Hi all,

I am very distrought because all of these threads say that gemeinhardts are awful flutes pretty much. You say that they will last anyone through a rigorous college experience. Just to let you all know, I attend the Juillard School as a flute major and I currently play on a Gemeinhardt 3SB. It has no prior upgrades and nothing has changed since I bought it four years ago. It is the best flute I have ever tried.

My proffesor made me try all of these flutes, because according to all of you, I need one. So I tried the Powell Handmade Conservatory, the Haynes 14K gold, The Burkart 95-5 flute, the Sankyo and Yamaha wood flutes. And to be one hundred percent honest with all of you, my gemeinhardt played better then all of them.

I did not decide to upgrade. I kept my gemeinhardt 3SB, and I most likely will until these company's start stepping up their game and truly come out with a good product.

You speak of the company as a generality. And generally speaking, Powell and haynes are better then Gemeinhardt. But you dont know every single flute that is out there. There are some truly brilliant Gemeinhardt flutes out there. You are giving them a bad reputation because of generality.

You really need to think before you go and tell people they are the "worst flutes on the market". Its okay to give advice, but dont go telling people that it wont last them through college. Because I am here to tell you that you are wrong. You do not know all of the circumstances involved.

A little annoyed,
flute-boy09

Is this some kind of joke? I am sorry if I have a hard time believing that you are going to Julliard and you think that your Gemeinhardt is the best. Who is your professor?

<Added>

Sorry, I spelled it wrong. It is Juilliard. Funny how you also spelled the name of the school wrong and you supposedly attend that school. Hmm...

Haha, I haven't laughed this hard in a long time.

Well, I think that my Simba is better than your Gemeinhardt. lol!

I think he has a point... You really don't know all the flutes a certain brand makes. I agree that it's unfair to say that everything in a certain brand sucks. I mean, I own a Gemeinhardt piccolo and it's doing just fine. I mean, it's not like spectacular but what piccolo is? I think all flute-boy09 is trying to say is that it's not fair to say that everything in a certain brand is awful. I mean Pearl is one of the greatest brands out there and I'm sure they have some crappy models. So, let's try to stop being so rude to one another, shall we? It all depends on personal taste and opinions. If you can't respect it, then maybe you shouldn't respond to these posts at all. It's kind of disappointing to see that kind of immaturity over a flute forum by someone announcing their personal opinion. Just saying.

You obviously didn't get it that the whole post was a joke and written by a troll. We are just joking along with them. Chill...

Ok. I apologize then. It's hard to tell the difference via typing. It just sounded rude to me.

I don't know...I think this is a serious post.

a few things to say

1. A Gemeinhardt does NOT compare to a crappy, out-of-adjustment, needs a pad job Muramatsu at any time.
2. Pearl is not considered the "best" brand
3. There is no way that kid got into Juilliard on a Gemeinhardt, There would be too many hand problems, embrochure problems, and breath support problems for either Carol Wincec, Jeff Khaner, or Robert Langevin to deal with. And even if they accepted him, they would've required him to purchase a new flute before the school year started. No college would want their student to be playing on a piece of Gemeinhardt, especially when they can take out student loans.

<Added>

Oh, by the way, there is no way a Gemeinhardt is better than any handmade flute. Reason why: any handmade flute has a handmade mechanism which will most likely have a better pin system. The Gemeinhardt flute has one of the worst mechanisms I have seen in a long time. So unless someone rebuilt the mechanism on his flute, there is no way he likes his Gemeinhardt better than a Powell. Oh, and the headjoint? Punched out by a machine. Compared to a handcut headjoint? Much easier to play. Better tone because you're not forcing the air in an uneven area. Feels like youre blowing into a wall.

This kid is crazy and needs to face reality: he probably doesn't even know the difference between a Gemeinhardt and a Sankyo anyway. Probably saw those names on the board. And wanted to start and argument among our posters. Well, kid, we all agree with each other. Go away, and finish your pre-algebra homework. Mommy doesn't want you to get a D.

Are you serious?!? "Juillard"?!?!

Give me a break.

I own 2 Gemein. flutes, after playing an artly for 30+ years. I relly like them both. one is a 2sp, the other a 3shb. Have no complaints.

The same could also be said for Haynes. Some of the very early models that were made by Haynes himself were and still are amazing.

As for quality slipping, usually this happens when the founder dies or a company decides to go from a small time operation to a larger one(witness Pearl's low-end offerings and quality ever-so-slowly eroding)

Gemeinhardt makes *one* good handmade flute still 9K or 14K gold, entirely handmade, but it's pricey and I've never seen one in person or for sale. Supposedly it's as good as any other "professional" model out there. It's not even listed on their website, though they do make it as a special order.

I dissappear for a week or two and miss out on all the fun.

I just got rid of a 2sp. I have had all of the other models at one time or another. None of them can hold a candle to my Muramatsu. They can't even hold a candle to the old 1970 Armstrong 80 B that I have laying around.

Anyway if Gemeinhardts are so great, why doesn't the rep get on here and defend them against the pro handmade flutes?

Well...I don't know a whole lot about Germeinhardts.(hope I spelled it right) I don't play flute, so I don't know how to tell which one is better. However, I do know a person who literally sounds like a professional on her Germeinhardt. She even won a national competition of some sort with it. It was in Oklahoma City, I believe.

I don't dispute the fact that many Germeinhardts are crap. However, I think their probably like Jupiter trombones. A lot of them suck, but every once in a while you'll find one that plays well. Besides, it's not 100% up to the flute what the music will sound like. The person playing the flute has a lot to do with it. Anyway, that's just my bit there.

Ok, but let's be realistic here.
I used to play on a Gemeinhardt 3SB. This model of flute has been around since ABOUT 1980. Remember that during this time (1977 if I'm not mistaken), Gemeinhardt was sold to CBS - yes, the same CBS that brought you all The Cosby Show and MASH and The King of Queens and such. So this broadcasting company was running a musical instrument company. This was also the time that the quality of instruments pretty much plateaued (if you're familiar with Fender guitars, this is the same story). So until recently (Gemstone Musical Instruments in late 2005, early 2006), the quality of Gemeinhardt flutes were pretty much the same as they were in the late 1970s - no improvements, no scale adjustments, same headjoint designs (now these people didn't know how to make flutes so these cuts were machine cuts that someone from CBS (again, TV people) pushed a button and went on their merry little way).
Ok, so these people probably didn't work on the TV shows, but they werent highly trained flute makers like the competition companies were employing at the time. So these competition companies were coming up with new ideas from experienced artists. Gemeinhardt wasn't because these people didn't know the difference.
Ex: The Cooper Scale vs. The Boehm System. The Cooper Scale overall has a more even register and is more accurately in tune with itself due to mathematical development. Try an old Louis Lot flute (like, REALLLLLY old) and play with a tuner and compare it to a brand shiny new, lets say, Powell. The Powell (which has a more modern scale) will be more in tune more often and easier when compared to the Louis Lot.
The Gemeinhardt flutes (especially those made before 2007-ish) are simply old, outdated, and are behind in time. They have an inferior scale to the modern flutes, promote bad habits due to a punched out embrochure hole, and have a really shotty mechanism, courtesy of the outdated and machine-made work.

Just a bit to chew on.