If it does have Straubingers, Patrick, did you let Lera install them?

For $25 a set?

Lol!! You guys are so bad!! Thanks for the laugh.

I have a Yamaha 461H which I lovelovelove, and my sister's using my old Gemmy 220 which I hatehatehate cuz Gemmies fall apart after 3 hot seasons of marching band and 3 rainy competitions, GEEZ. Yeah.
I want to get a Muramatsu in the spring, probably the GX, which will cost a pretty penny but is my grad present and also maybe a few other celebrations' worth. Like my next 10 birthdays. But that's okay.
My (new at college) flute teacher told me my current flute (yamaha dearest) is "kind of bad" and I still haven't forgiven her. Just cuz she plays her Muramatsu with a gold Powell headjoint and isn't even principal of the Walla Walla Symphony *cue eyeroll*.
Maybe I miss my old teacher. ANYWAY Yamaha 461 love here!

Personally I'm not sure I would want to work with someone who insulted my flute. It's certainly within her rights as a teacher to suggest that a different flute might suit you better in the years to come, but to tell you straight out that your flute is "kind of bad" is not, IMHO. The Yamaha 461 is a solid intermediate flute, and there's nothing at all wrong with it if it plays and you can get out of it what you want to get out of it. There are, of course, more expensive instruments, but that does not necessarily mean any of them are better for YOU. If she happens to mention it again, I would point out that you're perfectly happy with your instrument, and so far it does everything you need it to (assuming that's true), so you see no reason to drop a few thousand dollars on a new instrument just because she's deemed yours "kind of bad." As for the Gemmies, given proper maintainance, no flute should just fall apart. Most likely it needs a visit to a repair tech if it's not been taken care of properly....You might be surprised how much of a difference that can make.

Trevor J. James (A)

i have a Yamaha, still working pretty well... i bought it about... um 5 years ago hoho

Yamaha 881, C-foot with Prima Sankyo NRS-1 silver head, also with Powell Philharmonic cut grenadilla head for a mellower sound (and amazing ppp high register)

Pearl 501E backup flute, which fits the other headjoints

Also Miyazawa MZ-5 silver head; I am just now learning to make this head sound good and not waaaayyy sharp in the high register.

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The Yamaha has open holes. I keep Powell plug-o's in the right hand keys (excepting index finger), otherwise I have a hard time with low C. My fingers are long, and my hands are narrow. (It is HARD to find gloves that fit me, unless they are stretchy.) The (inline) G key I don't have plugged, my fingers are long enough there.

The Pearl 501E has closed holes, offset G and C foot. It is silver plated, though sounds quite similar to the Yamaha when I use the silver or wood headjoint. Major difference is the pitch of high E, because the Pearl has a split E and the Yamaha does not.

I don't have much choice who to work with, because she's the only flute teacher our small-town college can get. Plus they're paying for my lessons.
I did make up my mind to get the Muramatsu before she said anything, but yeah, I'm still quite annoyed with her.
And with the Gemmy, we made the mistake of taking it to the wrong repair tech who, in my opinion, made it worse; so we ended up taking it to another a year later, which made it playable, but the tone is still scratchy and way shallow and I think something leaks, although the low C comes out fine. I have no idea.

If you can play low C without having to apply extra finger pressure, it's probably not leaking. The very lowest notes (the ones where all the keys are closed) require all the pads to seal well or they don't speak, or will have a very poor tone. It sounds to me like you might need to find another tech, especially for a high quality instrument like a Muramatsu.

Armstrong 305B

(Open holed inline and B-foot with solid silver thinwall P4 headjoint)

Used to play (and still own)

Buffet Crampon 6020

(Closed hole offset G, C-foot silver plated student flute)

I'm afraid my flutes dont compare with some of the other flutes listed her, but I love them all the same!

I have a Trevor J James flute, open holes, C foot, solid silver. I have to admit however, that it's quite old, but i love it and as it was a present from my parents 7 years ago, i'm not planning to replace it just yet

How do you like your 305B flute? I don't see that model referred to very often at this forum.

The first flute I bought was a 305B Limited, which as near as I can tell is the same as a 305B but with a gold-plated lip plate and gold-plated crown. My instructor played it and said it's an excellent step-up flute. I rarely play it anymore, I should probably just sell it.

i have a yamaha flute unsure on which model as it was gving to me from my parnters grandad. I plan to use it for about as long as posible becasue when i was looking at the prices of yamaha flutes thay cost alot of money

If you would like to know the model number, they are usually printed on the barrel (the part the headjoint fits into) of the flute. It'll probably be three digits ranging from somewhere in the 200's to somewhere in the 800's.