Hi. I`m an intermediate player that has holded on to his student yamaha for way too long. I`m now looking at a Gemainhardt M3S (old 3SB) and a Emerson ELD (same features as the EF8B). I would love a Yamaha YFL-481, but is too much for my budget.
I would love to hear your thoughts.
Thanks

Jupiter Di Medici make great flute that are good priced for what you get.

I use a student Yamaha (with a solid silver head) as my back up flute and chose it over all the other flute under the $1000 range.

INMHO, I think that the Yamaha student flute is better then any of them.

With my playing schedule, I need something that I can count on when my Powell is in the shop.

So long as the plating is still pristine on your Yamaha you are better off keeping that and getting a Clean/Oil/Adjust and buying a professional head for your flute. You can find a head for $600-1000 that will put all new sub-$1500 flutes to shame.

If your flute looks hideous with dings, scrapes, and worn plating I would recommend saving your money or get the Emerson only with American cut head, Gemeinhardt only with K cut head, Jupiter only if "handcut", and Yamaha only with EC cut.

Otherwise it`s a waste of money.