Hi

I am looking to purchase a beginners flute for my daughter, (11 yrs of age). I would like to know if anyone has any info on the Andre Bardot brand. I know Yamaha and Gemeinhardt are rated highly (by most players). I have searched this forum (and the internet) for info on Andre Bardot but have come up empty. Can you help me?

Thanks

Brian

(This board is a great read. I have discovered a lot of good info here on what to look for and what to avoid.)

I have worked on over 120 brands, and that is not one of them. A new brand name is made up just about every month. You buy at very high risk of buying an item of such low quality that if it were a bicycle, it would not even be allowed to be sold.

"There is hardly anything in the world that a man can not make a little worse and sell a little cheaper. And people who consider price alone are this man`s lawful prey."
- John Ruskin (1819 - 1900)

Chinese flutes (and other instruments) are usually left brandless for OEM branding. Chances are this is one such flute.

Liz

Thankyou for your replies. I have noticed a few on e-bay but I could not find any info on the internet, no home webpage or anything. I have a friend (music teacher/band performer) who will test out any flute I bring to him but I live in a small town (eastern Cnada) and I pretty much have to buy "sight unseen" as the market here is very small. I guess I will have to restrict myself to brand names (like Yamaha etc).

(liz: I did a double take at your reply as you have my wife`s maiden name. I thought she was replying to my post for a second. What a coincidence.)

What province do you live in Brian? I live in Ontario and yes I do have to agree with you that we do not have a very good selection of band instruments in Canada.

Hi! My name`s Molly I am not a flute player but I know a little bit about flutes...

I found a Canada page for Ebay which was a great idea...

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=10183&item=3748739591&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=47100&item=3749066212&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

But there are some online music stores like WWBW in Indiana that have outside US stuff to them...

http://www.wwbw.com/Gemeinhardt-2SP-i21619.music?t=4

http://www.wwbw.com/Pearl-Flutes-Model-501-Series-i50675.music

M.A.

I live in Newfoundland, on the west coast of the island. (And if you have a poor selection to choose from in Ontario, you would not want to be shopping for an instrument here.)
What part of Ontario are you from? My family and I were up in Toronto and Niagra Falls three summers ago on holiday. It was nice.

Brian

Molly

Thanks, Molly. I have a couple of those same flutes bookmarked and have benn following some other ones as well. I have noticed that the newer models (ie Yamah 221 vrs 225) sell much higher. Are newer models better or is it just the fact that they are newer (does this make sense?)

Again, thanks.

Brian

Pearl and Yamaha are really good brands. Yamaha is more expensive than most. Pearl is relatively cheap considering all that you get. I recently got a Pearl Quantz-coda 765RBE and it is really good.
Try fluteworld.com they have great values... That is where I got mine.

Brian, I live near the Ontario/Michigan Boarder. Its about 4 hours west of Toronto. So you live in Newfoundland, eh? I have an aunt thats from there, although I`m not quite what part she lived in. And yes, there`s like only two music stores around here where you can find good band instruments. You might want to get the flute off ebay. Thats where I got mine. Its quite nice, its an Artley 18-0 and I got it for about $116 Canadian including the shipping, so that was pretty good.

Hi again.

I have found a used Yamaha 225S that I am seriously considering buying. It was purchased new in 2001 and I am assuming it was "old stock" since the 221 model was released in the year 2000. The lady who is selling it has the origional receipt, she bought it for her son who gave up playing after his first year. She says it has been sitting in the case for the last few years and was recently cleaned at a music shop. She also says it has no dents or scratches and everything works good (she asked the music shop to check this out)

I will not be able to view it personally as it is located some 500 miles away but my wife`s mother and brother will be able to (they will complete the transaction) Unfortunately, they are not flute players although my brother-in-law has a good musical ear.

I understand that this is a good quality beginners flute and should give many years service. I was wondering if anyone would like to offer an opinion on this purchase. The price is $325 Canadian (=$250 US =140 UK). And any advice on what should I tell my inlaws to look for (besides the obvious dents and such) would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Brian

Hmm, thats a pretty good deal by the sound of it. But Yamaha`s usually are. You should ask the woman what she paid for it. I was looking at a new Yamaha in a music store here and it was like $1300! And it wasn`t a intermediate or professional, it was a student model. With closed holes, C-foot, and silver plated!

The only thing that I would have them check out when they pick up the Flute is to make sure that the case is also in good condition. The hinges should be tight, so that the case doesn`t open unexpectedly. Another good tip for your daughter is to have her ALWAYS carry the case, so that if it happens to come open, it will open toward her body. It makes it alot easier to stop the flute from getting seriously damaged if it falls on the ground.

When you get it home, have your friend make sure that the Flute has a good tone. Which it should, but check anyway. Other than that, everything should be fine with the Flute. Good luck!

M.A.

M.A.

Good points. Especially about carrying the case.

Brian

Hi all.

I thought I should give you a final update on my flute purchase. I found another Yamaha 225 S in a buy-n-sell magazine for only $100 (CA). I almost never called on it as the add didn`t mention the brand, condition or anything. After speaking with the young girl (1st year college student) she described it as a 6 year old instrument that her mother had bought as a rental return. The girl (Julie) had played it quite a bit (soloed at her high school) and said it had a very good sound. It was tuned just 3 months ago but does need a good cleaning/polishing. It has two small dents near the head joint(???) that she says does not affect the sound quality.

I had my in-laws pick it up today and they had it dropped off to a reputeable music shop for cleaning. I will call tomorrow to see if the dents can be removed (I understand this is sometimes possible depending on there location).

As an aside, my friend (the music teacher) said that ONE way to tell if a flute is "good" (when you have no idea, as myself) is to have the person selling it to play all of the notes from (high to low). He said the transition from one note to the next should be smooth and seamless without any "gaps". (That was how I understood him, I may have lost something in the translation as I am not musically inclined. Ouch!!)

We should have the flute here in another week; cleaned, tuned and ready for my daughter to begin playing. She is very excited and I`m sure she will make some great music with it (unlike me, she plays piano and guitar).

Again, thank you to all the people who replied here. This forum was a great help to me. Keep up the good work.

Brian

Just so you know, small dents don`t usually effect the sound at all. It is the bigger ones that do. When I first started to play a saxophone, the music store sent me this alto that had I huge dent in the bottom of it. Well, I only had it one day. I returned it and got a tenor. Anyway, sounds like a good deal. Did you ask the girl if it needed pads? Cause if it does, its gonna cost a lot to get them replaced. My Flute needed to be cleaned when I first got it too, but I did that myself, I wasn`t going to pay someone to clean it, when I can do a good job on it myself. If you get the girl to play the notes, have her SLUR them. Its alot easier to pick up tone problems that way, cause when you tongue them (which is the other way of playing the notes) they are slightly detached, so you might think that there`s something wrong when there isn`t. Anyway, good luck.

M.A.

P.S. I play piano and guitar too, great instruments.