Patrick,
I have them on my Powell and I do think that they make more noise then I would like. I love my Powell, but I have to say, the mechanism is starting to drive me crazy. It is click..click..click all the time. I just got it back from the factory for maintenance too. I really don't think that they did a darn thing to it. When you trill from an A to a B flat it clicks badly. Every Powell I tried did this. Anyone else own a Powell with these problems?

Kara I find that I cant hear my straubinger pads maybe powell do it differently, When i was buying a new flute I tried many Powell flutes but just didn't like the feel of the mechanism. My miyazawa mech feels so secure and I kinda feel that other flutes mechansism doesnt compare. Although Miyazawa flutes arent right for everyones playing style and some find them too aggressive. Maybe a miyazawa body with powell head would suit alot of people better. what ever flute it is, I strongly recomend anyone stays away from straubinger which miyazawa and powell use.

Kara, you're just playing too fast! j/k

Graham,
I did think that the Miyazawa had a better mechanism then the Powell when I was shopping for a flute. I found out that it isn't always the best idea to mix Japanese headjoint on an American made body, but I haven't tried it vise versa.

The Miya was my second choice of flute. I liked the sound of the Powell and the scale much better and it just worked better for me, so I choice that. Also, the offset G was too offset for me on the Miya, but since I had been playing an in line G before it was that much harder to adjust. Now, I am sure I wouldn't have a problem with it. I also didn't care much for Miya headjoints. After the third octave G it got really shrill for me. I would really like to try my Williams head on a Miya now though.

I am having so many problems with my hands now that I am limited to practice. I am going to save up for an all silver plated Miya (the 101) to use for practice and just put my Willimas head on it. I will still use my Powell for performances. I am having too much problem with the weight of mine being all solid silver. If I want to continue to play, I am going to have to break down and use a silver plated one just for practice. I only wish Powell made an all silver one.

>>JButky, do you have any experience with the music Center, Star-LP pads? These have concept similarities with Straubinger, but may have fewer, or different problems. I have not used them myself.<<

Hey Micron, (Love the picture BTW)
(Petric used to look like that until I "straightened" him out.. Ahem)

Awhile back Gary Ferree of Ferree's tools asked me for some ideas on some new pad types. He was meeting with Pisoni and wanted some ideas. Apparantly Pisoni has all this tooling and is always looking for something new to try and make pad wise. I asked about a Straub designed felt pad rather than one with a synthetic cushion. The reply was, that is what the Star LP pad basically is. (And that he can make them but sells very,very few of them)

So they are more of a novelty.

The JS Pads are quite nice. They have seen many improvements. (deeper infusion into the skin, incorporated dry lubricant, and now a seal collar to prevent wrinkles).

Also a nice pad, but a little noisy are the omnipads (Skinless and waterproof). They are FANTASTIC on piccolos, Oboes and even clarinets.

Micron you "look" familiar to me. Relatively speaking, Petric is very close and you are quite far away...correct?

Joe B

Yes, it's hard for Micron to remain anonymous in any forum as his asinine sense of humor and moments of verbose intellectual ranting are hard to mistake for anyone else.

Lol Stephen! You have a point.

Hi Micron, I also like your small Avatar. It has inspired me of late to try to achieve some measure of artistic similarity to your rendering with the flutes of students who either don't practice or who persist in playing incorrect pitches with a certain measure of regularity. After all, don't blame the messenger, blame the message. eh?

"Some people seem to interpret anything with non-jargonised technical substance in an explanation as verbose. As you know, I try to explain things clearly without ambiguity. Some people are just not interested, but I don't really offer the explanations for them."

Micron, It seems that some individuals appear to be less interested in the technical nature of your responses, your intellectual verbage choices or in the prolixity of your responses. I on the other hand find thir conception refreshingly well though out and occasionally, fairly accurate in a restricted sense unless of course they are in anyway in disagreement with my highly informed viewpoints.

~Bilbo
N.E. Ohio

Yah I love the picture,

It resembles the way I dream of all piccolos <G>

Joe B

Kara I've had problems in my left wrist before with a solid silver flute and when I was shopping for my current flute I already loved Miyazawa and the addition of the brogger thumb mech solved the problems I was having but when I bought my flute I was warned that the brogger mech and brogger thumb mech makes the flute a few ounces heavier but this, for me hasn't been a problem with the new thumb key.

About the headjoint it would be interesting to try an american head on a Miyazawa flute, I think im gonna look into this. Uk flutes head seem to be ok for me.

Thank Graham,
I did get to try the Brogger system last month and it wasn't for me. It felt clunky if anything and added even more weight to the flute in which I am trying to avoid. I wish it was as simple as having the thumb key on the Brogger system for me, but that is just not going to help any at this point. I guess that I am a plain Jane because I really prefer the thumb key the way it is without the Brogger system. It is a great concept, but I still prefer traditional for me.

<Added>

I should also add that it is my right wrist which is giving me almost all of my problems, the left isn't all that bad.

Bilbo, I believe you were being sincere... though I wonder if you may have intended clever bit of irony. Quite good, if so.

I try not to dwell much into semantics, but content...

Micron just has a unique style... and doesn't get a lot of jokes and over reacts to them with some incredible stuff.

I don't take it personally so much... as it happens too often!

Tempt not the poet with sharp wit
His words can sting thee to the quick
From highest peak to darkest brine
He'll fish out words to make thee pine

Just a cute response to that slang comment. Just an example of potential.

Don't mess with poetry.

<Added>

I'm sure there was a perfectly sane reason that poetry came into past discussions. I don't normally go into poetic diatribe.

Nice poem Stephen, it fit in well into this discussion. Who is the author?