The different flute tube/body diameters

[flutego12]

Can someone pl advise.

I have relatively small(er) hands by caucasian stds and thus have found the following:

After fumbling through my Yamaha 371 student flute the first few months with relatively good success, I recently discovered that the smaller tubed Miyazawa 202 with its even light(er)weight catapulted me onto a new level of playing with better grip & control both at the fingers and the lip. I know some of you guys dislike the Miya for the exact opposite reason of feeling "cramped".

Being new, I had also out of curiosity, tried out a solid silver fatter tubed Mura GX III (std wall) and whilst the playability was great as well in terms of its mechanism & headjoint, I could feel the weight of the GX straining my fingers little and it was noticeably chunkier to hold in my hands.

Does ANYBODY out there have a bird's eyeview (summary overview) of where the major flute brands stand in terms of tubing size & grip? In particular, I am curious about the tubing size of Altusses relative to Miyazawa and Muramatsu. Are the Powells also quite slim. I see little Emma Resmini (or not so little anymore) playing wonderfully on them.

Also, if the Miya 202 is slimmer, does that mean the 402 and 602 retain the same dimensions or are the the higher model tubes fatter?

Appreciate your feedback. Thanks.

[JButky]

Can someone pl advise.

Does ANYBODY out there have a bird's eyeview (summary overview) of where the major flute brands stand in terms of tubing size & grip?
Appreciate your feedback. Thanks.

All flutes have a standardized bore of @ .748" The tubing thicknesses vary from a standard wall .015-.016 and heavy walls .017-.018 there are a few thin wall varieties down to .014 and some older haynes flutes that were thinner than that.

Weight is a factor but you can't use this measure to determine a flute comfort for the hands. The human body's tactile senses are extremely good and two flutes supposedly identical from a manufacturer can "feel" different in the hands for lots of reasons.

If weight is an issue, stay away from the heavy wall flutes. Keywork and steels contribute a lot to the weight of a flute and can be perceived as differences in "thickness" to the player. Look for standard wall or thin wall and simple basic mechanisms without extra keywork.

[flutego12]

Thanks JoeB.

You are so right. My eyes were playing tricks on me. Miya had seemed so delicate and fine. Just did a simple side by side comparison and it shows identical tube diameters. (was a stupid Q and should've known!) It was indeed the keys - Miya's keys are concave (indented) whilst Muras was slightly obtuse.

I suppose then small differences in wall thickness is stopping a stock std Mura hj from fitting into the Miya body - just managed to ease 1mm in. Conversely, MZ-A is loose in Mura body.
Wonder how the Altus headjoints are then.

[fluteguy18]

Miyazawa 'standard' wall flutes tend to be a bit thinner than most 'standard' wall flutes. Generally speaking standard wall flutes tend to have a wall thickness of 0.016'' whereas Miyazawa tends to make their body tubing at 0.015''.


Are you sure it's an MZ-A ? I've never heard of that headjoint cut from them unless it's something new or extremely old... If it's new and definitely MZ-A I would recommend calling Miyazawa and getting some info from them. They could tell you anything you want to know about the flute in your possession.

[flutego12]

Miyazawa 'standard' wall flutes tend to be a bit thinner than most 'standard' wall flutes. Generally speaking standard wall flutes tend to have a wall thickness of 0.016'' whereas Miyazawa tends to make their body tubing at 0.015''.


Are you sure it's an MZ-A ? I've never heard of that headjoint cut from them unless it's something new or extremely old... If it's new and definitely MZ-A I would recommend calling Miyazawa and getting some info from them. They could tell you anything you want to know about the flute in your possession.

@fluteguy18 : Thank you for the information - it confirms my tactile hunch. Miya (Closed) does feel thinner though the Mura (Open) also vibrates feedback onto my fingers.

I got a reply from Miyazawa re the headjoint. It was made for the Japanese market and discontinued in Mar 2010 - that is why no description is found for it on the english websites.
The answer I got verbatim: The MZ-A is a headjoint that has been discontinued, and can be referred to as the MZ-1B as well. We do not currently carry this headjoint.
Sound characteristics of MZ-A is warm and classical, with high resistance. It can be said to be similar to MZ-9, to some extent, in the aspect of being warm and classical, but it is with much higher resistance.

I was originally thinking of purchasing another headjoint because I thought it was free blowing!!! I have since learnt to control it from cracking easily and found that I can actually blow harder into it -hence maybe that's why it is said to have "much higher resistance" - still exploring/ discovering what the term "free blowing" versus "resistance" really means. I am a little confused about the A vs B classification (eg 1A, 1B, 3A, 3B) what is the common denominator? The MZ A is supposed to be akin MZ-1B. !

Pleasantly surprised. I thought a much higher resistance would make me run out of puff. This is pretty effortless. I am curious about the rest of the MZs. Since you have a Miyazawa, apart from the ones discusssed in your previous discussions and what is your take on the MZ11 and 9?