Muramatsu heavy vs thin wall?

[equinemidwife]

I am looking at Muramatsu GX models for my next upgrade. I visited a flute fair a couple of years ago and played a lot of different flutes. The two that I particularly liked were a heavy walled Muramatsu (DS) and a heavy walled Miyazawa (Boston Classic). Both are out of my price range, so I'm looking at the Muramatsu GX (still rather expensive, but a compromise that I think I could be very happy with).

I've been reading different comments on the heavy walled flutes and I keep seeing that there's more resistance with those. What does that mean? Am I likely to have more difficulty getting notes out in fast passages? Will it be slower to speak?

I'm interested in opinions on whether the heavy wall is really likely to make that big a difference. I could spend the money instead on the C# trill key and go with the regular wall.

Thank you!

[JButky]

The simple answer is pick the one you like the best. Everyone is different, so if you know you tend to prefer the heavy wall go with the heavy wall. If not, go with the other. The proof is in the playing, just make sure you play the one you are going to buy and are satisfied with it.

Resistance is a subjective expression, some people like it, some don't. That a flute may have resistance is not solely caused by it being a heavy wall. Other factors may contribute more to that than it being heavy wall.

Heavy wall or not is just a personal preference. That's why they make both!

[trumpettech]

One of the biggest differences between a heavy wall and thin, as I can tell is that a thin wall feels more "alive" in my hands. I seem to get a bit more positive feel from it. Heavy walled instruments seem to generally have a different quality of sound as well. Once more, yes it is the customer's choice which suits them better. Among trumpets made today there seems to be a trend toward heavy = better. That's simply not the case. I've found that some of my favorite trumpets have been among the lightest weight trumpets ever made. I would suppose that the same trend is true with flutes. There is a psychological tendency to believe that a heavier object is worth more. That's simply not accurate thinking in this case.
The C# trill is a neat addition, but of the flute players I know with one, they say they don't use it as often as they thought they would.

[fluteguy18]

I use my c# trill almost every time I play. It's probably the most versatile key on my whole instrument. But I will agree that most players simply don't know or understand how to use it properly and as a result it is under-used.

[cflutist]

I use my C# trill a lot too. Maybe because orchestras tend to play more in sharps than bands that play in flats?

[equinemidwife]

Thanks for the replies, opinions, and suggestions.

I went to a flute store (JL Smith in Charlotte, NC) and tried a variety of models -- blind test, where the model names were covered so I didn't know what I was playing. Once again, my favorite was the heavy walled Muramatsu. I also loved the tsubasa head joint. A close second for me was the Sankyo.

So it's the heavy wall Muramatsu for me with the tsubasa head joint. I hope to have my new flute in a week or two.

I loved trying flutes this way. Sarah at JL Smith was wonderful to work with and had a nice selection of flutes ready for me to try. It was interesting to find out what I had tried, liked and disliked.

[equinemidwife]

I am very happy with my new flute. The heavy wall and the Tsubasa headjoint are definitely the right choices for me. Thank you all for encouraging me to try, and choose what works for me.