Hi, I live in UK and have just bought an Emerson 88BOF from USA and am waiting for it to come over (and patience isn't one of my strong points) I have read a few reviews on this flute which seem to be a mixture of good and bad, but i don't mind so much as i have a handmade headjoint which will fit to it if i have problems with sound. One of the things that is disturbing me is that i have read in quite a few places that this make of flute is "heavy" and i was wondering if anyone has opinions, especially on the 88 ........... thanks, angie x

Hey Angie!
Hopefully you should have the flute by Monday. The flute did not seem heavy to me at all, it felt lighter then some actually that I have tried. If you are not used to a solid silver flute with a B foot it is going to weigh a little more.
I really thought it was quite comfortable to play on.

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I should also mention that I also thought the headjoint on it was really nice.

hey sweetie !!!!!!

I am soooooooo looking forward to getting it that i'm making everyone in the family miserable "do you think it will come today" "do you think it will come tomorrow" "do you think it will be good" "etc. etc. lol

Don't get exhausting your pinkies (english for fingers) now will ya xxxx

One of the things that is disturbing me is that i have read in quite a few places that this make of flute is "heavy" and i was wondering if anyone has opinions

Well I wouldn't worry too much about that. And it depends on what you mean by "heavy". The human hand can feel very slight differences rather easily. If you mean by weight alone, the flute may feel heavier than other flute in it's price range. That just mean it feels different and nothing else. (all flutes feel different..)

Heavy might also mean too dark or resistant, but I personally like heavier flutes. You'll know when you get it, but I wouldn't worry...These came with what I remeber to be was the American cut headjoint. Emerson had supposedly three cuts for their series. I measured all three and will reserve my remarks here about that, except to say that this was the cut I preferred.

Just enjoy it when you get it..

Joe B

Thanks Joe,

I suppose i was really fishing to see if anyone might have an opinion on one of these flute, perhaps someone on the site owns one and can tell me how they like it. I am really looking forward to trying the american cut headjoint. At the moment i play an Andrew Oxley headjoint in a Yamaha flute. Being English there isn't really a lot of information on Emerson flute over here, and not a lot of shops stock them.

I have had a lot of communication with Kara who has been an incredible source of information which i really appreciate.

I was referring to the weight weight, as in kilos, but i have been told that it's not excessively heavy and would get used to the added weight with the b foot in no time, so my concerns have been diminished to say the least.

thanks again Joe for your reply

angie x

I owned one of these with the American cut headjoint. I can't say I found any fault with the flute. It had a good scale and a good tone, and the finishing work was substantially more detailed than Emerson's student flutes.

Joe, go ahead and let us know what you found with the measurings. I'm curious.

Have to go back and find my notes.. If I remember right, with the exception of the lip plate variations, there wasn't much of a difference between the three headjoints. They were all pretty low risers if I remember right. The bent lip plate was the one that I found most gratifying to play.

There might have been taper differences but I did not have time to measure and plot them.

When Selmer acquired Emerson, Gerardo was only there for a short time before he moved over to Haynes (and now Gemstone) I had some Emersons on order but they were delayed shipping since they didn't have a number of the standard heads available. I asked the head woodwind guy what were the differences so I might be able to get a substitute. He had no clue since Gerardo had just left the company. So he sent me a sample of each cut to measure and try.

Joe B