Hi guys,
Can you plz help me? coz I`m very confused!
I`m 14 years old and I`m playing the flute for 5 years.
In this period My parents are planning me to buy a new flute
As for now I have the Gemeinhardth 2sp.
My teacher recently told me that he prefare for me to buy a plated good one that can be use until my diploma, so it will not cost too much... and for another reason that I am still a teenager and he told me that if one day I want to be a professional flutist so that is the time for me to buy a silver one.
Can you plz explain me the difference of a Silver and a Plated Silver flute??? and wich one the best for me???
PLz reply ASAP Thanks

(Hope you understand my english!)

Haven`t we just had this thread, and weren`t there perfectly good answers given? - or was that the identical post in another forum, with perfectly good answers?

Don`t waste your time and money buying a silver plated flute. (This is not to start an argument) Silver flutes generally can handle more air being blown through them without cracking notes, and get a better tone. Solid Silver headjoints also allow you to get a wider range of tone colors than a silver plated headjoint would. Many people on here don`t like armstrong flutes, but I`ve been playing their model 80B for a while now, and I know many people who will agree with me that they like their armstrong. www.kesslermusic.com has a Solid Silver model 80B or 800B, for 750/800$. It depends on your budget, but you should look around some of the older posts at what flutes were reccomended in certain price ranges.

Don`t waste your time and money buying a silver plated flute. (This is not to start an argument) Silver flutes generally can handle more air being blown through them without cracking notes, and get a better tone. Solid Silver headjoints also allow you to get a wider range of tone colors than a silver plated headjoint would.

No, none of that is at all true. I prefer silver myself, but only for durability reasons and that is really the only reason to choose it.

Everything else depends on the design of the flute and cut of the head, not material.

Im a flute major in at aberdeen uni and play on a Miyazawa Type 2 i.e entirely silver as tone is what every flautist should be concerned with. For a diploma student, a flute with solid head, tube and foot is a must. A silver plated mechanism isn`t really that vital but defo silver body as solid silver provides a good round base for yone and allows the player to produce a broader range of tone colours. silver plate just can`t do this. although pricey a silver flute is a good investment.

"silver body as solid silver provides a good round base for yone and allows the player to produce a broader range of tone colours. silver plate just can`t do this."

That statement is false for two reasons:

1. The HEAD, not the body mainly determines your tone color range.

2. A silver plated professional head will unarguably offer a wider tone color range than from a solid silver head from student flute (It is also quite possible to find a professional head of any material being better than another professional head just because of simple cutting differences in the embouchure hole).

Agreed, Piko. If that was true then how is it that I can get a wide range of colors and big sound on my backup Yamaha student flute then? I can make that flute sound better then some of the top of the line professional flutes.

The reason I recomended a solid body is due to the higher density of silver opposed to nickel alloys used to make student flutes. I do agree that the headjoint is more imporatant than the body but a solid body provides a better resonance and has many many acoustic advantages of silver plate. I know this is true as I being Doing university reasearch into this for many years. This said headjoints are a very personal thing and one flautist may sound very impressive on a basic yamaha head and thier sound could be severely diminished on a pro head. It basically depends on your embouchure.

When I was searching for a new flute last year, I tried out sterling, arumite, platinum and gold risers, and a few silvers that were slightly more dense than sterling. My flute search lasted a good 6 months.

I eventually could predict the sound of the flute simply my examining and cut of the embouchure hole. When I would play two flutes of similar embouchure cut but separate metal, there was minimal difference. I finally stopped paying attention to the metal altogether. I eventually chose a Muramatsu EX, which I learned after purchasing has a silver-plated body.

If and when I upgrade to solid silver, it will be for durability and repair purposes alone.

Tim thank you for sharing that with us. I think a lot of people do get caught up in materials of the flute, so it is nice to hear your personal experience with it.

The only thing that I have really liked as far as material is the riser, but that may and probably is just in my head. I never cared much for gold headjoints either. Maybe they were just the cut of the particular headjoints that I had tried though.

So after your search, may I ask what model of flute you ended up choosing?

Hi Kara,

I eventually narrowed it down to a Muramatsu EX and a Powell Signature. I didn`t have to work as hard to produce a beautiful sound on the Muramatsu, so I chose it.

Just for fun, the store I went to let me try out several extremely high-end flutes. I really will never have a NEED to upgrade since I don`t play professionally, but if I ever have lots of money and nothing to do with it, I really liked the Nagaharas.

The trolls are almost gone... *bump*

I own two silvers and before I owned a plated. After I got a silver I made All-State. The tone with them is so much better.

It was the superior DESIGN that assisted you, not the fact that it was solid silver. You would probably have done just as well, perhaps better, with a superbly designed but only plated, Muramatsu EX.

Contrary to marketing propaganda, the issues of design, and material are totally separate. If you get a solid silver flute, it may or may not be associated with superior design. There is SOME correlation between a manufacturer using silver, and incorporating good design, but the connection is by no means guaranteed.

Jerema,
What about longevity of appearance? Does a plated flute lose it`s quality of "looks" by the plating failing? If so, how long does it last?