Hi:

I'm new to the forum, and I am in the process of trying out flutes in the $2500-$5000 range, stepping up from my current student flute. One of the flutes I am thinking of trying is a Sankyo, and I came across the following info, and don't know if these are the same model or not:

Sankyo CF 401 Handmade, all sterling silver, french (open hole), pointed key arms, NEL, drawn tone holes, handcut headjoint, 0.38mm tubing, B footjoint. $8,995

Sankyo CF 401 "Artist": Body and Foot: Sterling Silver. Head Joint: Sterling Silver with Hand Cut Embouchure. Key Style: Open Hole with French Pointed Arms. Keys: Sterling Silver. Mechanism: B Foot with Gizmo Key. Tone Holes: Drawn. List Price $9,000. Sale Price $4,499.

The "Artist" model is not mentioned on the Sankyo website, but appears at several places selling flutes.

I have more questions, but I hope somebody knows what the story is on these two (one?) flutes.

The 401, from what I know, replaced the Artist. Sankyo's flutes used to have names instead of numbers. So:
Sankyo Etude became CF201
Sankyo Silver Sonic became CF301
and
Sankyo Artist became CF401

I hope that helps you!

Thanks for the reply. It still leaves me wondering, though, because both CF401 and CF401 Artisan flutes are being advertised as new flutes, and the Artisan for half the price of the new one.

If there is no basic difference between the models, and perhaps the CF401 Artisans are going for half the price just because they are a discontinued model, maybe I should grab it at that price?

<Added>

Forgive the use of "Artisan" where I meant "Artist"

After 2 nights on line, what I came up with is that there is no difference between the CF401 and CF401 Artist except for the head joint.

The CF401 appears with a ST-2 sterling headjoint, and is made for balanced tone across low, middle and high ranges. The "Artist" models at several shops are priced at $4500 (approx) with an RT-1 sterling headjoint which gives more resonant tone to the low register. An option to get the ST-2 HJ brings the price to approx $9000!

Interestingly, the ST-2 and RT-1 HJ's are listed at $1600 each, so my guess is that a batch of the Artist flutes were shipped to dealers with the RT-1 HJ's as a special deal for them.

Since I have no problems getting a rich low register even on my student flute, I'd probably prefer an RT-2 HJ that is balanced across registers, (the RT-1 favors the tone in the high range).

But I don't know. I think I'm going to have to try a CF401 Artist with the RT-1 HJ, and also some other brands: Muramatsu EX, Pearl 795 Elegante or Elegante Vigore, and a Miazawa 202 are the ones I've been looking at.

At this point my mind is open (hope my ears are, too) but the all-sterling Sankyo for $4500 sounds like a really good price. I'll just have to try 'em all.