C- and B-foot joints interchangable?

Flute History and Instrument Purchase

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ma3xiu1
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Jul 02, 2009 12:28 pm

C- and B-foot joints interchangable?

Post by ma3xiu1 »

I've been doing some research on the Internet (including looking at the great FAQ on this site!), and so I am looking at maybe the Yamaha 300-series flutes as a possible first flute. One of the options in this series is a B-foot.

It would appears that in Australia, judging from their websites, many of the stores only seem to stock the C-foot versions. For a beginning flute, I guess this is fine, but I'm curious that if I would get a flute with a C-foot now, and later down the track decided I would like to put a B-foot on it, is this possible? Of course, I could probably get the store to order in a B-foot model in the first place, but if it is something I don't need now and could add later, I may as well save on the extra cost and weight now.

Sorry if this is a silly question -- I haven't seen a real flute up close before, maybe the answer will be obvious when I examine one (hopefully this weekend I can get along to a bricks-and-mortar store to check out some models).

zummerzet_lou
Posts: 89
Joined: Tue Jan 07, 2003 5:30 am

Post by zummerzet_lou »

I do believe you can get a B foot to fit your flute at a later date - may just need some adjustments to fit.

From you post, you sound as though you are a beginner? If so, you are unlikely to even need to think about a B foot for a long time, and by the time you get to "needing" one, you're probably want to upgrade your flute anyway.

I've never needed a B foot ..

HTH,

Lou

c_otter
Posts: 93
Joined: Sat Jan 07, 2006 4:18 pm

Post by c_otter »

You can probably get a b-foot to fit later. However, for a beginner-level flute (and probably intermediate), it is usually not cost effective to do so, unless you find a deal. Usually, it will make more sense to spend the money to purchase a better flute.
N

ma3xiu1
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Jul 02, 2009 12:28 pm

Post by ma3xiu1 »

Thanks for the comments. It's leading me to the conclusion that I maybe should look towards the 200-series Yamahas, and worry about the other options later. I am indeed a beginner, and so I have a long road to travel.

Actually, I just realised that I told a bit of a fib when I said that this will be my first flute. The other day I was wondering through Chinatown and saw a dizi (chinese bamboo transverse flute) in a shop window. It cost 10 bucks, so I bought it. At the moment, I am travelling due to my work, and such an instrument is compact and light to carry, and gives me something fun to do during the down time.

It is a real challenge for me to get a nice, even tone out of it, in the register I want. Sometimes I hit the sweet spot, and then I can play something (I used to play the recorder at school, and I can still remember some tunes, and the fingering is not too hard to adapt to dizi). But I can see how embouchure and breath control are so key to making the instrument sing.

So, I can see that if I get a "real" flute, it will take me a long time to get a handle on these basics, and so even the base models will serve me well.

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