Doug Tipple's Irish Flutes
Thank you for visiting my webpage. Please note: I make every effort to promptly reply to every email inquiry about my flutes. However, if you receive no reply from me, please check your spam folder, as my reply may be there. I sometimes find inquiries from potential customers in my spam folder, so I try to check it every day to recover those emails. If all else fails, I have an ongoing ad at ebay (search Tipple flute), and you can "Send the seller a message" on my ebay ad page. Thank you. I now have another website. It is essentially the same pages, but the pages are arranged in a more modern format. http://tippleflutes.com/ I also have a YouTube channel with several videos of tunes played by experienced players. Please see the audio files page for details. In addition to feedback listed on the "Customers Comments" page on the sidebar, I received this unsolicited feedback, April, 2010. ""Excellent flute! Cheerful and professional customer service! I'd recommend this to any other beginner like myself who isn't sure if they want to put $300 down for a "true" Irish flute without trying it out for 1/3 the cost. I'm progressing rapidly on Doug's flute, and I'm glad I got it. Doug handled my order speedily and professionally -- and when I lost my tipple-fajardo wedge, he installed a replacement wedge for me at no charge! Good busineeses like this deserve our praise. Way to go Doug!" On the online flute forums my flutes are sometimes mentioned as "starter flutes", suggesting that a player would ideally want a "better" flute as he/she progressed on the flute. However, I often receive email feedback from customers like the one I received today, September, 2010. 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 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."   The photo on top is of my 3-piece, 6-hole low D flute with inline finger holes and an oval embouchure hole with brushed silver vinyl faux rings. It is my most popular flute. The photo on the bottom is a group photo of most of the flutes that I am offering below. Both photos can be made larger by clicking on them.
The following flutes are arranged in order from the smallest size (highest pitch) to the largest size (lowest pitch). Optional lip plates (+$20) and the Tipple-Fajardo wedges ( recommended @ +$10 ea.) are offered as options for the flutes. Please see the page "Sorting Out the Options" on the sidebar. Medium size flutes (machined pvc tenon joints, see photos page): Two-piece, tunable six-hole G flute @ $60, highest pitch larger-bore flute Three-piece, tunable six-hole G flute @ $75 Two-piece, tunable six-hole F flute @ $60 Three-piece, tunable six-hole F flute @ $75 Two-piece, tunable six-hole E flute @ $60 Three-piece, tunable, six-hole E flute @ $75 Two-piece, tunable six-hole Eb flute @ $60 Three-piece, tunable six-hole Eb flute @ $75 Two-piece, tunable six-hole low D flute @ $60 Three-piece, tunable six-hole low D flute @ $75 Four-piece, tunable six-hole low D flute @ $90 (additional joint between the 5th and 6th finger holes) Three-piece, tunable eight-hole low D flute @ $85 Four-piece, tunable eight-hole low D flute @ $100 (additional joint between the 5th and 6th finger holes) Large flutes (machined pvc tenon joints) Three piece, tunable six-hole low C#/Db flute @ $80 Three-piece, tunable six-hole low C flute @ $80 Three-piece, tunable six-hole low B flute @ $85 Three-piece, tunable six-hole low Bb flute @ $85 The above large flutes are also available as four-piece flutes @ + $15 to the listed 3-piece prices Four-piece flutes have an extra joint between the 5th and 6th finger holes to allow adjustment of the 6th finger hole. Optional lip plates and Tipple-Fajardo wedges are recommended for these large flutes.
Accessories for the large-bore flutes: Tipple-Fajardo wedge installed in the headjoint @ $10 each Optional lip plate with either embouchure design @ + $20 Faux rings, if you request them, @ no additional charge
The above descriptions of the flutes as medium size and large size are arbitrary and are merely my attempt at separating the larger-bore flutes by relative sizes. Actually, both of these flute groups are made from the same size of pipe.
Flute Specifications: The pipe that I use to construct the large-bore flutes (G, F, E, Eb, D, C#/Db, C, D, and low Bb) is schedule 40, 3/4" PVC plumbing pipe, which has an ID (internal diameter) of .800" and a wall thickness of .125".
For the low D flute: The 6-hole low D flute is 23 1/2" long and weighs 6.2 oz. The 8-hole low D flute is 26 1/2" long and weighs 7.2 oz. Both flutes have exactly the same finger hole placement. All flutes are available with offset or inline finger holes (please specify). Unless you have large hands, I recommend offset finger holes for the larger of the above flutes. The choice between inline or offset holes also depends on how you plan to hold the flute. Inline finger holes may be a better choice with the piper's grip. Please refer to the separate page "Flute Finger Hole Comparison" for more details.
Flute Colors: Although I have used the white pvc pipe as my default pipe for making flutes, I also can now offer the flutes in either charcoal gray or jet black. The gray pvc is a commerical-grade pipe that I buy from out-of-state. It has a mirror-smooth bore, is very round and concentric, and is also approved for household water pipe. The black pvc is also made in the USA but bought from out-of-state. Because of color coding in the USA, the black pipe (normally used for making furniture) is not rated, but it appears to be manufactured on the same extrusion machines that make the other schedule 40 water pipe. Both the charcoal gray and the jet black pipe are slightly softer than the white pvc pipe, but they both make beautiful and great-sounding flutes. I leave some texture in the surface of the black pipe so that the completed flute appears very much like flutes made from African blackwood. The wall thickness of the black pipe is about .012" less than the wall thickness of the white pipe that I hand pick at the store, so for the best sounding flutes I think that the black flutes benefit from the extra thickness of the lip plate to cut an embouchure hole with a deeper chimney. That being said, others have told me that flutes made from the black pipe without a lip plate sound terrific. Although the cost of the gray and black pvc is significantly more than the white pvc (including shipping expenses), for a limited time I am going to charge the same price for them as I do my default white flute.
Flute embouchure: For the first ten years of my flutemaking (over a thousand flutes) I have used one embouchure design, a smaller round embouchure hole (about 9.5 mm in diameter) for all of my flutes. Recently, however, I have been encouraged to also offer a more conventional embouchure for the modern Irish flute. Please see the separate page, "Flute Embouchure" for more details, photos, and my recommendations. Faux Rings: I will install four vinyl rings of your choice on a new flute without an additional charge. Please see the page "Dressing Up Your Flute" on the bottom of the side bar. In the USA I ship the above flutes by USPS priority mail with delivery confirmation (tracking) and insurance at a flat rate for $10 and $11 for west coast destinations. Multiple flutes can be shipped together for slightly more (please inquire). I like to ship international orders by insured USPS airmail. Please inquire for prices. In the USA I accept payment by personal check, money order, or Paypal. For my online ebay auctions I am not allowed to collect a paypal fee. However, for off-auction, direct purchases, if you choose the Paypal option of payment, I do like to receive 3% of the total cost as a fee to partially offset my Paypal costs to the seller. For international orders I accept payment by international money orders in US dollars drawn on an USA bank, American Express, Western Union MoneyGram, or Paypal (add 4% to partially offset my paypal fee). To place an order or to ask further questions, please send me an email. My email address is: dougsflutes@gmail.com
My mailing address is: Doug Tipple 440 Berkley Road Indianapolis, IN 46208 USA
Once we have agreed on what you want to order and the selling price, to make a paypal payment: Go to www.paypal.com On the paypal main screen click on the "Send Money" tab. My paypal identity is my primary email: dougsflutes@gmail.com Send me an email saying that you have successfully made the payment. I will send a confirming email saying that I have received the funds.
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