Just wondering if anyone has any experience with the Gemeinhardt head joints. I've read a lot about the J1 not being the greatest and I was wondering if it's the same with the rest? I have a Gemeinhardt 3 flute and would like to upgrade the head joint to a solid silver and not spend a ton of money doing so -- the Gemeinhardt head joints are the most affordable out there that I've found...

Anyone tried the other ones? Are they better than the J1?

~Jen

Yeah, no.
You would do much better to retire your Gemmie student flute to marching band duty and get a Yamaha 200 flute. The HJ is much, much better for learning and developing good tone. There won't be much difference between the silverplate CY cut found on the 200 series and the CY silver found on the 300 and 400 series flutes, the sound engineering is the same, they'll sound the same and they'll respond pretty much the same.
I'd rather play a Yamaha 200 student flute than a solid-silver, 'pro' Gemeinhardt, thanks. I see the Yam 200's on my local craigslist, in good used condition and often recently gone over by the local repair techs, for around 200 bucks. And you can still put a handmade silver HJ in it if you really have to- but even a plated CY (stock) Yamah HJ is going to be better for tone development than a silver Gemmy HJ of any cut I've ever played, and cheaper besides.

well technically in a flute the mouthpiece is what makes the tone in the flute and an upgrade is good for concert band. but it is good to retire a beginner flute altogether and just use it for backup and other uses. a good intermediate flute cost about 1,000 dollars. but eventually u may want to put a good mouthpiece about another 1000 dollars for special events like ensembles, solos, and other things, you don't use that mouthpiece that much. It makes a big difference for me in tone

i personally have a Sonare and it hits high notes really really nicely

>but it is good to retire a beginner flute altogether
>and just use it for backup and other uses.

Good perhaps, but not necessarily better. If you have a beginner flute with a solid mechanism and a good scale, upgrading the headjoint to a "pro" version can give you the same (or better) result as shelling out for a whole intermediate flute.

>i personally have a Sonare and it hits high notes really really nicely

The Powell Signature cut has a very strong and rich low register, but I think that strength is achieved by sacrificing the quality of the high register. I have an Armstrong 104 headjoint that is both easier to play and less shrill up top (too bad it's weaker down low). YMMV.

The body of my flute is in excellent shape and I'm on a budget. I'm leaning towards just keeping what I have and upgrading just the headjoint.

Sounds like the Gemeinhardt headjoint options aren't all that great? Does anyone know if a DiMedici headjoint will fit on the Gemeinhardt body?

Thanks!!

If I remember right, the diameter for the Gemmie and the DiMedici will be a ways apart.

Any flute tech can fit just about any headjoint to just about any body, but if the headjoint needs to be made smaller, or larger, by a significant amount then the sound engineering of the headjoint can be put 'out of whack'. You can order a DiMedici HJ to try out, and see if it will fit to try out, if you like. You might take a micrometer to measure the opening diameter of your Gemeinhardt's barrel, and find out the diameter of the DiMedici.


I was thinking, in September, about my own 'Gemeinhardt bias', in which I am of the opinion that a Gemeinhardt flute can hold back tone development (based on my own experience of one Gemeinhardt 3SHB flute, made in the late 80's, as well as teacher recommendations) and be a pain to keep in good repair (based on reports by good flute techs and Gemeinhardt owners who had to make frequent repairs that did not hold well).

There is a woman in our college-level Symphonic Band who has played a Gemeinhardt 'pro' flute (open holes, 'pro' cut headjoint with gold lipplate and riser) and has done a pretty decent job with it, she has been competent and with lessons had advanced her playing over the last 5 years. She has done a competent job with advanced music literature, with her Gemeinhart flute, and with a lot of practice is usually reasonably in tune. The flute didn't have repair issues.

So are these flutes really so 'bad' as I (and others) make them out to be?

This woman bought a Sankyo flute over the summer, and now sounds like she has advanced three years or so in the three months I had't seen her.

Long story short, the Gemmie was holding her back, especially with tone and pitch issues. She is no longer concentrating hard to get pitch right, and getting the flute to 'speak', so she can manifest the tone (and articulation), with the Sankyo, as lovely as she has the music in her head.

I am still of the opinion that a Gemeinhardt student flute will be more appropriate than most of the cheap Chinese import flutes, but really only for the first two or three years of playing. (And since the Yamaha student flute IS a good one for developing tone, why not just start with the Yamaha in the first place?)

Yes, a good flutist CAN make one of these Gemmies do the job, but it will be at a sacrifice to expression and musicality.

But Tibbie Cow. My friend is section leader of my symphonic band and she plays on a 3 gemmie. All silver-plated, in-line g, open-hole, cfoot.
She's absolutely fantastic and her tone is Ridiculous! I mean the color she makes is so unique and mysterious almost. Are you saying if she upgraded to a different flute she would probably sound more awesome?!?! xD
Cause honestly I think the fellow flautists in my band would start crying if she became even more amazing....

I am of the opinion that a Gemeinhardt flute can hold back tone development

Tone development is more related to the headjoint cut rather than the brand. On student flutes, the headjoint embouchure cut is designed to allow beginners to easily produce a sound. This also means that it is somewhat restrictive in it's capabilities. In this respect, student-level Gemeinhardts are no different than any other student flute. It's a lot like learning to drive. Ferraris, Corvettes, and Porsches are wonderful cars, but you wouldn't start a beginning driver with any of them. A driver needs the skills to handle these powerful vehicles and likewise a flutist needs experience to be able to handle a pro headjoint cut.

a good flutist CAN make one of these Gemmies do the job, but it will be at a sacrifice to expression and musicality

Expression and musicality are qualities of a flutist - they are NOT qualities of a flute. A beginner playing a pro flute will still sound like a beginner. A good flute will not automatically allow them to play with expression or musicality. As long as each flute is in perfect playing condition, a good flutist will sound very similar on any flute that they play. Yes, there may be subtle differences, but they are slight and probably unnoticeable by most listeners. The flutist just has to work harder on a lesser flute than a better one. An excellent example of this is Galway's video where he plays 16 different flutes to demonstrate flutes of different brands and materials (silver, gold, platinum):

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