hi everyone! i`m planing to buy a flute..but it`s so hard..there`s so many brands out there..and i don`t know what to get. i heard PEARL are really good and that`s what my private flute teacher suggested. I`m a serious highschool flute player and i want to buy a flute that will carry on to college. Right now i have a student gemienhardt...but that flute took me to honor band ^__^
i`m willing to pay under 2000 dollars. what kind of flute do you guys suggest?

i heard that if a flute has a gold plated lip..then there would be a big sound difference. is that true? and i heard somewhere that more silver the better sound you`ll have. I`m hearing too many things.=)

A solid silver head in my opinion does make a difference. The headjoint is the heart of the flute, that is where all your sound will come from. So...no the more silver content in a flute does not make is better sounding. The re-sale value will be better on it and there will be no plating loss on a solid silver flute, so that is the advantages to having all silver.

The gold plated lip plate is for cosmetic and or vanity reasons only. The plating is too thin to make a sound difference on a lip plate. It is argued that a solid 14K or 10K gold lip with riser will though, but not a plated one.

If you have a $2,000 budget you may want to look into a nice used pre professional model flute like a Muramatsu EX, Yamaha 600 series, Pearl, Altus or Miyazawa.

Even if you do purchase an all silver plated flute with just a solid lip plate and riser, you would still be better off in my opinion with a well built flute, then a cheaper made brand flute that is all solid silver.

Hope that helps you some, I know how confusing buying a flute can be with all the options that we have out today.

Ok. yeah Pearl are good but there are plenty other good brands out there that are just as good. Try a few and find one that sounds and feels good.
The more silver bit I feel is true as when I upgraded from plated I felt the tone was much better but that could just be in my head. But I think the gold plated bit is totslly in peoples heads it is mostly done for people with allergies. I mean on my last flute I was allergic to the silver plate on the lip plate so I had to get it gold plated but I didn`t find much of a difference apart from being able to play without getting a swollen lip LOL.

Well hope this helps

Leprachaun

Sorry Kara I practically said the same as you but I think we were posting at the same time

I have a Pearl flute with a solid 14k gold lip plate. When I was trying out the different brands (including a yamaha with silver head and the same model pearl with silver head and normal lip plate) there was a noticable difference in the sound. My mom and friend were with me, and they both thought the one with the gold lip plate sounded better.

From what I`ve read, and from what my flute teacher tells me, the most important thing is to get a solid silver head when upgrading. She said you could get a solid silver body and foot as well, but it really wasn`t necessary.

The other day I was doing a little web searching and I came accross a recording by Sir James Galway. You see he played one piece three times on three different flute 1 plated silver, 1 pure gold and 1 platinum. Because it was only a recording it just sounded like he had played the same piece three times and it wasn`t until the end that he announced they were three different flutes. I`ll try find it for you. But I mean they all sounded the exact same to me and everyone else sitting around me.

Wow...this helps me kinda too...thanks

Madison no two headjoints are cut exactly the same, so if you were hearing a difference, it most likely was because of that, not the gold plating. Do a blind test and then see, but there has been scientific tests to back it up that a thin layer of gold can not change the sound.

I think this is the one I was talking about earlier
http://www.thegalwaynetwork.com/vanclass/ubcclass.htm

Leprachaun

Sorry forgot to say click on the Platinmu,Gold and silver key to hear it but listen to his other recordings to there pretty cool.

Leprachaun

When I upgraded to a new flute last year I got a Jupiter flute. It`s all silver with plated keys and it`s a great step up flute. It`s been with me a year now and I`ve loved it. Under 2000 too... I got it for 1000 but I think the prive has gone up. The tone quality is great and so is the mechanism. Hope that helps open up moe options for you.

thanks you guys!! these are really good advices. i think i`m rushing a little to buy a flute...i should slow down^_^
i`ll be sure to buy a solid silver headjoint. the flute i`m thinking of is pearl 765 series. everything is silver, except for the keys..and it`s under 2000. hope pearl is good..it should be better than my beginnner gemienhardt

That website was really cool! i wish i had a good tone..it always changes. i blame my braces. thanks for that website!

different flutes suit different people.

my advice would be to virtually forget what you have been told and go and try loads out, and see what feels right.

to illustrate my point: one of my friends always learned on a pearl flute and i learned on a jupiter. we went to buy new flutes at the same kinda time, and we liked completely different things. i can`t get the sound i want from pearl flutes, and eventually opted for a muramatsu (which incidentally is a stunning flute)