I posted on the board about a week ago about how I purchased a First Act Flute and said that I would share my thoughts about it. Well here is the scoop.

I received the flute yesterday. My first reaction to it was that I thought it had a nice clear sound that was easy to produce. The lower register is very nice. Of course being that it was used for a couple of months it needed some adjustments to play correctly.

1.The tone holes were very uneven on the top half of the flute, the bottom half was not as bad. Instead of filling any tones holes down, I chose to re seat some of the pads. They would only seat with heavy finger pressure and just by looking at them, you could see the leaks.

2. The factory glued little pieces of paper under the screws to work as silencers. They would have worked nicely if they would have stayed put. They all shifted and there was goop from the glue all in the mechanism. I had to clean that all off and put new silencers on.

Two of the rubber corks also came right off of it. Maybe they need to use a different type of glue?

3. The screws used will not hold adjustments properly. At least the ones on this model didn't. I played it for a good hour and had to adjust the screws three different times.

Now keep in mind, I am highly sensitive to the tiniest bit of thing off on a flute and some people may not have even noticed until the screws backed out so much that it starts to play awful. Especially a beginning student.

I was able to put sealant on it (sorry can't think of the name right now) and it stopped the screws from backing out.

4. The metal was on the softer side. when I did try and bend it a bit to test, it bent quit easily without much force.

5. The headjoint design, I like. Kudos to First act on that. The only thing is that the embouchure hole on this particular flute was not well finished off.

6. The silver plating is on the thinner side. I was able to test the plating on the head crown.

After all the adjustments I did, I can say that it wouldn't be that half bad of a flute for a beginner to start off on, especially if Mom and Dad don't want to dish out over $400 for a new one just yet. But.. not here is the big BUT, I am not sure if it would be a good flute if someone just bought it off the shelf as is straight from the factory. I have seen new ones, and none of the ones I picked up had the pads seated correctly. If this used flute that I have was only played on for 2 months and needed all that attention done to it, then it really makes me wonder. If you can get the flute to someone that can set it up properly, then it would be a fine flute. Who knows though, maybe this particular flute that I have was a dud and others wouldn't have these problems.

After about 2 hours of fine tune adjustments on this flute, I was able to produce a very beautiful sound and play Chaminades concerto. The mechanism could use some boosting up as it was on the more sluggish side, but I was still able to play the runs on it okay.

Happy fluting!
~Kara Kay~
On tour in Switzerland. Lol! JK!!

Well,
There ya go Kara. Sounds like the flute can be made to play OK but (and a very big Butt) if a younger student were using it to learn on, you can probably bet it won't stay in adjustment very long.
Any comments about the intonation.
~Bilbo
N.E. Ohio

Interesting, I tell any parent who has purchased one of these that they would have to take it to a technician to get it up and running, Kara, what is the estimated cost of the work you performed, I would think at least $75 or more.

Also, I know why the headjoint design is pretty good, but wont reveal my source...

Bilbo,
The intonation did run a bit off. It would tend to play very sharp in the upper register and the bottom was on the flat side. The second octave A is the one that seemed shaper then others for some odd reason.

Patrick,
I don't have a rate because I only do it as a hobby. I occasionally do work for friends or students for a small fee. My work is mainly done only on the flute that I buy so that I can re sell them.

Micron,
Thanks for the tip on the tone holes. I all together avoid doing anything with the tone holes as much as possible. One wrong move with them and you might as well trash the flute. (Well at least for me.) I am not as experienced like you are with them and still learning everyday. I am sure you could fix just about anything though.

Someone (sorry, I can't remember off hand who it was) asked me on another post to check to see if my Powell headjoint fit on this flute and what were the results. I don't have my Powell headjoint at the moment as it is at the factory with my flute, but I did put my Sankyo on it which has the same bore size as my Powell. It was a tad loose. Adding that headjoint did make it play and respond better.

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I found these reviews on First Act flute that some of you may find interesting. The metal must be really soft for keys to just break right off of them!

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0002KVKG6/002-4413278-3798406

Since the repair folks are in this thread, I made a curious observation with my own backup flute (not a First Act, BTW). On the middle C# there's a buzz in the mechanism. However, when I switch headjoints, the buzz isn't nearly as pronounced, and usually inaudible. Consequently, the headjoint which produces the better sound is the one that doesn't trigger the buzz. Is that buzz something I need to get checked out?

Also, Kara, what's the deal with Powell? Did you get everything squared away? What kind of problems were they giving you?

Hi Tim,
Check your head crown on the buzzing headjoints and make sure it isn't loose at all. Another thing that can cause buzzing in the headjoint is if the head cork is not properly fit.

