not sure why, but it is just not a good player (at least mine and one more that I tried weren't). The best of the 3 was the Resonance - I would still have it 'cept I seem to have to sell stuff to buy stuff. ANYway - my take on order of playability would be: Resonance, Tipple, Hammy, and Dixon. No offense, but I'm really not sure how Dixon sells so many - seems like a redesign would be a good idea. The Dixon is a good-LOOKing flute, though!

Pat

[Denny]

I think I recall prices I have seen for the Hamilton also being rather more than the Tipple, though less than the Dixon.

• The practice flute is available in concert pitch - D, or for small children, a much smaller flute in G can be ordered. Normally, children from the age of 10 or so will be able for the concert pitch practice flute.

•Prices: Flutes in D and G are both 70 Euro.

70 Euro'd be about $89 ~~~ so $89 vs $60 (Doug's 2 piece, tunable)
'course at that price range ya might as well go all out and get a 3 piece for $75...

How much is both (buyer & seller) being EU worth? (seriously, I've no idea, I'm not even on the same ocean )

Both the Tipple & the Hammy are very good deals.


Folk Flutes are very nice and well priced for conical wooden flutes.
However, at $375, they're in a different ball park.

[jemtheflute]

Yeah, I didn't say I thought the Resonance was good, but it was way better than the older things. The new WDSweet "Sligo", on the other hand, although presumably a development from the Resonance, is a whole league better. One would have to ask Walt what the retail price is, though, for the purposes of this comparison.

[Doug_Tipple]

I have an email from Michael in Germany, and I will answer his questions about my flute privately. I certain don't want to get in the middle of this online discussion about which of lower-cost flutes that have been mentioned would be the best starter Irish flute, but I do have something to say in a more general way. Allow me to be a little bit tongue-in-cheek here, but the idea that my 3-piece, cylindrical-bore pvc flute with lip plate and headjoint wedge is merely a "starter" flute, one that you will dump as soon as you have enough money to buy a better conical-bore polymer or wood flute, is an idea that irks me a little bit. As Jemtheflute has shown on my YouTube video channel (linked below), in the hands of a good player my flutes can be made to sound very professional, and they are readily available and easy to maintain, nor do you need to take out an insurance policy on their loss or sudden self-destruction, as some folks do with their expensive wooden flutes. I hope to soon have new videos from professional players on both sides of the Atlantic which will support my thesis that my flutes are more than just starter flutes. I am a bit of a visionary here, but I see the day when the Tipple flute (or similar cylindrical-bore polymer flute) will be the flute of choice for a few discriminating musicians.

[Denny]

I'm not seeing where anyone said that Doug.

[Doug_Tipple]

I'm not seeing where anyone said that Doug.

Like I said, Denny, it's tongue-in-cheek, so I'm not being too serious. However, the theme is common on the pages of the flute forum that you start out on an inexpensive flute (a starter flute) and gradually progress to a more expensive (better) flute. It doesn't need to be explicitly stated in this thread to be a relevant point of view.

My argument here is that a more expensive flute may not be a better flute. I received this email this week. Speaking of his purchase of my 3-piece, 6-hole low D flute with the lip plate headjoint, he wrote: "I paid five and a half times what your flute and extra head cost me - for a higher maintenance wooden flute that doesn't give me the satisfaction, playability and enjoyment I get from yours. Yours is even easier to half hole."

[Denny]

There are so many prospective flute players that have no idea if they will stick with flute long enough to be able to play. There is only a few flutes, under $100, that are worth playing (excluding the usual bamboo suspects ) and there is no sense in attempting to learn on something that doesn't work well.

You might have noticed that I haven't offered to send him mine

[plunk111]

Doug:

If only it wasn't white...

[an seanduine]

Plunk111. . .there is a protocol to dye yer Tipple. Mind you, I haven't offered my own up just yet as a test rat. . .I prize it too highly. However, you might take a scrap o' PVC pipe to test this out:

First, the rubber gloves (essential). Use a sacrificial dauber or sponge to coat the outside, and the pull through the inside with PVC primer. Try not to breath the fumes too much and do this in a well ventilated area. This will give you a dark purple piece of pipe. Let it set up.
Second, get a sacrificial pot. . .a graniteware canner will do nicely. Doing this outside would be nice. Wear sacrificial clothing and rubber gloves. Get the RIT black dye out and make a strong solution. Take up to boiling and then kill the heat. Place your pipe in the solution. Using something to weight the pipe down under the waterline is good. You may have to do this a couple of times to get a true flat black.

OK, there you have a DIY black PVC pipe. (Tipple Flute). I would do the 'wedge' separately.

Bob