I am looking into getting a new flute. I want it to be good quality, work well, and last long. I like the description of the Allora professional flute.

Special Features:
French Pointed Arms
C# Trill Key
Gizmo Key

Head Joint: Solid Silver
Body and Foot: Joint Solid Silver
Keys: Silver
Key Style: Open Hole
Mechanism: B Foot w/ offset or inline G
Tone Holes: Drawn
Springs: White Gold

What do you think?? If you have had or have one what is your opinion of it??

The specs mean almost nothing.

What is important with ANY brand of flute is top acoustic design resulting in good tone/volume/response/intonation, and engineering standards which produce a product with long-term reliability.

Specs seldom if ever give honest details in these area. If they did, most buyers would not understand their technical nature.

This is why it is so important to choose well-established brand names who have earned a good reputation over many years.

Allora is not one of these. Therefore you run a high risk in buying one.

The following site does not say where the instrument is made, which is normally a sign that the seller is ashamed to mention it. It is likely that this is a very cheap Chinese or Taiwanese instrument, of arguably questionable quality, named by this large retailer, and sold with an exceptionally large profit. The specs and advertising approach are intended to con unsuspecting buyers into believing that this is a top brand/model of flute. On the other hand, it MAY be the beginning of a much higher breed of instrument coming from these countries. You will not know for a few years until their reputation is established.

http://216.239.39.104/translate_c?hl=en&u=http://www.music123.com/Allora-AA440-Custom-Hand-Made-Professional-Flute-i86178.music%3FsiteID%3D38NXRkz2VKk-L31ldWlR5Agw.YUcMdYNWw&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dallora%2Bflute%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26rls%3DGGLC,GGLC:1970-01,GGLC:en

What flute brand do you recomend? Most people tell me Yamaha. Is it a could choice?

OOPS! is Yamaha a Good (not could) choice.

Your choices depend on how much you want to spend.

For student flutes, Yamaha are very good.

For around $3000, of the choices I have tried (which are certainly not all of them), I would seriously consider a Muramatsu EX. IMHO a fabulous flute to play, and what James Galway said in 2003 that he practises on. Some more details:

http://www.flute4u.com/Muramatsu.html

The Powell Sonare is also worth looking at, as is whatever Yamaha offers around that price. But not an obscure brand name like Allora.

Pearl, Miyazawa, Sankyo, Haynes are also brands to consider.

Arak is right, as he is a good part of the time. (Even if I hate to admit it!) Lol! I still love you Arak!!!
Huggs!!!
Email me sometime!
My address it karakay46@hotmail.com

Kara, some of your recent posts really surprise me, considering our extreme alienation in the past.

Being basically a trusting but slightly cautious guy, I feel I must ask what brought about this seemingly huge change of heart?!

Have there been more than one `Karas`?

Arak, it is still me, the same old Kara. I just had a few drinks tonight. Lol!
No, seriously, maybe I just didn`t get along with you in the past because I didn`t know you well enough. I still won`t agree with you on everything, but I do like your point of views on certain things.

Thank you. This should make you laugh.... Ihope it does!!...

I have a bit of a habit of revesing spelling of names at times, just for fun. `Teragram` is a good one; so is Rednaxella. When I was a school teacher of young kids they got a kick out of me calling the roll backwards.

Well once upon a time, when I really did have to have a new forum identity, at a time when you and I seemed so very alienated, I just happened to reverse the letters in your name and thought it had rather a nice exotic touch.

My next thought was that seeing we seemed such opposites, that this would not be a bad new name that I would have no trouble remembering. And that is how Arak was born. :-)

I hope you don`t mind being party to reverse inspiration.

Lol! How cool! That is very clever!
I wouldn`t have even noticed unless you had said something. Maybe we aren`t completely different. I find myself always reversing letters in words! It would always drive my teachers nuts! (Not to mention my horrible spelling!!)

I am sorry that I wasn`t more open minded with you before, when I first joined the chat group.

Your "LOL!" was much appreciated, sealing a much better relationship in the present and hopefully into the future. Cheers.

Kara, you asked me to email you.

1. I prefer to keep forum discussion within forums.
2. I prefer to use email for domestic and business correspondence, and friends that I know well in `real` life.

I have seen at flute.com the enormous personal and forum damage that can easily be done as a result of relative strangers getting hold of too much personal information via the internet. It is frightening.

Sorry I hope you understand. Perhaps later.

If this forum had better facilities, there would be a place within it for private correspondence.
:-)

That`s fine. I was pretty drunk when I wrote that and gave you the wrong email address anyway. I only drink maybe once or twice a year, so if I do it doesn`t take me much. Lol! I was just trying to be nice. I was also just checking to see if you had a sense of humor. I guess you do. Cool.

Are email addresses case sensitive?
I recognised the address from the past, almost the same.

I put is down as a Yahoo address and it isn`t. Other than that it is the same.