Hi wonderful List!

I would not like to stir still another discussion concerning which brand is best... (lo)

The case is that I have decided to buy a new YFL 471. I do not care much about resell prices, as I do not think I will ever have to resell it. My heirs may have to, but that's their problem (lol).

I would appreciate information on where can I found the best deals for this model.

Though this other question is risky (to cause new discussions), just if anybody thinks I made a wrong decision, let me know why...now.

I would like to clarify that I'm not in USA but in Europe, the market here is quite different and prices are considerably higher. If buying in USA, I could have the instrument shipped to a friend´s address in NYC or in N.Carolina and I could manage later to have it taken personally to Europe, so that would not be a problem.

But the impossibility of trying it before buying or returning it if not satisfied could be a problem for me when buying in the USA.

All your suggestions are welcome!

OK, my questions are being ignored. I would like to know the reason, if any.

Thanks.

www.fluteworld.com has good prices and wwwbw.com does also. They are both in the US. I am sorry but I wouldn't be much help with anywhere else that might sell these, I am only familiar with the stores in the US.

I don't think that anyone was trying to purposely ignore your post. It may just be because we get similar questions a lot, so it may have been over looked. Sorry about that.

Sorry wrong link, it is www.wwbw.com. Just be careful when buying from them because a lot of times the instrument isn't set up before shipment like it should be. I have had problems with that. Flute World on the other hand it good and I do believe that they ship outside of the US.

Thank you Kara, it is a big relief to see your post.

Thank you for the information about Fluteworld. I see you consider it to be reliable, contrary to the other site. This kind of information is very valuable for me.

You know, I am always afraid of posting inadequately, or being (involuntarily) rough.

I feel particularly concerned about my last posts in sting45 case. I could not refrain doing, that but then I regretted it. Too late.

It was also the first time that nobody replied to my two posts for several days.

I feel better knowing that it was not related to any possible misbehavior. I have found that am fragile in this sense.

Your welcome. I try to respond if I can help, but sometimes I miss the occasional post.

You will catch some of my posts where I have had foot in the mouth syndrome. Lol! I have a rather bratty side to me. (Just ask my husband!) I later regret it and feel bad. Everybody does it.

I don't know any stores in Europe, as I've never been there, but I live in NYC. There is a Sam Ash Woodwinds in NYC. They're very good; the salespeople (the one I had at least) really knew what they were talking about, and they have a tech shop. Their prices are pretty cheap, about as much as fluteworld or wwbw.com. It's a chain store, so you don't need to worry about how limited your choices will be.

Kara, there are lot of things I still have to learn of the English language. Particularly the colloquial side.

I had never heard of this "food in the mouth syndrome". Could not find it in Google, and that is quite rare! It sounds amusing, but though I can imagine what you mean I will better consult with friends that master it better than me.

I also could not find about peoples' bratty sides in my dict. But Google took me to Allwords.con and there I saw the meaning (lol)...

Thank you for the information, Madison. I have just visited their store on the web. It would be nice to be there personally, but I do not plan to visit NYC for the moment. I´m almost decided to travel to London and buy my 471 at www.allflutesplus.co.uk

They have it for about 1,500 Euro, that's more expensive than in USA but it is closer and I could go, try it before buying and also spend a nice weekend with my wife. Unless a really good deal shows up somewhere else....

A couple of days ago there was one (probably) new YFL471 on auction in Ebay, Finally it was sold for 1,000 Euro and it was in Australia! I think people pay too much in Ebay. 1,000 Eu are about 1,200$ and I could buy it for about 1,500$ in USA, brand new and safe!

I noticed on ebay that people from other countries besides the US bid a lot higher on flutes.

Foot in the mouth syndrom is when you basically say (blurt out) something with out thinking and then later regret it and you can't take it back.

Being bratty is when someone is being a brat or a pain in the behind. That is the best way I can descrbe it.

jose luis,
Don't worry about not understanding the colloquilisms! Many people whose primary language is English, still have difficulties!

I spend a good part of my day working with young people who have trouble with our "figurative language", and then I have to try to explain it to their parents (who speak Spanish, and apparently Spanish is much more literal than English)

Kippsix, I suppose English and Spanish, though very different, do use this figurative speaking. Using double sense, for example, is quite common in Spanish and it takes lot of attention to "read" beneath the literal words.

There is one difference, however, that affects the language of educated people past the teen age.

That is, English is very flexible in that it can quickly combine words to make a new one, or just import (or invent) a word for a new concept.

This can be done quite freely in English (I guess), because you don't have -or better, you don't suffer- a normative academy like our Royal Academy of the Spanish Language.

It is based in Madrid Spain and it has lesser influence in Latin America, but here, a word does not exist officially until it is "accepted" by the Academy and included in the official dictionary.

The problem with this process is that a "new" word must exist, become popular and widespread for a long time, before the Academy finally accepts it.

So the Academy always lags at least a couple of years and its function is not quite clear to me.

Another side effect is the obstination in translating technical words (mainly from English) to its supposedly equivalent in Spanish.

This is a nightmare for technical translators and worst for their readers (As an engineer, I do both activities). You don't have that problem and I hope you may never have to suffer it.

As consolation, French is even worst in that obsession of rejecting any technical word that has not a french origin.

A computer for example, a machine born and developed basically to compute numbers and get a result, is called in french "un ordinateur" (a machine that put things in some order) (??)

Other forced translations in French are clearly wrong, such as Reset, that became RAZ (for Remise a Zero, Reset to Zero). Even Software is called "Logiciel"

In Spain the Academy adopted a galicism and we must call this computer "un ordenador", like it or not!. But not in latin America, as they ceased to be a Colony long ago.