Hey guys,
ok "le koukou"...I guess we're just from the same country,and about the powell flutes, they only send them at Cadinot(Paris, à coté de la gare de Lyon,) one of the best flute shops from Paris, I'll go there to buy a new flute saturday, and I'll probably choose a headed silver flute (une semi pro sans doute)...They do sell Powell flutes trhere,I'll try them and tell you whatI think. About the Sankyo, my teatcher told me that she almost had to take her Sankyo every six monthes to repair...so...I dunno...I guess it depends about the waywe play too.Anyway, je te tiens au courant...

About ordering a flute that you didn't acctually played, my muramatsu came from an interesting history like this.
I bought it second hand. The first owner is a collegue of mine who bought it in a huge flute store in Paris in 1976. She had to ask a very known professor at that time (Christien Lardé, if I'm not mistaken) so he could try playing some flutes, because the dealer refused to let her try the instruments, since she was unknown (he must thought "I will not let this brazilian young woman mess with some flutes here..."). So Mr.Lardé played ELEVEN identical Muramatsus (all silver, standard model) until he chose one that was the best in the group, in his opinion. Note that besides she never had the chance to play, she bought the one Mr.Lardé played.
All this bits just to tell you that you test a flute to buy THAT particular flute, mostly if it's handmade. Well, in fact that's the ideal situation, but not always available...
Zevang

Hi Raph,

Christophe Neel at Lyon is selling the Powell Signature. He is also selling Brannen. With Cardinot they are the only 2 shops I know to sell Powell in France. Cardinot is selling the entire Powell range.

I am really confuse now about flute mechanism reliability and brands ...

Good success with your purchase. Tiens moi au courant!

le koukou

Hi Zevang,

This sale person was very very rude. What a bad way to deal with a customer. I feel really sorry for your friend.

Thank you for your good advice. I will not buy the flute without testing it first.

Salut le koukou,

that's right, Cadinot has got many diferent Powell models, I guess I'll try one just for fun...I'm still not rich enough to by the cheaper one (3670 euros chez Cadinot si je ne m'abuse)...I've been talking to other flutist friends who told me to try many flutes, then choose one and finally try all the different flutes they have in the same model if it is possible. I guess flutes are like clothes...kind of...hard to choose.
A friend of mine who has more experience than me told me to not necessary trust flute brands or be influenced by that (like the semi profesional yamaha flutes, he told me to try them, even if main part of the people would choose a muramatsu or a myiazawa...and not pay attention to the yamaha) I think I'll try them all, and then try to choose one being the most obejective possible about the brand...does anyone has a idea about how useful a B foot is ? I don't know if it really changes something...
Je te tiens au courant
Raph

Olà Zevang !

Sim so acho que voce tem razao sobre o facto de escolher a flauta por si proprio, e triste aquele homem ter tido aquele comportamento...Espero que se voce um dia vier ca em França nao seja assim...
lol, I had not written in portuguese for a long time, feels good. :p

Thanks for your advices anyway .

Hi Raph! Welcome to 8notes! About the B-foot...Unless you are going to be playing a lot of modern solo repertoire or are part of an orchestra, it never sees much use. Last time I checked, low B's in flute music only existed in 70-80 pieces. It's nice to have if you are involved in that type of music, or think you might be eventually, but most of the time a B foot goes unused.

I personaly prefer flutes who have a dark sound, like something which makes think about velvet, I mean something "big"...hard to explain,especially in a foreign language,anyway, I hard thet the B foot usually created a darker sound and made the higher notes easier to play... I don't know yet if I'll take a professionnal way about the flute that's also why I wouldn't like to regret to have bought a flute and realize I need something better then...anyway, thanks for this information.
Have a nice day y'all !

On older flutes, sometimes a B foot would add a darker sound (though it's difficult to tell if this was actually because of the B foot or not), which is probably where that idea came from. Nowadays, the footjoint doesn't really affect tone, and a C foot can be just as dark as a B or a B as bright as a C is supposed to be. However, the older flutes were actually easier to play high notes on using a C foot. Once again, with any modern flute this isn't an issue as much as the quality of the instrument (I play a B foot and have no problem playing the full range of the instrument, but with my student Yamaha with a C foot, this is impossible). If you're young yet, you'll have plenty of time to step up again to a flute with a B foot if you need one, so I wouldn't worry about it too much either way.

Oi Raph!
É um grande prazer poder ler sua mensagem aqui na lista :-)
Você sem dúvida está bastante em forma para escrever em Português.
Com relação àquele rude senhor, sem dúvida em 1976 eram outros tempos que acredito não se repetirem mais hoje em dia.
Muito grato por sua atenção e gentileza :-)

Zevang

P.S. To all listers: Sorry to write in portuguese, but I couldn't avoid replying to the kind message I received from Raph. Thanks.

To flutist06,
thanks for the advice I'll try the same models with b foot and cfoot, I don't know if it will be useless or not as I don't know if I wanna go forward on my music school...i still need to think about that.
Thx again.
Raph

am wondering if I am ordering the same flute than the demo model, will it have the same tone? I recommend that you ask the dealer (perhaps get this in writing) that you be allowed to choose between the head which comes with the flute you order and the demo model. No two heads are exactly the same and it would be nice to have a choice between the two. Sankyo flute mechanism is very reliable, so it is a matter of finding a head that you like to go on the proven body. Enjoy your new instrument!

Hello list,

Just wanted to share that, after testing many flutes, I bought an Altus 807. That particular flute (probably more specificaly that particular headjoint) works very well for me. I selected it over many other Altus 807, Altus 907, Sankyo, Yamaha and Muramatsu(silver heads and plated bodies). It has a sweet pure sound (but not too thin) that I enjoy very much and is very easy to play. The mechanism feels so much better than my student flute.

Cheers,

Le Koukou

Thanks for the update. Congrats on your new flute