I played flute for about 8 years and then went to college and got drunk for a few years and sold my Yamaha flute and piccolo.

Now I want to take it back up but I`m overwhelmed by all the brands and marketing. Recently I went to a local flute store and tried out an Altus, Miyazawa, Sonare and Powell Signature. Since I`m only in the market for about a $2-3K instrument, I can only afford the bottom of the line of these choices.

The Altus played very well and was extremely flattering to my out-of-shape embouchure. However the materials were lacking, only the lip plate and riser were sterling.

The Miyazawa was kind of thin sounding and a bit more difficult to produce a good sound.

I played 2 Sonares, but they were very different. On one, the mechanism was nice and tight, and on the other it was rather clumsy. The sound was nice though, but the upper register was thin and forced.

The Powell Signature was probably my favorite, but also the most expensive. It played evenly and was completely sterling, which gave it a lot more color and depth.

Some other brands people have suggested were Yamaha and Emerson. I liked my Yamahas but they seemed kind of prone to breakage. The only Emerson I`ve ever played was a Boston Legacy piccolo, and I was really shocked at how well and sweet it sounded for its price.

I`d like some more suggestions or comments about these brands or any other brands. I know every instrument is different so I`m not completely ruling out anything.

Don`t get fixated on materials and precious metals. Contrary to advertising hype, trying to sell precious metals at inflated prices, be aware that the material has almost no relevance to the way a flute plays. This has been established repeatedly by controlled testing.

An example is at http://64.207.146.28/-Research/PDF/junruwu.pdf

It is the DESIGN of the flute, and the player, that makes a flute play well.

There is not too much wrong with the tone etc in the link below, but this flute is a brand called "first Act", probably one of the cheapest available in USA. (From Walmart?). It is being played by a repair technician who obviously adjusted it correctly before playing it.

http://www.langemusic.com/Files/telemann.wav

Sorry, wrong link.

The one I meant for the research was
http://iwk.mdw.ac.at/Forschung/english/linortner/linortner_e.htm

i`m not disputing that it`s more about the player than the instrument. that`s a given. but you have to agree that some instruments help facilitate your playing more than others.

i remember upgrading from a flute with a silver headjoint to an all silver flute and i could feel the difference. the flute vibrated a lot more, i could feel it in my fingers. maybe that was just coincidence i guess.

i just still want opinions on some brands.

Feeling the flute vibrate under one`s fingers may ba a great feel, but it may be (and very likely is) imagination that the SOUND is affected.

But there is nothing wrong with wallowing in that vibration and imagination.

If you like feeling vibrations, take up the cello! Or even baritone sax.

If a flute maker makes one head form silver, and another from gold, then he quite likely gives them different characteristics by slightly different shaping, so that they sound a little different, so you can talk yourself into the gold being better, so he can relieve your wallet. This sort of thing is very common in marketing. The world of musical instruments is no exception.

I have played many silver and some gold flutes, which perform a lot worse than other less precious metal flutes. That is why I say, get away from focusing on the metal itself.

BTW a flute that vibrates more under the fingers is more likely to do so because the metal is thinner - has less mass, hence more amplitude of vibration. But what is important to the sound a flute makes is the vibration of the AIR inside it, rather than the metal. The metal is merely a container of that air column, and very importantly, defines its SHAPE.

Will be shopping for a flute in Janurary myself, and will be going to a couple of flute stores to testplay some instruments. Meme, I got some recommendations for sub-$1.5K flutes from another technician, but are their any brands or models you would recommend me to try?

I would definitely consider including Yamaha in your investigation. I am way out of touch with local prices, let alone USA prices, and the scene is curently changing very fast as there is more and more Chinese input (probably with varying degrees of quality, yet to stand the test of time), and complacent traditioanl manufacturers possibly `pulling their socks up` in face of the competition, Di Medici? Pearl? Altus? Sankyo? Miyazawa? I don`t know where Artley`s current models stand, so try them too.

Well you mentioned DiMedici, like the other tech did, and the article you mentioned, helps with saying I don`t need a silver bodied flute. I`m a little (HaHa) past competition age, so I mostly play for myself. But, I wanted an flute that I could expand my technique when I was ready to play open holes.

I will consider more of the silver-headed models as well.

hey thanks meme!

the literature you provided is very eye-opening. now i understand why the altus play so much better than the others despite the materials. how the flute is made really can set it apart.

as far as the vibration of the instrument goes, it seemd the more i developed and the more focused my sound became, the more the instrument vibrated. perhaps i had never experienced that on my beginner flute because i was just that - a beginner.

it kind of makes me wonder why people spend tens of thousands of dollars on gold and platinum instruments. is it all just for bragging rights?

