Hello!
I recently bought a new Pearl flute (all solid silver with the exception of the keys, B-foot, French style, split-E) and am fairly pleased with it. However, my flute teacher recommended getting a new headjoint to further improve its sound and so that the flute can last me through high school and possibly into college. (I`m planning to be a music major.) How much can a professional headjoint improve a flute`s sound? What are some good brands? (Powell, Sankyo, a better Pearl headjoint, etc?) Also, what do you know about the used market? Is that wise? Any feedback I can get is much appreciated. Thank you very much.
-- Hannah

They can actually improve a flutes sound quite a bit. You just have to go around and try them out. Sometimes the way a headjoint is cut just doesnt work.

Whoops, I accidentally posted that under my sister`s name! Sorry...

Some older second hand ones may have great specs, but be disappointing. There have been great improvements in design in the last ten or 20 years.

Last I heard, Galway was playing a Lafin head, and raving about it.

http://www.lafinheadjoints.com/fs.html

I have a few more questions...

1) What do you know about Drelinger headjoints? Is it possible and/or wise to get them used?

2) I have a limited budget. (I`m hoping to spend less than $1000) What brands would you suggest to me that would give the best "bang for my buck"?

3) How does a new crown improve a flute?

Thanks for your help!!!!! :-)

1. Don`t know.
2. With Head joints, it is not so much a brand, as a matching of a SPECIFIC head with a person who likes it better than others that he/she has tried. It is a very individual thing. YOu need to have tried many in order to make a wise choice.

If I were you I would try to check on the price of the head used on a Sonare, and also the head used on a Muramatsu EX (& GX, if that is different), the latter of which plays awesomely, at least for me.

BTW, be aware that many major flute makers (e.g. Yamaha, Sankyo, Muramatsu for a start) produce a range, perhaps a dozen or more, of different shapings of professional style head, let alone different materials. (The shape is far more important than the material.)

3. Compared with the shape of the head, the crown itself is of almost no relevance whatsoever. Its significance is almost entirely what you IMAGINE it to be. (Within reason, this is largely true of the material of the flute too!) Try unscrewing the crown of your present flute, right off, and experience how it makes no difference.

Just a few things....

Sonare flutes use Powell Signature headjoints (http://www.sonarewinds.com/templates/productsIntroTemp.asp?LinkId=81).

Robert Bigio suggests that changing the crown can can the sound/response of a headjoint: http://www.bigio.com/crowns.html or http://www.larrykrantz.com/faqflute.htm#21105 He also makes nice wood headjoints.

If you want to check out/test different brands of headjoints, JL Smith has a nice trial plan. http://store.jlsmithco.com/Sapphire/items.asp?Cc=HEAD

Weissman is also a good place to check out: http://www.jbwflutes.com/

And here`s Drelinger`s website: http://www.drelinger.com/

"Robert Bigio suggests that changing the crown can can the sound/response of a headjoint: http://www.bigio.com/crowns.html or http://www.larrykrantz.com/faqflute.htm#21105 "

I don`t believe a word of it! The rave is just too extravagant. The ideas are nothing new, and have been tried on student flutes a long time ago. If there were any merit in it, then every major flute maker would have incorporated it by now.

So I suggest you treat it with a great deal of scepticism. There is no end to the imaginative ways that people can think of to relieve gullible flute players of their money.

The history of woodwind instruments is just littered with such gadgets that have made the zealous marketer a lot of money, and then been discarded into history.

I`ve never changed the crown on my headjoint personally, so I can`t say one way or the other. But there has been a lot of discussion surrounding just this topic over on the FLUTE list. I have been tempted to order one of Olnhausen`s rings just to see what the fuss is about though.

Carolyn Nussbaum sells custom gemstone crowns made by McKenna flutes that are also reported to make a difference in the sound/response of one`s headjoint. But even if they make absolutely no difference, they certainly are attractive :-) http://www.flute4u.com/crowns.html

I`m still holding out for a wood headjoint!

Sigh!!

Get yourself blind-folded, and tests your own flute say 20 times, while not knowing whether or not your assistant has UNSCREWED your corwn, or screwed it back.

I think you will find that you cannot tell the difference. So why should making it of a different material be any different. It is already irrelevant.

This test is not strictly valid unless you SUBSTITUTE the crown for a similar weight, say plasticene around the outside of the tube at the end. Otherwise, when the crown is removed, you may be aware of the crown`s presence or absence by the weight balance of the flute, even if only sub-consciously.

But I`m sure you will get the picture even without such rigorous testing.