It`s silver plated. best way to find new prices is to search online.

Liz

I started on a Gemeinhardt, and I was never really that into it. It broke a lot (it`s broken right now). And I had to put a lot of conscious effort into getting a clean, rich tone. Certain high notes were always difficult to hit.

I like my Armstrong better, but it`s not perfect. It`s louder than the Gemeinhardt and it sounds a little cleaner by default. High notes are much easier to hit than on the Gemeinhardt. The Armstrong hasn`t needed repairs nearly as often (I`m about to take it in for new pads for the first time ever). But it still requires focused effort to achieve the cleanest sound possible -- if I play thoughtlessly, chances are my sound will be airy. It also seems to go flat on me if I`m not carelessly playing ... that never happened with my Gemeinhardt.

The next flute I buy will be a Jupiter. I don`t know why, but every Jupiter I`ve tried sounded divine in my hands ... with no special thought or effort. When I bought my Armstrong, I was looking for an open-hole flute, but I almost walked away with a closed-hole Jupiter student model just because I loved the sound. I`ve played several models since and they all sound great.

I have an Armstrong 80B open-hole with a B foot. My teacher, from the sounds of it, really preferred Jupiter or Yamaha, but our family is generally limited on finances, and the music store only had two.

I`d ultimately like to get a Muramatsu, Haynes, Powell, or a Jupiter.

I also recently came so close to getting a grenidella piccolo by Gemeinhardt for Christmas, but it was $1000 too much, so my mom got me the solid silver for $1000... Works really nice.

I`ve an 8yr old daughter who has just started playing the flute. I was going to get her an Armstrong having tried one in a local shop. I have only ever played an old Grassi that lacks clarity on the lower range, how does the Gemeinhart compare to a Grassi?

Grassi? They don`t even exist anymore. Gemeinhardts are very poor quailtiy and are almost as bad as your Grassi. Don`t waist your money on any brands made in Indiana.

I have had a geminheart flute for about 3 years. It is a 2sp, and I really like it. It gets scratched and dented pretty easily though.....maybe thats just me

Kelly,
If you treat your flute like that then you obviously don`t have much respect for it. Why bother playing it then? No one should treat a flute so carelessly. It is a beautiful tool and should be well respected.

Ida Maria Grassi & C.
via A. Martini, 15
20092 Cinisello Balsamo, (MI) Italy
Tel: 02-66047969

I am sure you could get an address and phone # to the cheap junk flutes on ebay too. I beleive that Grassi is one of them aren`t they?

I`m a BMus flutest and a music teacher. I`m looking to buy a relativly cheep instrument for one of my students that can not afford one herself - renting is not an option either. I`m looking on ebay trying to get deals. I know the bands I need to look for, having played on practically everything under the sun.

*Testimonial about really bad flutes - One day, while in high school my music teacher showed us a flute that was bought from a Sears catologue and I could not even make a sound on this thing, the body was curved.

I know the downfalls of a bad instruments. I realize that buying online is not the optimum situation. However, has anyone had any experiences buying from ebay, and getting good merchandise? Has anyone heard of a Yamaha F100 - how old do you think it is? Yamaha`s are great, I own one myself, but I know nothing about this model. I`m assuming it`s a student model. Any help would be great!

Kara,
I treat my flute as carefully as I can, but sometimes it is hard to prevent some scatches and dents. What I meant was, my flute seems to get scratched and dented more easily than others

IMHO as a repair man of 20 years, Yamaha is the safest and most reliable way to go when choosing a flute. I have seen too many Armstrongs with bad intonation and poorly designed. The same goes for the Gemeinhardt flutes but they are even worst yet.

Kelly,
It is a really good thing then that I don`t have that kind of problem on my Powell! I have had it for 15 years now without one scratch or dent. The same goes for all my other flutes that I have owned.

WoW!! 15 years without a scratch or dent! You must have a really good flute! My flute was not that expencive, because I got it in 4th gade to try it out, and I decided that I liked it and wanted to play it. So I kept it.

If you want an Armstrong, go for ones that are at the professional level. Gemeinehardts are bad whether professional or not. Yamaha is good and so is a student Emerson.