i have a question for anyone who can answer it...are selmer flutes bad to play, in any way at all? i have a sister who plays flute, and her and a friend (who also plays flute) were fighting whether selmer flutes were bad (as her friend owns one) or not...now she has me curious on the subject and thought i`d ask people who know. so, is a selmer flute bad?

Well my friend Ann has a Selmer Omega so I am guessing that is the same brand,and I played it before and it was nice.

There are many models of Selmer flute. Their pro models were well respected decades ago, But standards got way, way higher since then.

Now, to my knowledge, only student flutes are labelled Selmer.

They are not known for their good volume/tone, although SOME models or individuals may be exceptions.

(I use student Yamaha as my standard for comparison.)

Selmer is highly respected for their saxophones (and clarinets) made in Paris. Selmer Paris has not made flutes for a long time. There is no connection between Selmer Paris and American flutes with a Selmer label.

they`re not that bad. there other brands out there that are much worse.

True. Of almost 130 brands I have worked on they would be in the top 30.

I have a 1942 Selmer open hole flute and it has a wonderful high register. You can see it at the web site in the subject line. Just copy and paste it into your browser. This flute is for sale.

selmer flutes aren`t bad, i own a selmer flute and it works great for me!

How many of the hundreds of different models have you compared it with.

I am the most handsome guy in the world until the viewer comes to see some others, and gets in touch with reality!

I have a Selmer Omega open-holed flute that was brand new in about 1968. The higher notes tended to be difficult to coax, in part because the darned thing was so heavy when compared to the Haynes and Powell flutes of that time. The keying action was also a bit stiff - even with gold springs (or maybe because of them).

It was a reasonable compromise because my parents couldn`t afford to buy me a Haynes. And by the time I had the funds to consider purchasing one, I had walked away from the music world.

It was not a satisfactory instrument for classical music where control and volume changes are often critical. But in the world of jazz and improvisation, I found it more than adequate. It responded quite well, when you didn`t have to be so concerned about forte vs. pianissimo.

Where do Jupiter flutes rank, Meme? (out of curiousity) What would you rank as first?

Jupiters used to have quite a range of problems, two of the worst being parts falling off, and very soft metal.

I keep hearing that Jupiters have improved, but from all those that I have ever seen, I have seen no evidence of them dealing with the main problem - very soft metal. The way they play has never particularly impressed me.

Beware of the marketing hype attached to ANY brand. Anything to do with marketing usually has little truth in it, and eventually gets told so many times that people start believing it.

In my opinion, MOST of the rave about flute models comes from marketing. For student instruments, the most marketing is done on behalf of the models from which the dealers can get most profit.

In my country Jupiters have been promoted as if they were the predominant student brand sold here, and they were priced as if they were on a par with Yamaha. It was all BS!

I regard them as a not-below-average student flute which should be in a price range quite a bit below the Yamahas I see here.

Jupiter are very good for parts availability, but most flutes do not need any parts replaced during their entire life. Technicians get their pad stocks form pad suppliers; they are not regarded as parts unique to a brand or model. So this availability is not particular relevant.

What would I rank as first?

For student flutes, Yamaha at present, but that may well change in the next few years, because Yamaha seems to be recently following USA manufacturers in producing substandard, non-level tone holes, which affect reliability, and make all work a pain, and expensive.

The best is the instrument that can be played impressively - clear, loud, in-tune, and is up to high standards in mechanical design and construction - all for a reasonable price. It is on the latter that we rely for long-term reliability and easy, infrequent, cheap servicing.

I believe Taiwanese and Chinese brands will fairly soon leave current USA and Japanese brands behind. Some time ago, Britain got complacent and USA left it behind in quality production. Recently USA has become so complacent that they seem to be competing with Asian countries for making a LOW grade product. The signs are there that Japan may be following. When a country gets complacent, another rises to take its place.

What is best for professional flutes? There used to be an assumption that all the well-known brands were of exceptional MECHANICAL design and quality, providing long-term reliability. This is still true except for the area we must be very cautious - those big-name models when are getting their bodies made in China. The test of time will determine whether these high precision parts of the flute are up to the standards we have come to expect. Apart from all this, which is best? Forget all the gold/silver/platinum marketing BS, and go for the flute that you find awesome to play. Everybody`s perception is different. But remember that what INITIALLY seems awesome, may well be later found to lack variation of tone colour, or some other subtle quality. It is easy to INITIALLY be impressed with the flute that is loudest. To make a flute very loud, other qualities usually have to be compromised. AS I`ve mentioned before in this forum, the Muramatsu EX & GX flutes impress me every time I service and play them. Some much more expensive brands/models have left me rather disappointed.

When you pay a lot more, you don`t necessarily get what you pay for.

Questions are easy. The answers are seldom straight forward.

Thanks very much for the imformative reply! I recently got a solid silver Pearl but I`m hoping to get a Muramatsu headjoint for it. I`m disappointed that I didn`t try the EX because I have heard very impressive things about them... I`m hoping a new headjoint will have an almost as good effect.

I love my Selmer flute!

I have purchased a good number of instruments in my life.. and i think the best way to do it is to not go in with a biased attitude towards any instrument in particular. I had that problem once, I thought the more money you spend on an instrument the better.. so I bought a 20 thousand dollar Powell.. and a key fell off!!! although, Powells are really finicky like that... but in order to buy the instrument that is right for you, I suggest not looking at prices or brand names, and trying them all. then when you`ve narrowed it down to about 4 you really like, find out what brand they are, and what the price range is. that way you can later do research and base a proper opinion.. also, if you have a price range, you can ask the sales clerk to narrow the range in instruments they give you. best of luck!

I use a Selmer 1975 flute for marching band. It actually has good volume, it just doesn`t have very good tone in my opinion.