That is completely relative to your perceptions of the value of money, and your perceptions of how much it costs to make one.

Exaggerate to illustrate...
If it were $100,000 would it still be worth every cent? How about $1,000,000? What if you found it cost $800 to make?

Relative to 99.99% of the people on this planet, it would seem you are in extreme financial luxury. Good for you.

No, not extreme luxury. I saved every penny for it myself! I worked my butt off for it. In my line of work, I do need a top notch flute. And yes it is worth EVERY penny. It is too bad there are always the people out there that have to judge others because of pure jealousy.

So why not go off on some of the others that said they also spent a lot of money on a flute. I am not rich, I just know my goals.

Can`t we discuss an issue without you getting emotionally defensive!

And you make incorrect assumptions about me. I have a flute that would cost significantly over $10000 to replace with an equivalent. Silly me! I am honest enough to say that I too was once gullible in the face of the marketing.

Go try your analyzing BS on someone else, I am not interested in any of your games.

You`re doing it again. And I hope you are not calling me a liar. I have far too much integrity to lie!

KC, as usual, I enjoy reading your posts and you are right on the money. Did you get a newer Powell, or an older one? My husband just purchased one for me... a 1960`s 14K Powell, one of the last made by Edward Almeida when he was with Powell. It`s monetary value, while rather high, is second to it`s personal value to me. I have never in my life heard a beauty like this - and am at the minute shopping for headjoints (can you believe Lafin`s are now so expensive! But look at all the orchestral flute sections playing them: Berlin, New York, Chicago...). You absolutely get what you pay for, especially when you buy a Powell. They are VERY special instruments. There are flutes out there valued at over $10,000, let`s say, but some of them lack that special quality, that beauty. The mechanism can be awesome, they can be very dark, but to find that special "ring" and "shimmer" to the sound, is not so easily found. I drive a beat up car, haven`t bought new clothes for myself in a while, but I have an instrument that I NEVER thought I`d have, and it does make others a little jealous I fear. Like you, my priorities are in the right place. It has taken many years of hard work to get to this point, and now, I am loving music more and am able to push myself more (with tone colors, etc) because of this amazing instrument. It probably sounds crazy, but I believe that when you eventually get to the point where you can purchase an instrument that "speaks" to you, it`s a life changing experience. Sorry, that didn`t sound quite as corny when I thought of it.

Thank you Grace. I understand you completely. I will be a Powell lover for life! I made the mistake of buying a Muramatsu only to find out later that it didn`t have the power to it and it was WAY too dark for me. I really liked it at first, and it is a great flute, but hey you live and you learn. I am still trying to sell that one.

I have also tried MANY top models and none of them have the ring or the zing to them as a Powell does. I purchased a new Powell. I did get to try older one`s, but I ended up actually liking the new one better. I know that this is odd since most people prefer the older ones. But then again, I only tried two of them.

People may think I am crazy for spending that much on a flute, but I do believe that they are worth there weight in gold and will never depreciate.

I haven`t yet got to try the Lafin headjoints, but I hear from everyone that they are super.
I myself like the Brannen with the 14K gold riser on the Powell. They seem to go together very well for me.
I would love to get my hands on a Lafin!

It is nice to see that I am not alone.
Thank you!

I too used to have a Muramatsu! I had an AD, with a Goosman headjoint (loved it!!!) silver with a gold riser, then upgraded to a gold lip plate, gold riser. I know play a Goosman 14K on the Powell, but Thomas Robertello told me I needed more resistance to get more tone colors, so now I`m shopping. My friends just bought a new Aurumite Powell (with gold on the inside) and it is AMAZING! I loved it - I think there was a period of time when the new Powells weren`t too great, but now they seem to be doing fabulous things. My flute was my teacher`s flute for something like 20 years, so I know what it can do. I`ll probably going to my grave trying to sound half as good as him! I hope all the younger flutists out there do realize that the purchase of a flute (from any stage in your playing life) is a big step, and you need to really spend some time comparing them. I too have come to the conclusion that a Powell is hard to beat. Just look at all the professionals playing on them, that AREN`T Powell "artists"!

Oh, and I forgot, it is getting increasingly more difficult to get your hands on a Lafin. With the Euro at like 1.4 right now, it`s tough! I`ve heard nothing but fabulous things - and for close to $9,000 just for a gold headjoint! Wow!!!! It would have to be pretty darn amazing!

I also agree that the value of good flute does go up. I`m fortunate that I was able to convince my husband that this was an investment too - not that I will ever sell this gorgeous thing. I bought it rather cheap because it needed work, and my teacher didn`t want to sell it to Japanese "investors", because he wanted it to be played. I paid for an overhaul, and now it`s worth almost double what I paid! Just don`t want my husband telling me to now sell it and buy a new car or something! LOL! How much are SUV`s now anyway???

