I`m looking for a flute for my daughter and I`m a little confused on this. The Gemeinhardt she is looking at is solid silver and $600 dollars cheaper than the Yamaha she is looking at, which is sterling silver. They both have the offset G, B foot, and gold lip plate which she wants. I would have thought the solid silver would be more expensive.

Please explain which is better and why.

Solid or Sterling? Gemeinhardt or Yamaha?

Thanks

Sterling is a type of silver, but it can be solid as well.

I think you are confusing sterling silver for silver plate.

You can have sterling silver plate, or solid sterling silver.

It sounds like both the flutes you are looking at are solid silver, they are just using two different ways of describing them. What you want to do is check if the one that says Sterling Silver is plated or solid.

There is a difference between Solid Silver & Sterling Silver in the makeup of the silver (As Arak can easily define) but for practical purposes I don`t think thatthere is much of a difference in the cost or in the sound.
With Gemeinhardts, I believe that their model system is still something like:
3SP or just 3(Silver plated body and silver plated head joint)
3SH ( Plated body / Solid Silver head joint)
3SS or 3SB(Solid silver body & head)
All models above that level are not plated.

If I had a choice, I would prefer that a student get a Yamaha model with Solid silver head & body because I tend to believe that they are designed a bit more in line with today`s tone quality expectations and built to stay in alignment longer. Just my opinion FWIW.

~Bilbo

I think there are plenty of Gemeinhardt 3S (solid silver) series owners that are very happy with the longevity of their instruments. I`m going on around 8 years and am having my flute professionally adjusted since I had torn a pad and I still don`t need to replace any of the other pads. I also have not had the flute go out of adjustment on me yet. It`s only gone to a shop maybe every 3 years due to mishaps... various dings and one nasty foot joint incident and the solid silver is such a wonderful thing to have in those cases.

With the cost of a solid silver Yamaha you could purchase a separate professional solid silver headjoint with a Gemeinhardt 3S series at around the same cost... and have a FAR superior instrument. No comparison. Professional handcut headjoints are ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL. You can also re-sell that Gemeinhardt silver headjoint for a couple hundred if not more (Gemeinhardt silver headjoints retail for $600 new at fluteworld).

If you think Yamaha`s hold their adjustment well I would go check out those Yamaha`s listed in your local classifieds ads, its amazing just how out of adjustment flutes can get... People must torture those flutes. I feel I got really lucky when I stumbled upon a flute that was playable. People were selling flutes for $200 that had finger marks eaten through plating, stripped screws, and keys that come close to sealing with a screwdriver. Oi!

I would suggest going out to a flute store and trying out the different flutes they have. If you already have a flute (that is in proper alignment/seal) try out different headjoints on your current flute and compare the tone and volume you can achieve with that of other new flutes. I was lucky enough that the Gemeinhardt flute fits a Muramatsu headjoint rather well and was able to play a Muramatsu flute with the same headjoint. It`s very educational experience.

The headjoint makes up most of a flutes capability. It can improve pitch, tonality, dynamic range, and response.

Do be aware that all flutes under $2500 in price have silver plated keys. You could theoretically upgrade the key set to solid silver for around $1500, but by the time you`d wear out key silver plate you may be ready for a new flute anyways.

First, definitions and metals:

`Sterling` silver, by definition, is 92.5% pure silver, and often has `sterling` or `925` stamped on it.

`Britannia Silver` is 95.8% pure silver. If you encounter it it will almost certainly be boasted in the specifications.

`Pure silver`, i.e. 100% pure silver would be too soft for making flutes. However it is often used for silver plating because of its superior appearance, even on `solid silver`, `sterling silver`, or `Britannia silver flutes`....

Plating with pure silver is one way to hide the grey `firescale` that can occur during heating process with silver alloys. It also covers the solder used for attaching parts. Solders are different alloys again from those mentioned above, and tarnish with a different look from these alloys.

Sometimes the plating is NOT pure silver. Other metals such as rhodium may be alloyed into the plating to give increased tarnish resistance.

Every manufacturer has their own philosophies on the use of silver plating or not on their professional flutes. They seem to keep it all rather secret.

Let`s start at the basics:

Most student flutes are a cupro-nickel alloy - which is about 80% copper and the rest mainly nickel - no silver. They are normally silver plated to give a better appearance. The plating is typically pure silver.

The term `solid silver` is somewhat vague, perhaps deliberately so, to hide the make-up of a variable or lower grade alloy, or just for `trade secret` reasons.

It at least means that the `base` metal (i.e. the bulk of the metal, under any plating, if there is any) is not cupro-nickel alloy, but some silver alloy. Unless the silver content of this metal is specified somehow, eg `925` or `Sterling`, then we do not know just how much silver this alloy contains.

Occasionally other somewhat vague terms are also used, such as `coin silver`.

`Nickel silver`, and `German silver` refer to variations on the the cupro-nickel alloys mentioned above, usually with more more zinc included. They still contain no silver. The term `silver` is used because of appearance.

US Federal Law regarding Silver/Sterling markings:

§ 23.6 Misrepresentation as to silver content.

(a) It is unfair or deceptive to misrepresent that an industry product contains silver, or to misrepresent an industry product as having a silver content, plating, electroplating, or coating.

(b) It is unfair or deceptive to mark, describe, or otherwise represent all or part of an industry product as "silver," "solid silver," "sterling silver," "sterling," or the abbreviation "ster." unless it is at least 925/1,000ths pure silver.

I suppose if you don`t actually say anything, or use relativly vague terms, then you are not misrepresenting.

Example 1: I don`t think a manufacturer would need to specify whether or not sterling silver was silver plated, because the plating is more pure thqan sterling.

Example 2: `Solid silver` may refer to a silver alloy of less than 92.5% silver, which may or may not be silver plated.

Life is riddled with legal deceptions.