Has anyone here ever played an Altus 1107? I have one at home here on trial and it sure seems like a really sweet instrument, but I'm not generally all that familiar with the Altus brand or their reputation. I'd very much welcome any comments that anyone may have about Altus flutes in general and/or the 1107 in particular.

By the way, is the first syllable pronounced all, as in "all the time", or is it pronounced Al, as in the nickname for Albert.

Thanks!!!

Hey Catman,
How are the critters doing? Mine are full of trouble as usual. Lol!

Okay, about the Altus. I did try that model, but I didn't much care for the sound of it. It was very bright and almost ear piercing when I played it. It is a very nicely built flute though, just not my taste.

I just had a Lillian Burkart flute on trial and that one is really nice too, although after a while I didn't care much for the headjoint style I had on it. Again, I found that one to be on the brighter side and lacking dept for me. It was a lot nicer with my Williams head on it.

If you have another headjoint that fits the Altus, see what that does for it too. Just my two cents.

About how to say that name. Hmm... I have heard it called both ways, so I am not sure about that one. Have fun with your flute trial

Thanks for your response!

Right now I have a heavy-walled Muramatsu GX amd the Altus 1107 on trial. This is not going to be an easy decision (but I'm having fun!)

All the felines are doing well here. Like yours, they continue to be as troublesome as you might expect! LOL! I recently had the very interesting (and enjoyable!) experience of hand-rising a very young, orphaned Chipmunk. We nursed him back to health and when he was big enough we put him back out into the garden by the house. We see him usually several times a day (he has a distinctive mark on his right side) and he is doing very well.

I played an Altus 1107 for three years. I always felt that its sound was too bright for me. I now play on a Muramastu and find its sound darker and much nicer. I've explored this isssue of "bright" vs. "dark" for years and I think, in addition to properties of the flute itlself, embouchure does have something to do with it. I love my new Muramatsu.

I've looked over this 1107 very closely and the finish is totally flawless, easily the prettiest flute I've ever seen judging by the the quality of the finish. However, I did not look at the tone hole surfaces, I'm going to do that just as soon as I get home from work this afternoon. It plays okay, so I doubt I'll find any real problems. We'll see.

piccperson, according to Altus' website, the 1107 "provides a strong tone with darker colors than its lower counterparts." This sounds to me like the opposite of what your experience was with the 1107, and Kara mentioned that the Altus that she played was too brilliant. Is this just advertising hype on the part of Altus? Perhaps there are too many variables (such as personal preference, embouchure, headjoint, etc.)

Are Altus flutes in general considered to be very bright?

Check out groups.yahoo.com for FluteNet and Galwayflutechat.

Those forums host many professional flutists, many players that play in with professional orhchestras or freelancers.
You'll find both worth joining as many are not members of both.

Their archives are searchable.

Altus is a professional flute in the same realm of Muramatsu and is played by many professional flutists in orchestras across the world.

Your concept of flute tone will determine the flute you choose.

Altus appear to be gaining more favor than Muramatsu... at least on those boards.

<Added>

Do watch what you say in those boards though...
Just recently Kara stirred a long letter from James Galway regarding the pitch of flutes, Micron`s been slapped by Larry Krantz for his flute pad views, and I drew the attention of Trevor Wye and James Phelan once when I started a discussion that flute bores had certain effects on response of the flute.

You never know who will take notice of what you say...or how they'll respond.

After I sold my Altus 1107, I bought a 1707 and played that for a while but still felt it was too "bright". The 1707 was supposed to be their darkest sounding flute, and it was darker than the 1107, however, the Muramatsu has the better , "darker", "sweeter" sound for me.

Do watch what you say in those boards though... Just recently Kara stirred a long letter from James Galway

Yes, but that was very interesting, you make it sound like I did a bad thing? I was rather flattered that he took the time to write that and he chose the topic that I brought up. Again, it was very interesting. But, yes I do see your point as you do have to be careful especially what you say about different products and brands of flutes.

Catman, don't let them scare you away, really they are harmless. You might get some really good point of views on there also.

Which ever flute you pick, you will have a great one. Just out of curiosity, I can't remember, but did you try other brands also? Miyazawa, Burkart/Phelan and Powell are also nice flutes that are in the same budget as the current flutes that you have on trial.

PS. That is so sweet about the chipmunk!! How adorable! Did you get any pictures? I have more pictures of some of my critters if you want to check them out on my site:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/flute_fun/

Stephen, I wish I would have been around to have read that discussion that you had brought up about flute bores. How interesting. I hope they weren't too hard on you.

>>it had severe file marks across the surface of the rolled tone holes, which had been flattened so much that there was a large surface area in contact with the pads. This combination, along with non-level tone holes, and VERY thin, firm pads, meant that adjustment for a light touch was impossible. Working on that flute was one of my worst experiences as a technican.

So I would be interested if your one has flats on the surface of the rolled tone holes, and whether there are coarse file marks.<<

Micron,

This appears to be standard practice for Altus. They are not as coarsely finished lately. (in other words, they are flat and wide rimmed but without the narsty file marks now.) The rest is as you describe correctly however...The tone holes are level now most of the time though >:-O

Joe B

Hi Kara, didn't mean to make it sound like you were in a bad light. I felt the same as you that certain flutes have a sharping tendancy.

I still find it fascinating that such forums exist and utterly scary when some uber famous flutist questions your own statements.

Oh okay. I thought it might be kind of a bad thing, I didn't mean to tick of Sir James by the whole Japanese flute thing. Oops. I should have know though cuz he played a long time on a Japanese model and just purchased another one. I am not trying to be rude or anything, but don't you think that he does play on the sharp side? I don't mean this in a bad way at all. Maybe it is just the recordings that I have that are like that, but it seemed that way at the concert I saw him at too. Maybe it is because he plays in Europe a lot at the pitch is higher there? At any rate I find it a really hoot to see what pops up on there from time to time. Did you see my statment about passing phases? I thought for sure I would get slammed for that remark. Ha! Ha!

Have you thought about trying a Pearl?

micron - I looked very closely at the Altus for any filemarks - fortunately this unit seems to be in better shape that the one you had to work on, I swear this flute is absolutely flawless

StephenK - I had already looked at flutenet for info, but there is almost TOO much info there - a search for "Altus" produced over 1500 hits! I don't have that much time left in my trial period, LOL! Searching under "1107" brings the number of hits to a more managable level. I wasn't aware of the galwayflutechat, thanks for the info, I'll check it out.

Kara - Yes, I did try some other flutes - some Pearls, some Yamahas, and a few others as well. I was nearly ready to buy the Muramatsu until the music store got an Altus in - wow, what a nice flute!

Thanks to all the others who replied to my original post!!!!!

buy what you like, the more advice you get, the more confused you will be