Suzie,

You obviously didn't read my post very carefully. I never said that a gold plated headjoint interior made the sound/intonation better at all. As one would assume, if the cut of the headjoint is the same (and more particularly the body design), the intonation does not change one bit. And while I think the sound is "different" I don't think it is "better"- which I clearly stated.

As far as "feel", I obviously am not referring to the way it feels when you "touch" it. I had assumed what I meant by "feel" would be understood by other flute players. I have found, however, that headjoints with a gold plated interior can feel as though they have a bit more resistance. This may just be a result of the sound not being as bright, but nevertheless, the do feel/sound a bit different to me, being the reason I could easily differentiate one from the other blindfolded. Maybe some players are more sensitive to such subtleties than others. But I will stand unashamed on my own experience that they do in fact sound different to me, and have every time I've done a comparison test.... but not necessarily better. If your experience of trying lots of the same model headjoints with or without the gold lining has brought a different understanding, then that is fine- I'm not here to argue or to try to "prove" myself.

I think I'm also a bit confused though, because your argument that the all solid silver flutes compared to the ones with just a plated body (and identical headjoint) sound different implies that in that case as well, the type of metal on the interior of the tube does in fact subtly change the sound. I do agree with you completely on this- I've tried plenty of flutes with silver plated bodies that sounded as good, often resonating better than the all solid silver versions!

thanks for all the posts, and i went to major a city near me and was able to to try out different flutes (not the same model) but around the same price range made of different materials. I do have to agree gold plating just the outside is cosmetic, but gold plating on the inside or a solid gold flute DOES have a darker or more masculine tone then a solid silver flute of the same price range, where the silver was bright and very classic sounding... i tried 2 gold flutes a powell and a pearl, and 3 silver, a powell a pearl and a sankyo. the 3 silver sounded similar and the 2 gold, 1 solid and 1 plated on the on inside and out sounded different from the silver... my mom couldnt pick it because she does not play a instrument and does not listen that closely but me, my friend and store employees could definitely here a difference between the metals, so its not a major difference but to someone who hears and picks at instruments alot, i do think there is a tell-able difference. I am interested in the aurumite flute, because i heard the gold is ALOT more then plating but still not solid because it has silver... so i am very interested in trying out to see how those sound...

Well, you didn't actually do a true comparison. All elements, cuttings, and features should be exactly identical -- except for the addition of gold. Just comparing instruments of the same "price range" isn't really a valid comparison.

But you should go with whatever makes you (and your wallet) happy!

Bear in mind - when we speak of the cut being "identical", even two headjoints that are the same model may have differences between them. Manufacturing processes are not perfect, and do not eliminate all variation.

Some additional excellent references on this question are here:

http://www.jennifercluff.com/goldsilver.htm

Bear in mind, all of this pertains to the objective physics of producing sound. In daily life, I'm a devout subjectivist. When I coach people on their job interviewing skills, I strongly recommend they wear a magic talisman of some sort, whether its a favorite pen, or a new watch, or lucky rocket-ship underpants. You can prove to me beyond a shadow of a doubt that these don't change a person's skillset, but I still hold that they make a measurable difference in that person's performance.

i know its not really a "controlled" experiment because its not completely the same.. i think the only brand that could have a controlled study done is yamaha because as far as i know there the only flute makers who use computers to make some of there flutes. But i think for me, what i did was enough because i played both Japanese and american flutes silver and gold, and there was a difference that i noticed between the gold and silvers sounds. for my search, i wont get rid of the idea of a silver flute, but i am definitely looking at gold flutes more i think.

I'm sorry, I just have to laugh a little when reading some of this on the gold plating. I would like to see what Joe B. has to say about this. And Micron? Where did he go? An old discussion that seems to never be at rest. You can find more in this forum on this subject by using the search button. If you set your mind to it, you can make yourself believe anything.

Alex,

Your comment on Yamaha is worth addressing because it speaks volumes about flute (and every other type of) manufacture. I'll take your word for it that Yamaha uses computer controlled manufacturing systems for some of it's flutes, but rest assured, this does not mean that the flutes come out identical.

On the face of it, this seems counter-intuitive. After all, computers are deterministic, digital machines - assuming they are operating correctly, and given identical input, they will always produce the exact same output. But the machines they are connected to are analog. They only work within certain tolerances of error. That is, you might have a computer controlled machine that can produce a headjoint with a thickness between 1.01 millimeters and .99 millimeters. Or if you spend way more money and spend much more time configuring it, you could improve the tolerances significantly. But you can never get it to produce EXACTLY 1 millimeter. (You might be interested in reading about Six Sigma for more on this concept.)

After all, if Yamaha could reproduce a flute "perfectly", then they could knock off a perfect Nagahara replica for no more than the cost of the raw materials and a little electricity. But they can't. Nagaharas are hand-made, because no machine can produce the exacting tolerances that a master craftsman can achieve with months of painstaking effort.

This is why it's so devilishly difficult to come up with precise comparisons - just like snowflakes, no two flutes, even of the exact same material and model, are exactly alike.

An objective test performed showed that there is little difference in metals:

http://iwk.mdw.ac.at/forschung/english/linortner/linortner_e.htm

Try a lot of different flutes at a shop that carries many different makes and models. Ask for help and see what works best for you. Good luck!

Thanks for the link to that straightforward report. But I think that, among "artists," there is a general distrust of scientific results. Subjective listening and feeling are more trusted.

However, the people who claim that certain materials sound "better" or even "different" always know what flute they are testing -- unless they are blindfolded and not actually holding the instrument (to sense its weight and "feel").

If I knew I was playing a 24-kt gold Nagahara, I'd probably play differently and think that my sound was wonderful, simply because of the instrument I was looking at and holding!

The search button will yield thread upon thread of info, as this very subject has been debated probably since the manufacture of the modern flute.