hiya everyone. i play alto and soprano saxphone and am going to be getting my first flute for christmas. i couldnt believe it when my boyfreind said he wanted to buy it for me! anyway, i dont want him to buy a very expensive one. there is a brand new stagg 77f flute in my local music shop for a very reasonable price. i know that it has a case, offset G, E mechanism and is nickel plated but thats it really. has anybody here had any experience with stagg flutes? would this make a suitable first flute for me?
thank you
Holly

I have never even heard of that brand,be careful.I had a Mirage flute before my Armstrong,and it was terrible!!!

Hi Holly,

I haven`t heard of Stagg before, being curious I did a google search for you... and didn`t come up with much. The first real match is a cite in French and all it has is a picture and a price list: http://www.tasset.com/magasin/instr-flute.shtml

The same model you describe is up for auction on eBay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2577404720&category=10183
It can be useful to watch auctions and see how much other people think the item is worth...

It is hard to say with unknown brands what you will be getting. Have you tried the flute out to see if you like it? That`s what really counts, more than if people in random forums tell you whether it is a good brand or not. That being said, I have read more than enough cautionary tales of unknown-brand flutes being great until they breakdown whereupon there are no replacement parts available.

Maybe you and your boyfriend could split the price of a more expensive known-brand flute. It would still be a great present and you`d have something that is more likely to be reliable.

Good luck with your selection.
And have fun regarless what brand you get!

I agree with what Jenny said above. I have been playing the flute for more than 10 years and I have never heard of the Stagg Flute. I suggest you bringing a flautist along to try the flute before you buy.

I bought a Chinese made flute some years ago as my first flute . I am disappointed that I couldn`t produce any tone from C4 to D4. The student models of Yamaha, Armstrong are very good but the price is a bit expensive. If you want to buy a good flute in tight budget , I recommend the Taiwanese made "Jupiter"

Good Luck.

hiya. thank you for replying to my message. i cannot play flute at all yet so i couldnt try one myself, and also i know nobody else who does play. i have seen a trevor james tj10x flute for the same price second hand but its a bit of a drive away. i have phoned the shop and they say it is in good condition and recently had a serviced but i am a bit wary since i probally wont be able to see it first. im going to keep asking arounf for a flautist nearby. lol im getting really confused with this. in theory, the brand new flute *should* be in perfect working order but the brand is fairly unknown, on the other hand iv found a flute from a reputable maker but have no real idea of the condition. lol desicions. thank you very much for your help, im going to look into other brands (i am unsure if the stagg one would be suitable anyway coz its nickel plated and i think it will react with my skin)

Holly

Hi again Holly,

Well, that Trevor James flute ought to be silver plated versus the nickle plating on the Stagg. If you are worried about skin reactions go for the silver. Nickle earrings made me get red when I was a little kid so I avoid it when I can. Someone I know plays a nickle plated Emerson and has no ill effects from it though...

I know it sounds weird for people to say that any given new flute is not going to be good. And that isn`t quite true either. It`s more the concern that in the rush of mass production, there may be problems with the flute that a beginner would not notice. Not realizing there are problems, sometimes people will get discouraged thinking that they just can`t play well when in fact it`s some faulty mechanism in the instrument.

My friend who plays trumpet went through that. He had a junky instrument (bought new) that his family didn`t realize was not of reputable make-- when replaced he played substantially better overnight. Apparently the band director was really surprised and asked what he was doing differently to improve so much.

Keep us posted on your decisions!
Good luck

Try fluteworld.com They have flutes for less then at other places. Also I wouldnt reccommend a Jupiter, my band director in middle school said they fall apart easily.

Well im kinda wondering how much is it when you say reasonable price because i got a brand new Sliver plated Gemeinhardt flute with a gold lip plate for only $300 dollars of ebay and it is great they usually have good ones there

This is a link to the same one that i got i would recommend it

NEW Gemeinhardt 22SP Flute w Gold Plated Lip

sorry guess the link didn`t work but you could go to ebay.com and type that in the search box

don`t buy one from jc penny-a friend`s key fell off during a concert

Hi I am also trying to buy a flute for my daughter who has just started band. I am also very confused. On e-bay I have seen a lot of brands. The concert brand and sky brand seems to be popular on e-bay. Are they any good?

I had a Yamaha student model (sorry, don`t know what number) to start me off! It was great!
Beth xxxxxxx

Kristin, No those brands you listed are junk...I am going to put up links...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=10183&item=3757691921&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=47101&item=3757740725&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=10183&item=3756806424&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=47101&item=3757567010&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=85873&item=3757787711&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=10183&item=3757009704&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=10183&item=3757524682&rd=1