I have the DS model. I was using an Emanuel with a 14K gold riser on it.
I haven`t got to try the Goosman yet.
I bought the solid gold lip plate and 14K riser to go with my Powell. It is beautiful!

Luckily my husband it a musician, so he understands. We actually have made a CD together. He plays the keyboard, piano, electric bass and guitar. He can play almost anything out of his head on the keyboard and extremely talented. I was so lucky to find him. I met him in the church choir when I was 15 and he was 22. I had a HUGE crush on the cute bass player! Of course we didn`t date till I was 18 though. Okay.. sorry to ramble. Can you tell I am still in love? Lol!

He is making me sell my Mura DS though. Hmmm.... I do need a new car.
If you ever do get a chance to try the Lafin, please let me know.
Galway offered to let me try his at one time, but I didn`t. Now I could kick myself! He is such a sweet heart!!!

Sounds like you got a great deal on the Powell. There is nothing like that perfect gem when you have been soul searching for it for a while and you get it in your hands.

Happy fluting!
Kate

Howdy Kate! Well, Sir Galway actually played this flute just before I purchased it (or my husband purchased it - it was a suprise wedding gift, I know, I have an AWESOME husband too!) from my former teacher and Sir Galway loved it. He said it was a very special instrument. Very cool! Us flutists are a funny bunch - we can get so emotional about our instruments, but hey, they are an expression of our emotions and an extension of us, aren`t they? I`m just so glad to see so many young flutists, excited about the thought of buying a new instrument, even if it is a student Yamaha, etc. Gosh, when I think of all the steps I took, from a Bundy (a nickel-plated one I chose because it was the "shiniest" (shaking my head as I think about this), to a Gemeinhardt, to an Emerson, to a Yamaha, Muramatsu and now Powell. It`s been a step up each time I feel, but every time I had a new one, I was just so excited. The younger readers may think you and I crazy, spending thousands and thousands of dollars on an instrument, but when you start to get more serious, you need a serious flute, which unfortunately does require serious money (still laughing at the remarks by those other 2 people on here...). What part of the country are you in Kate? I`m always happy to see someone knowledgeable on here trying to help where possible and dispel any sad misconceptions (like C being the highest note on the flute). Sometimes I read stuff and I think "Wow, how can you argue with logic like that?".

You sound a lot like me. I also started off on a nickle bundy. One good thing came out of it, I was forced to work on my sound and get it clear. When I got my next silver flute my sound came so easy and that one was a selmer. I then upgraded to a Gemeinhardt (which started breaking down from the moment I got it.) I got tired of the repair bills, and that is when I opted for a Yamaha 481.
Wow what a difference it made! I was still in high school and I remember having to make payments on it for a year. That was a lot of money back then!
That is when my love for Yamaha flutes began. I played on that one for several years. The first year I was married my husband bought me a Yamaha 581 for Christmas. Till this very day, I wish that I would have kept that one! It meant so much to me. I had to sell it in order to afford the Powell Signature that I wanted. I got that one and had all sorts of problems with it. I must have gotten a lemmon because I have never heard of anyone else that had that same problem with one. last The Powell co. was rather rude to me when I sent it in for repairs, so I said I would never do business with them again.
From there, I sold that one and purchased the Mura DS. I could never get that sound of the Powell out of my head and I missed it everyday.

I decided to go ahead and stop being so stubborn and give Powell another chance. That is when I tried the handmade and fell in love. I had tried many other handmade flutes and they never came close to the Powell. The rest is history.

Thats an awsome story...I have been through many flutes and now have my DC Pro. (smile) I never knew Powells were that expensive! I had a few stabs in the dark on pricing but they were way off...
What is the lowest price a Powell would sell for (in proper condition)?

I`m also in 6th grade...But I really love music (I also play piano) and I hope to play both instruments throughout college.

I very recently bought a new flute (Because my old one was in extremely bad shape. In fact, I think it was counterfeit). It`s a Sonare. They are really nice, and have handcrafted headjoint from Powell. I purchased one of the cheaper models though (which is still pretty expensive compared to the other $600-$800 flutes the other flutists in my age category are playing). It was about...$1,100.

I plan to play it for a long time though

My yamaha was only 420, although the list price is 800+ dollars. I`m getting a sonare 7000 series for 1100, new, which is open hole and split E mechanism and some other fancy stuff, but it`s normally 2400. Depends on your budget and what flute you want to get for how much a flute would cost.