Have a Gemeinhardt 3 student open hole- what is the cheapest head joint I could buy that would show significant improvement over the standard one that came with the flute?

Headjoints are personal. My idea of a good headjoint may not be good for you. You might sound worse with a headjoint that I like. You have to try them yourself. I can pick up ten headjoints made by the same person and they may all be a little different.

See if you can get to a flute store that has headjoints for sale and try some. This is the only suggestion or advice that I have.

If you are in USA, I suggest you contact Nagahara directly. You may be eligible for a free trial of three HJ your choice.

Nagahara Flutes / NNI Inc.
131 Stedman Street - Unit 7
Chelmsford, MA 01824, U.S.A.
Tel: (978) 458-1345
Fax: (978) 458-1349
info@nagaharaflutes.com

This is my dream HJ but I cannot try them for free as I am in Europe.

Be prepared to pay between 1,300 and 2,000$ for a silver HJ. Also, consult them if their HJs will fit a Gemeinhardt body (I have some doubts based on previous comments on this site).

Good luck and post the results!

Fluteworld sells Gemeinhardt head joint upgrades.
Solid silver head joints by their co. run from $680 to $930.
They offer some choices on tone and response.
You can get gold plating but the sound difference is only cosmetic.
As Jose Luis states be prepared to have any HJ fit to your receiver.
I'm not entirely sure that any HJ can be made to fit any flute body.
That is a point that a Repair tech can help you with.
You can buy a HJ from some other company but to my mind, it's too expensive of a route for this model of flute. If you are an intermediate player, there is much to be learned regarding your tone production from learning to play well on what you already have. If you intend to become more advanced, I would consider trading up on the whole flute.

~bilbo
N.E. Ohio

The least expensive option for improving it is to have it recut. Most Flutes in this category can gain some significant improvements by recutting them. Gemeinhardts usually have ample opportunity for recutting.

Normally for this class of instrument @$75 to recut.

Joe B

In my own opinion, I modestly think it is preferable to go bigger steps when upgrading. It was my experience (though the only one) and it was very rewarding. I upgraded from a old and failing Gemeinhardt M2 to a new Yamaha YFL674. I invested some 2,500$ in it.

I would go to a full Nagahara for the next upgrade, but it is well beyond my resources. So I consider upgrading just the HJ with Naga. Not urgent, anyway.