Buying a New Flute and what to look for.

damjan · Post by **damjan** » Thu Sep 19, 2002 11:13 pm

You might think about getting
an "Open Hole Flute" which has open holes in some of the keys. They are harder
to play, though, and it might take you a bit to adjust your fingers to cover the
holes properly. The advantage is that you can feel the vibrations of the sound
in your fingertips, and that you can do some cool sliding effects and extra
tones which you cannot do on the closed hole flute. In terms of the brands, it
is hard to say because flutes can get quite expensive, so it greatly depends on
your budget. Sankyo is a nice intermediate/advanced flute, Yamaha's are great
student flutes, etc. I suggest you go to www.fluteworld.com and check out some
flutes and prices, you might get an idea of what you want and can afford. Hope
this helps. If you need any advice, just let me know - I'll be teaching at
Fluteland.com as soon as live online lessons open up. Cheers, Damjan

Starqle · Post by **Starqle** » Fri Sep 20, 2002 7:54 am

Try out a lot of flutes before
you decide. There's not ONE brand or model that's best for everyone. Also,
keep in mind that precious metals make less of a diffrence in the sound as does
the way the flute's built (esp. the head joint).

Maestro · Post by **Maestro** » Sun Oct 06, 2002 2:34 am

You are welcome, George! I've
been in this business for about 20 years and still not sure which instrument
works for me the best. For example, ones before the concert in Vienna, we had
one guy drunk and someone had to play his sax. I call on it. Played. It was
fantastic! Believe it or not the instrument was made in Ukraine. Who could
imagine that? What a sound!!! whatever... nice website by the way..

bandogeek123 · Post by **bandogeek123** » Wed Jan 15, 2003 9:12 pm

I personally enjoy
Gemeinhardt's, but thats just my personal prefrence. Open-hole flutes sound
much crisper in the tone than closed holes, but as I found out it takes some
adjustment time. a kinda funny thing happened. I just got my flute, a
Gemeindhart 50 Series Open Holed, on Monday and next Wednesday we have our band
midterms. For this we have to get up in front of the class and play 5 scales.
You can call it bad timing, but I don't care cause I got a new flute and the
sound when I cover the holes is excellent. Make sure you can try some open holed
flutes to see if you have a preference.

saroffme · Post by **saroffme** » Sat Feb 08, 2003 7:05 pm

When you buy a new flute go in
with some construction knowledge. Take any key for the right and left hand and
see if you can move it either forwards/backwards or sideways. If it moves even a
little, the seats will move and the flute will have leaks in it. Next, move each
key slowly and see if it moves smoothly. It shouldn't feel stiff or slow.
Listen to each key separately for noise, a matallic noise could be metal on
metal (no good) or a sucking noise could be a bad or ripped pad. Crooked feet
(the back part of the key), posts, cork, or an unlevel D sharp key level could
be signs of shoddy construction. The seats should be not too deep. Last, do a
play test and be very carefull to play with the lightest touch. You will be
listening for sound quality, tone, and differences in note sound (indicating
leaky keys). These things are just some of the things that are checked by the
manufacturer and should be checked by you.

