I know there have been a few topics on this, but my question is if you have a solid silver headjoint, and is has a gold plated lip, rise and the inner-tubing is all gold, does that affect the sound? it sounds darker to me(i love this headjoint) im just wondering.

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*riser sorry

I don't think that the material does miracles but the thing is, do you like the way it sounds to you from a listener's vantge point or just as a player? And then is the price worth it?

Just to cause some thinking.

well i asked a few people which they liked more regular solid silver, or with the gold, and everyone said that gold was darker and they liked it, so if they like and i like it i guess its good, well I really like it so thats what counts to me.

Exactly ;-)

But did you have them do blind tests with gold heads vs. silver? If not, their responses were all biased. People tend to associate more expensive items with higher quality items, which is a mistake. What really matters is not what the head is made of, but how it was designed and crafted (particularly in the area of the embouchure hole).

Gold/platinum/titanium/etc. make only the tiniest of differences, in my opinion, and that difference is apparent primarily to the player (take this from someone who plays a gold flute). Now, gold plate should be considered a cosmetic touch only (it will not affect how the flute sounds at all). You'd be VERY hard pressed to find an audience member who could tell if you had a gold lined headjoint...The difference simply isn't big enough to be noticeable. Take this from someone who plays a gold flute...Material makes only a VERY slight difference if any. There is a video of James Galway playing 16 different flutes of various makes and materials on youtube. If you're curious about the effect of material, I would suggest checking that video out, as well as giving this a listen (James Galway playing flutes of silver, gold and platinum in quick succession):

http://www.thegalwaynetwork.com/vanclass/Materials.mp3

Galway with 16 flutes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0n3n3N3SOY

Some of them are rather fancy & epensive flutes. Some not so...I liked the Muramatsu EX. The cheapest one of the lot.

And here I though that maybe you guys over there have a new StstStarbucks

http://www.starbucks.com/


You are correct Micron about this stop looking and start listening if you aren't doing that already. That being said, some of these mouthpieces can really be a great improvement.

Like Flutist06 said, gold plating is purely cosmetic that are usually put on student line flutes for appeal. Now I used to have to gold plate the lip plates on my flute before I finally got my dream headjoint that has a solid gold lip only because I am allergic to silver. The plating is just way too thin to have any kind of effect. As already stated, it is the built of the flute or headjoint that makes the difference, not the metal.

I think Micron really want to get his point across. lol! (That was a joke Micron

a new student of mine recently came in with a gold plated "Laurel", looked nice, but horrible to play, even I had a hard time playing it, so I told the mom to send it back, she did so, and came back with a Yamaha which is better, now the student is happier.