I`ve tried a lot of flutes in my day,... and I have to say that from experience, the different metals DO produce a different sound.. at least when considering the minor details important in professional playing.
Gold has a sweet, gentle tone, and silver has a greater dynamic range, just to name a few... also, gold requires an almost perfect embouchure in order to produce the correct articulation. this can be problematic for some players. In fact I tried a 23,000 dollar miyazawa 24carrat gold flute today, and found I had difficulty playing it, because it was so different then all other instruments. this is not to say that it was not better then a silver flute, rather I would like to say that it was simply not the correct instrument for me.
I`m not saying that the more pricey the instrument the better, I`m merely saying that the metal does make a difference. Every metal vibrates differently, and when the vibrations are different, then the sound has to be different.
I do understand however, that the quality of the instrument does rest in the hands of the maker. Joe Blow flute maker may not be able to produce as good a quality instrument in gold as Verne. Q. Powell himself could make out of plumbing pipe...
however, I would like to note that the different metals make a difference in the action and performance of the instrument. not only does metal effect the projection or quality of sound, it also effects the articulation, and action in the keys. a softer metal (such as gold) is better for springs, as it is softer and allows for quicker action.
with speaking to a few of my friends (tadeu Coelho, susan hoepner, Nora Schulman, patrick gallois to name a few) I can`t say that one of them would agree with meme. Along with the flute maker, the metal can make a major difference in the performance of the instrument. most professionals prefer a platinum riser, with gold springs. How can you argue with every professional flutist out there? Are all of them wrong?
However, I understand that what you are looking for is more of an intermediate level instrument. at the professional level, the metal does make a difference, as professionals are always wanting to improve in any way possible, and the smallest difference does matter to us. So I dont think it is fair to say that when someone purchases an instrument that is pricey and made of precious materials that the person is doing this purely for bragging rights. I own a white gold powell, and the way I chose this instrument was by carefully chosing the one that I perform the best on, both in sound and action. However, if you`re looking for an intermediate flute, I suggest that you speak to your teacher, or someone else who is educated in flute, and knows how you play. What you can play well now, may not be the instrument you want a year down the road when you have improved.
best of luck to you!

Of COURSE makers will DESIGN gold and platinum flutes to sound different. If they sounded the same, then nobody would buy them.

But that does not mean that the material was responsible for the difference.

And there is enormous brain-washing by the marketers to convince players that gold etc sounds better. Of course! That is because they want to sell gold at a grossly inflated price.

And many players will really believe the sound is better because of the gold. That is because they have been told that. The maker is not going to tell you all the details of the IMPORTANT parameters that make up the tone.

There is an enormous of amount of psychological input here. If I spend megabucks on platinum, then I really, really want to believe that it plays better. More than likely I will MAKE it play better.

We can get rid of all these other parameters with CONTROLLED testing. This has been done to a high degree of rigour, and every time it has been done, it seems, the results demonstrate suggest that the material is irrelevant. You are making comparisons of items with dozens of parameters that differ, and saying the difference is because of only a single parameter. It is like saying that an orange tastes different from a lemon only because one is yellow and the other is orange.

I respect your beliefs, but various things you write fly in the face of acoustic science, mechanical engineering, and the rigours of scientific testing to such a degree that it is the equivalent of me saying that the earth is flat because I see the sun come up over the edge of it.

Are you aware that stainless steel springs can be designed, by a mechanical engineer, with exactly the same feel as gold springs. It is a matter of getting the appropriate alloy, length, diameter, surface finish, cradle design, and a few other parameters.

The mechanism of an oboe is a lot more delicate, but as yet I have never seen gold springs on oboes.

Now if the gold springs are poorly designed, and the S/S springs are well designed, then you would castigate the feel of the GOLD springs.

Of course, the average professional flute DOES have more precision inherent in its mechanical design and manufacture, and THAT (apart from belief) is why it has a better `feel`. But that is not because the springs are gold. Possibly the BEST material for springs would be nickel-titanium, but that word nickel is a good association for flute advertising, and `white gold` is so much more romantic.

If the truth be known, one reason for using gold is possibly that it is more accommodating of POOR design!

BTW have you read and digested:

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

ok, well i can understand both sides of the argument. but i`m going to completely leave precious metals out of the equation and let the sound and feel of the instrument influence my decision.

back on topic, which flute do you believe is the most soundly constructed? i`m considering the bottom of the altus line, the bottom of the powell line, the professional (but not handmade) yamahas, and the emerson boston legacy.

With relatively new models it is hard to tell, because reputation has not been established.

`bottom of the altus line` is probably Japanese made, and likely to be pretty good.

`the bottom of the powell line`. The body and all important mechanism is made in China, and therefore runs some risk. Most of what you are paying is for a classy head, made in America.

`professional (but not handmade) yamahas`. An excellent reputation for good construction.

`the emerson boston legacy.` I don`t know, because I am not aware of working on them. The standard of manufacture of their student instruments has, in my opinion, been pretty disappointing for quite some time, suggesting scruffiness and complacency in company attitudes. In my Emerson alto flute the engineering standards are appalling.