Penny · Post by **Penny** » Thu Jul 10, 2003 5:20 pm

One of my favorite subjects!
Having done alot of shopping and reading and discussing to find good opinions, I
will toss out my worthless one to add to the mix. First some great performances
are done on closed hole flutes and I defy anyone to accurately tell without
looking whether a piece is being played on open or closed hole there is no sound
difference, at least no more than any two flutes differ in sound. The number of
times a flute player actually plays a note with a modified or semi-open hole is
a good question to ask performers. Most never have and most pieces don't call
for it from the answers I have read and people I have asked. But the open holes
are good for improving fingering in practice. Also they don't cost more. Some
great players will tell you closed holes produce a more consistant sound and
require less and less costly repair. Gemeinhardt seems to have gone downhill and
not many quality players seem to be going in that direction unless they are
dedicated over the years and don't like change. There are dozens of companies
large and small making flutes from under a $100 to probably near $100,000. How
much silver and hand production do you want to pay for or will be worth you
paying for? Are you having fun and want a nice flute with few problems? A 300
level Yamaha having a silver head, nice sound and sturdy construction may just
fit your needs. Are you anticipating playing next to Galway? Then take out a
mortgage and have a personal fitting at Haynes or Powell. Just not happy with
the sound you produce on a less expensive flute and think its the flutes
limitation and not yours? Muramatsu, Sankyo, Yamaha and many other companies
make flutes in the $2,000 to $5,000 area that will fulfill the talent of 99.99%
of anyone that ever picked up a flute. Don't forget silver flutes scratch and
dent more easily that nickel student flutes. Final (thank God your thinking)
thoughts are if you have a flute that plays prety well and you just want to move
up a little, look into a new headjoint. For $250-$1000 you can greatly enhance
most decent flutes. Sorry to ramble on, but I warned you I like this
topic![:knockout:] [:knockout:] [:knockout:] [:knockout:]

tarzaflute · Post by **tarzaflute** » Sat Jul 12, 2003 5:27 am

Hi. I recently upgraded so I
know what you're going through. Firstly, don't let people tell you one flute
is better than another just because more people have heard of them. I tried
gemeinhardt, yamaha, jupiter with an altus head, pearl and trevor james. I
bought the Trevor James and they aren't as well heard of as say, a yamaha. If
you feel comfortable with the instrument, its a good instrument for you,
providing the manufacturing of it is good quality. People have personal
preferences in tone, some like silver over gold, and vice versa. Silver is
brighter than gold, wood is more mellow, gold is warmer. The cut of the
headjoint is important too. This makes each flute sound different. Something
else that not a lot of people think about even though its the main purpose
they're upgrading, what isn't your flute offering you that you need? If you
need a B foot, find models with a B foot, but if you aren't sure, try all of
them, don't just get a B foot because it looks more professional, more air is
needed because the flute is longer, and believe it or not, it also changes the
flutes tone. Same with any other feature, if you need it, check the model you
are trying has it, but if there isn't anything in particular you need, then
keep an open mind and don't buy the first flute you play. Don't just buy a
flute because of its appearance. I nearly bought a flute because it had a gold
lip plate, that could have been a huge mistake. Although I would have loved
playing the flute I'm still glad I didn't get it. I couldn't be happier with
the flute I ended up purchasing. Set a budget too, I'm one to talk, I went over
mine buy $2000 but now I have nothing saved for a car anymore. Its fine for me
now, but in a couple of years I'll be walking or riding a bike everywhere, or I
could put wheels on my flute, lol! Anyway I hope some of this has helped,
bye!

flute friend · Post by **flute friend** » Sat Jul 12, 2003 6:50 pm

Hi!! As I have been saying to
other people the best flute out that in my idea is a Armstrong~!!! -best of
luck!! [:p]

krzymunkey · Post by **krzymunkey** » Tue Jul 15, 2003 8:15 pm

In my opinion, Yamaha is the
best. I've played flute for 2 years now, and I still have the same flute. It is
a Yamaha 200 series model, and it still works fine, and I am actually getting
pretty good at playing, even with a 200 series model, though I am trying to get
another 400 series model, but it is very way beyond my parents' budget limit,
so I'll have to wait another year or so at least. Well, Yamaha's tone quality
is wonderful, and most of the best flute players at my school have Yamaha
models. My middle school is pretty good (we've went to Carnegie Hall, Japan,
etc. to perform) so I think that their choices are pretty good. I hope this
helps! O, yeah, I rented an Armstrong flute once, to test it out, and Yamaha's
was better.

flute friend · Post by **flute friend** » Mon Aug 11, 2003 2:58 pm

As always its your chose.
Because I really do not like gimnhearts but thats my opinion. Some people do
like gimnhearts. So make sure to try out every thing and then make up your mind.
[:p]

Princess · Post by **Princess** » Sat Sep 06, 2003 9:09 pm

I am new to flutes but i have
a Geneinharatt and it works great![:)]