How come there are pro Gemeinhardt flutes but you dont see any pro flute players play them? well at least me i never saw a professional play on one only high school kids.

For some reason my student gemeinhardt sounds much better then my open holed gemeinhardt even when i put the plugs back in..but when i hit the high notes on the old one its crapy and when i hit the low notes on the new one its crapy and there are no problems with my flute? WTF?!?!?!?!

depending on your model, you could have a handcut headjoint. i know that back in 9th grade, i played on an open gemeinhardt and it had a handcut head. some people play better on other heads. try experimenting and put one head on another flute. chances are its your head, not your flute.

and about the "pro" gemeinhardts, from what im guessing they try to boost their marketability by offering a "professional level" instrument to students. of course, theyre about as professional as the next student model, but ok. maybe im wrong.

Gemeinhardt doesn't really make pro flutes. They are pretty much all assembly line flutes. Their headjoints often had small problems which can cause some of the problems you are experiencing, but I would also suspect pads as a source of the problem as well..

Gemeinhardt moved it's manufacturing base and the latest I've seen are a vast improvement over the last 20 years. I hope that trend continues.

Gemstone (gemeinhardt's parent company) carries trevor james and Sankyo so there is no need to make gemeinhardt pro flutes...

Joe B

right you are Joe, if Gemmie made a good pro flute, pro flute players would play them, same with Yamaha, many find Yamaha good at the student level, but I don't know any colleagues who play them in orchestras, sessions, etc.

I respect those instruments, I just don't know anyone in the scene here who use them, in the NYC scene it seems to be old Haynes, Powells mostly with some Brannens as well, even some Louis Lots

I think that Yamaha makes outstanding professional models. I would choose one over a Brannen or Haynes any day, but hey.. that is just me. I have come across pro flutist (not personally though) that do play on Yamaha's. I really think that more pros don't play on them because... #1 SNOBBERY! #2 Because their headjoints are not as sought after. #3 Because Galways does not like them. (Joke!)

<Added>

Armstrong makes pro instrument too. Go figure! I wonder why no professionals play on them either? *Grins*
http://www.armstrongwinds.com/content/products.php?sub=Flute

Well im going to see in my head joints are hand made or not.

really kara? i remember trying out a few yamaha flutes back when i was looking to buy my frist "good" flute (my muramatsu) and each one i picked up i put back down as soon as i played a few notes on it. of course, in those days (all 4 years ago), i never knew what kind of flute galway played on, except that it was gold (yeah ok, stop laughing at me). I also know that when i first played my current flute (brannen), I fell in love with it almost imemdiately. That also was about 4/5 years ago around the same time. When i did my research, i realized that there was no way in hell i was going to buy a $12k flute. no way. but an unfortunate even led its way into my grasp. i guess thats why people are different and thats why there are so many companies. if the FLUTE fits, PLAY IT!
:-)

right you are...

It only goes to show you that we are all different as I do not care for any Brannens that I have tried and I have always loved Yamahas. Powell is and will forever be my favorite though and that is what I play on, though I am not going to say how much I paid for it.

<Added>

One thing that does irk me is when I mention to a very experienced flutist that I like Yamaha handmade flutes they automatically think I am crazy and don't know what I am talking about with flutes or I am inexperienced with different brands which is not the case at all. I guess I am tired of Yamaha being put down by the uppity flutists because they make student flutes too. They are made just as well if not better then some of the other high dollar pro line flutes. I would love to take off the names on flutes and hand them to a professional player and THEN see what they have to say. The only thing that does bother me on them is the scale (on the older ones) and their headjoints.

<Added>

I just read what I wrote and just to clarify... Mbrowne, I was not referring to you at all, espeically about upidty flutists. I didn't mean for any of the to across as such. Sorry. :)