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An Irish flute is a simple-system flute made of wood (typically African blackwood, cocus, rosewood, boxwood, and ebony). These conical-bore flutes were originally used by concert musicians before the adoption of the Boehm system flutes in the middle of the 19th century. As the simple-system flutes were discarded by concert flutists, folk and traditional musicians adopted them. A number of makers produce Irish flutes today, most commonly out of wood, but also out of more modern materials like Delrin and PVC.
The differences between an Irish flute and a Boehm flute are mostly in the scale of the instruments. A simple-system Irish style flute's scale is in the key of D; the Boehm's scale is in the key of C. Most of the basic fingerings between the two flutes are the same, except for the XXX XOO fingering, which is F# on an Irish flute (and tin whistle) but is F natural on a Boehm system flute.
Additionally, Boehm flutes introduced a cylindrical bore with larger tone holes for optimal tone, which is why keys are used to cover the tone holes. Irish simple-system flutes have a conical bore and holes are covered by a player's fingertips.