What kind of problems did I have with Powell? For starters...everything! They have got to be one of the hardest flute companies that I have dealt with yet. If I didn't absolutely LOVE my Powell, I wouldn't be playing on their brand. The communications in that place is horrible. First I scheduled an appointment with them two months in advance for warrenty work. They get it and then tell me that I have to send to the original dealer that I bought it from to do the warranty work or else they were going to charge me $75 an hour for the work. I FINALLY get them to do the work after going in circles with them for almost a week. You can never get a hold of anyone there and if you do, they won't contact you back.

Instead of me having to send it in every 6-12 months to have it re oiled, I can do this and save $70 on shipping both ways to send my flute to them to have to do, I need to know what their special Powell oil that they use is, but of course they won't tell me or supply it. Then they say that I can only use Powell oil. Yeah...okay..whatever.

It is a longer story then I would care to get into, but it ended up good because I do have my flute back now. You are probably sorry you asked now. Lol!!

Kara I forgot to tell you which head joint I play on and a MZ-7 most of the time. I have other miyazawa heads but thats what I prefer. And the problems with the pads is still on-going.

No, actually, that's really informative. I'll be sure to purchase the flute through a good dealer. I think I read on their web site if you use a different oil you have to flush out the Powell oil first. It seems like just a gimmick to force people to pay Powell for a simple oiling.

Lera,
I am not trying to be rude at all, but unless you really know the flute inside and out like a technician, just the average Joe is not going to know how many adjustments it would need. Most likely your flute could use adjustments, as I have yet to see a First Act flute that didn't.

I might sell it to a girl who wants to make a flute lamp out of it because I have already gave away the headjoint that came with it, so I don't have the whole flute.

All I know is this one I had was only played on for 2 months and the body itself did not look abused at all. It was more then obvious that it was poorly designed. I don't think that someone could abuse it to give it unleveled tone holes and adjustment screws that are constantly coming out. In my right conscience, I could never recommend one of these flutes after seeing just how poorly they are made. Sorry, I am just being honest.

This seems like a good thread to mention this....

I've had an armstrong flute for years that was given to me used. I learned a few things by ear listening to records but never was much of a flute player. Could read a few notes from my band days in jr high with a clarinet (i'm 50 now). Anyway my headpiece got damaged, but not wanting to put too much money into something I don't use much I got on eBay and won a bid on one of these for $60 including shipping.

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Nickel-Plated-16-keys-student-FLUTE-range-C-NR_W0QQitemZ7394681695QQcategoryZ10183QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem

I was happy with my purchase. The flute plays ok and I haven't had anything fall off or break. I did notice that the C only played halfway between a C and C#. I guess the pad doesn't seal well, so open C is what I use. However when I tried to play along with some MIDI music with Guitar Pro, I found it was horribly out of tune. I whipped out my guitar tuner and it was very out of tune. I ended up having to pull the headpiece about halfway out (extending the length) before the notes where in tune. However, there are tuning variations up and down the scales.

I have the cork locates so the "line" on the cleaning stick is half way in embrochure. Does moving this setting effect how the notes are in tune up and down the scale? I know that moving it wouldn't correct the tuning problem. Is it unusual to have to pull the mouth piece half way out to get it in tune?

I love how it says teacher recommended. Lol! If you write to them and ask for a list of teachers that do recommend them, they never write you back. I have done this.

However a company that has put real effort into head design, may well be on a par with Yamaha or Muramatsu in a few years.

Maybe, but I say they have a long way to go yet and it may be longer. I suggest that you try and get one to work on. I would love to hear what you have to say about them.

They do have a good headjoint design, but the rest is lacking. I was able to play quite nicely on it also and get a very good sound especially in the lower register. Too bad it wouldn't hold it's adjusmtents.

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I don't think that they will EVER be on par with Muramatsu, but we'll see....

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“The only prep work I did to that flute was the usual stuff. Adjust the pads and spring tension to my liking ."

You shouldn't have to adjust any pads if it is on a brand new flute, but it happens even on the well known name brands too.

Kara, I can actually vouch for Joe at Lange Music, have known him for years, he is a great player and technician, he learned from the best there is, in fact, he is a great place to order a flute from, many of my students here in NYC order from him rather than go to someplace in the city

That is great. I wasn't trying to imply anything about him. Sorry, if I cam across as such. I don't know him, but I am sure he is wonderful if you and Micron both say he is. I would love to be able to talk to him more about these fabulous First Act flutes.

I am nobody special, so my interpretation of them really doesn't mean anything.