In Market for New Flute

[ljjones]

I have been playing flute for 30 years and have had my current flute for 24 years. It is a Gemeinhardt and has served me very well , but I am ready to buy a new flute and have been looking at different brands. I would like one that is semi-professional or professional. I am an intermediate to moderately advanced player, but I have about $8,000 to spend and I would like to invest in a high quality flute for the rest of my playing career. One I am especially interested in is the Miyazawa brand (solid silver, hand-made, B-foot). Does anyone have experience or knowledge of this Japanese brand? Is it a good brand? What other brands to you recommend for me? Also, for all the years I have been playing, I never had an open-holed flute. When I buy the new instrument, it will most likely be open-hole because that is what is most prevalent and preferred amongst the higher-end flutes. Of course, at least at first, I will need to use the plugs to put in the keys to be able to play it. But has anyone else tried to learn to play open-hole for the first time after playing for many years on plateau, and were you successful? How hard was it to learn (and unlearn the fingering positions you were used to)? My fingering positions have gotten kind of sloppy over the years, as you can imagine, and I am just wondering what it will be like to try to learn to play open-hole

[embum79]

Wow, $8000 to spend.. you have a lot to work with! I would say that you don't even need to spend that much for a quality instrument. I have never tried a Miyazawa, but I do own a Sankyo (artist model) and I absolutely love it. It cost me about $5000 (a year ago.. I think it has gone up in price since then). You should definitely try out several instruments, especially since money is not really much of an issue for you. Other high end instrument brands are Muramatsu (James Galway plays one), Haynes, Powell, and others that I can't recall right now.

I learned open-holes after playing the flute for six years. It actually wasn't as much of an adjustment as I thought it would be. The biggest change was really getting used to the new "feel" of the keys. Since open holes force you to have good hand position, I think you catch on really fast. And I did have bad hand position before. And of course, like you said, you can use the plugs. Good luck with your search, and have fun!

[Cryformyabsence]

I have been playing flute for 30 years and have had my current flute for 24 years. It is a Gemeinhardt and has served me very well , but I am ready to buy a new flute and have been looking at different brands. I would like one that is semi-professional or professional. I am an intermediate to moderately advanced player, but I have about $8,000 to spend and I would like to invest in a high quality flute for the rest of my playing career. One I am especially interested in is the Miyazawa brand (solid silver, hand-made, B-foot). Does anyone have experience or knowledge of this Japanese brand? Is it a good brand? What other brands to you recommend for me? Also, for all the years I have been playing, I never had an open-holed flute. When I buy the new instrument, it will most likely be open-hole because that is what is most prevalent and preferred amongst the higher-end flutes. Of course, at least at first, I will need to use the plugs to put in the keys to be able to play it. But has anyone else tried to learn to play open-hole for the first time after playing for many years on plateau, and were you successful? How hard was it to learn (and unlearn the fingering positions you were used to)? My fingering positions have gotten kind of sloppy over the years, as you can imagine, and I am just wondering what it will be like to try to learn to play open-hole

Oooh how I long for a Miyazawa. Yes, the are very nice, and I know of the exact flute you speak of. I have played it, and it is amazing. Just make sure that you have the right head joint though, cause how you play on a certain flute really depends alot on the head joint you have.

[powayflute01]

I'd like to second the opinion on the Prima Sankyo Artist flutes...I've had mine for about three months now and I love it! I couldn't have picked a better instrument. The only downside is unless you want to buy used, you may not have much selection to work with...Sankyo stopped dealing with the US, so there aren't any more flutes coming in.[/list][/code]

[amhso]

I agree, ive played my friend's Sankyo, and its lots better than my cheap $350 yamaha yf221 XD.

[ljjones]

I want to thank everyone who gave me such good advice and information on my flute hunting endeavor. I want to let everyone know that I was able to buy a new flute -- I got a new Berkart & Phelan Model S16B with a 14K gold headjoint riser, C# trill, Split-E Mech, D# roller. It is a fabulous instrument and I feel so blessed to have it.

I drove 8 hours to Charlotte, North Carolina to J. L. Smith & Co. to try out lots of different brand flutes, and this is the one I loved the most. I had never heard of the brand, but J. L. Smith & Co. highly recommended it for their high quality, and I trust J. L. Smith. It has a very full and beautiful sound and is very easy to play. I am slowly learning to play open-holed on it. People who have heard me play at church say they can definitely tell a big improvement in the sound of my playing with the new flute. I feel like I am a much better player than I thought I was before, because now I am not limited by the instrument I was playing, but instead I am freed to be my best. If you are not familiar with Berkart & Phelan, they don't make many flutes, so you may not have seen many, but they are well respected for their quality instruments. The company is based just outside of Boston, MA. There is also a Berkart line, which is much more expensive. Berkart & Phelan was a little pricey for me, but well worth it in my opinion. If you would like to learn more about Berkart & Phelan, check out their web site at http://www.burkart.com/burkart-phelan.htm.

[embum79]

Congrats! Enjoy your new flute!!

[ick27]

I believe the Burkhart-Phelan flute was just introduced last year (sort of occupying the same part of the market as the Burkhart-Phelan piccolo.) I had a chance to play a couple at the convention, and wow! What a flute! It certainly is a top quality instrument, and the way it played seemed fairly unique to me.. hard to describe, but they are definitely worth checking out. Anyhow, congrats on a great purchase!

[biggzh]

I envy you.... solid silver miyazawa... (drool)... Those flutes are really, really good. My flute teacher's teacher's students all have miyas... and she only takes the best students.