It definetly sounds as if she was a bit nose heavy. It's normal for a plane to pitch forward a bit when you cut power but it shouldn't be dramatic or scary like you described. Mess around with the CG a bit, move what you can back in the plane, making small adjustments each flight until you find that sweet spot.

I'm not familiar with the Tipsy personally, but a trainer type plane should be more forgiving than that. IMHO a CG that is slightly aft is better than nose heavy. It will make landing and flare much more controllable. Keep in mind I really mean just "slightly" aft. A severely tail heavy plane can be just as scary as a nose heavy plane. Good luck and keep us posted if you get it solved.

"Let me see if I've got this straight: in order to be grounded, I've got to be crazy and I must be crazy to keep flying. But if I ask to be grounded, that means I'm not crazy any more and I have to keep flying."