hey everyone, i have been playing flute for 2years for my high school. i have been renting my flute directly from school, the flute as been a keen interest to me and i am now planning to buy a new flute for not only for myself but for my girlfriend as her birthday is coming up in november 2nd.

i am not 100% sure on what the costs are for flutes and what brands i should get, but if costs are too high to buy two flutes, one for myself and one for her, i just plan to get my girlfriend one, im looking for a decent flute with open holes
i have no idea what's good and whats bad

please help
thank you

tomtom

Well, first of all, it's a noble plan to buy your girlfriend a flute, but I have to discourage the idea if you're planning to surprise her with it, or at least point out that you can offer to pay, but should not pick for her. The only way to choose the right flute is to playtest all the options to find the one that suits you and your playing style best. What is right for you may not be right for her.

Anyway, why do you want open holes? If you've only been playing for 2 years, they're not likely to be of any use to you. They're good only for pitch shading, extended effects (like bends and multiphonics), and some notes into the 4th octave, and most players have absolutely no need for these abilities, even at much more advanced levels. It's a common misconception that tone or resonance is better on a flute with open holes, and while that may be the case, it's not because of the open holes. It's because flutes with French keys are often (but certainly not always) produced with a higher level of craftsmanship than their plateau counterparts. It's entirely possible to find a magnificent Plateau-keyed flute (and often cheaper too), and every day more and more junkers with open holes are hitting the market from China, Pakistan, and other regions. I would encourage you to keep an open mind to a closed hole flute, as you may find you can get "more" flute for your money if you're willing to go for a used Plateau model.

Now, as for costs, a new French keyed (open hole) flute from a good maker will start at about $1000 and run all the way up to 10 or 12 thousand (and perhaps higher depending on the specs) for a solid silver model. What level of instrument are you looking for, and what is your approximate budget? These are important questions that must be answered before you start shopping, and it's information we'll need if we're to give you good suggestions on what to look into. For now, based on your experiment and desire for open holes, I'll guess you're looking at an intermediate level instrument, in which case I would suggest looking at these makes:

Emerson
Gemeinhardt
Yamaha
Pearl
Sankyo
Miyazawa
Azumi
Sonare
Amadeus
Brio
DiMedici
Altus
Muramatsu
Trevor James

If my assumption is incorrect, please let us know, and someone here can provide another list of makers putting out flutes at the level you're looking at. As always, stay away from flutes from a company that doesn't have a professional looking website among the top few hits when you Google the company name, the colorful eBay flutes (they're junk), and anything that seems suspiciously cheap (there's usually a reason). In any case, French model flute from one of these makers will start at perhaps $600-800 (if you buy used, but still in good playing condition) up to about $3500. If you go much cheaper on the used end, you start to run the risk of buying an instrument with (or that will soon experience) mechanical or pad problems, and much higher and you start to enter the realm of professional level flutes. Now, as with any flute purchase, be sure to playtest anything you're condsidering buying before any money changes hands (and hopefully do the tests blindfolded so as not to influence yourself). I HIGHLY suggest taking someone to listen to you test out instruments when you go shopping so that they can give you comments from the audience's perspective, and it's never a bad idea to have an independent repair tech examine a potential purchase before you pay. Good places to start looking, aside from your local music stores are Fluteworld, The Flute Center of New York, Cincinnati Fluteworks, Carolyn Nussbaum, Flute Specialists, The Flute Exchange, etc. Any of these should be able to ship you instruments to test out in the instance that your local music store is unable or unwilling to get something you're interested in. Hopefully there are some helpful bits in there, but if you have any other questions, please feel free to ask!

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"based on your experiment...." should read "based on your experience..."

wow .. i never thought how difficult it was..
hmmm i understand that open holes are for high level flute players, my girlfriend has been playing for ten years. hmm
well im looking at the price range of possibly 400- 700.
im guessing that open holes are more expensive?

so just say im going for closed holes, which brands do you suggest at that cost range?

i was looking through ebay.. the costs of those flutes are so cheap... brand new from $100~500, but yeah im not too keen on getting a flute that will last only couple of months

im totally new to this flute thing.. please help
thanks
tomtom

"i was looking through ebay.. the costs of those flutes are so cheap... brand new from $100~500, but yeah im not too keen on getting a flute that will last only couple of months "

Those cheapy flutes on Ebay aren't worth even that much. They are no good for playing on and they can't be fixed. If you do get her one and you know someone who is handy with tools, they could make an attractive lamp out of one. Does she like pink?

This one would make a stunning lamp:

http://cgi.ebay.com/2007-SKY-Band-Pink-Flute-Gold-Keys-Hard-Soft-Cases_W0QQitemZ180159281517QQihZ008QQcategoryZ10183QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Well, almost any company on that list can make a flute with Plateau keys. What style of keys you get rarely changes the price of the flute, but most companies don't start building French flutes until their upper models. It will take some patience to find one from the first list for the kind of price you want to pay, though. You're likely going to find a student model for that price, though once again, going for a used flute can get you a better flute. Here's a new list of makers in your price range:

Yamaha
Pearl
Jupiter
Emerson
Gemeinhardt
Trevor James
Armstrong

Some of these you can get new for what you're willing to pay, and some you'll have to look for used to fit your budget. Don't be afraid of used instruments, because as long as they've been taken care of, they should be in good shape, or can be put back in good shape for relatively little money, and then some can outplay a modern flute.

I'd personally go for a gift certificate approach. It's going to take her a bit of time to find something she likes.

Used, of course, is the best way to get good value from your money, though you should look for deals at local shops. Feel free to politely haggle as well - it's not as if it's likely to be sold anytime soon. Most used stock/consignments take months to unload. But $1000 for anything good, even used, is common. And then there's the whole thing about new vs used as a gift...

Now if you want something fun for a *lot* less money, you could always get her a set of fancy glass flutes (Hall flutes) or similar for not a lot of money. I have one myself and I like playing it sometimes because it's different.(same with my recorder and other various flutes)

http://hallflutes.com/store.mv?C=10
A set of four, plus a wall display, and two cleaning rods will run you about $300 total(ask - I'm sure they will make a nice package deal). Or you could just get the D flute and a display stand and cleaning rod for $110.($100 for the G, but D is closer sound and fingering-wise to a normal flute)


<Added>

edit:
P.S. spending a hundred or two is one thing, but spending $1000 or more on a girl(if she knows it's worth close to that much) is pretty much giving her signals that you're thinking about something permanent. If she's just a girlfriend, a very fancy wood or crystal flute like I mentioned would suffice for a birthday gift.