What kind of flute are you looking for? many flute offer this option it depends on the company you would buy your flute.

You can have it done later. You would just have to find someone to do it for you. Kara has been doing it for years. I have just started messing around with the gold plating.

Gold plating is strictly a vanity thing. While a few reputable flute manufacturers offer a gold plated embouchure plate, it won't make a flute play any better. Be very careful about the brand. There are a lot of VERY inferior flute makers that add gold plating to really cheap, crummy flutes and then charge a premium for it. Same thing for the pink flutes and purple flutes. Sort of like lipstick on a pig...

You'd be far better off to buy a standard silver or silver plated flute from one of the reputable U.S. or Japanese companies. Oh yeah, if you have the plating done later, be sure that the person has a lot of experience. The flute embouchure plate (especially the blow hole area) is precision cut and it can be easily ruined by a poor plating job and then you're left with pretty, gold plated junk.

Sunshine,

Don't buy a gold flute in order to avoid the gold plating wearing off issues. A new "gold" flute will also be plated so eventually it will wear as well. If you like the look of the gold accents and you have money to spend on it, then by all means have it done by a good professional. If the flute is pretty and you like it, if you are happy, you will play and practice more often. Which typically results in you being a better player.

When the gold wears down you can have it plated again. Or perhaps by that time you won't care about the looks. Another option you can do is look at your flute and see where your fingers are touching. Have everything except where you touch it gold plated. It is actually quite easy to gold plate an item and prepare it in advance to omit plating at certain places. I have gold plated stripes, swirls, different designs on different things. They might charge you another hour of labor to prepare the omissions. A third option is get the plating done completely and then when you get it take clear fingernail polish and cover the parts you touch with the clear fingernail polish. You might try the polish on a flute ahead of time to see if you like or dislike the feeling. You can always take the polish off with polish remover if you don't like the feeling.

Where there is a will or want, there most certainly is way to acheive it.

Will the gold affect your playing? It could and some might say it won't. Some might say it's not worth it. But are you happy? I play poker occaisianlly with some friends. It costs me $20. I am not the best player of the group - perhaps I am the worst as I cannot recall the last time I came home with money. But, I like playing with the group and it's worth it to pay $20, knowingI am going to lose it, just to have fun with the group.

If you want gold,GET GOLD!!! Be happy and have fun playing.

i'd buy a good quality silver flute and then talk o some one like kara and get it plated where you want it.

I only doing gold plating on certain parts. Preferably the rings, crown, and lip plate. I don't do it on keys as it would wear off too quickly as gold is very soft. With the gold lip it does wear off of course, but I offer a to redo it for free if it does for my customers. On occasion I have done the body of a flute. I had a Yamaha 581 with gold plated keys and it was a pain to keep up. I like the clear nail polish idea. I have tried this but it made the keys too slippery for my liking. If you can afford a gold flute heck.. I would just go for that! The keys on them may be plated with a top coat of gold, but underneath is still gold. I wonder if you could tell much when the gold plating stared to come off one of them? Hmm... I think that the Miyazawa Boston classic with rose gold key that are all engraved is so beautiful! I would love to own one of them.

I had pictures of my work with the gold plating in my profile page but they got taken off when the profile pages were changed for 2009. Grr.. Thanks moderator! All my info is gone

The aurumite Powell does not have gold keys as you said you wanted. The 3100 series is not longer made. They are nice but the newer aurumite conservatory are better in my opinion. I have heard that the 3100's had some sort of pad problems. I did have a chance to play one when my flute was in the shop and really liked it. If money is not an issue I would go with a 14K flute as I think that the aurumite is a little too pink and on the strange looking side for my taste.