yamaha is trustable and worth the price[usualy]

Selmer flutes are ok, but yamaha ones are really awesome, if you fancy playing flute long term then get a yamaha open hole, inline flute with b foot, they are really great and produce a great sound!

i play a gemeinhardt 3sb with a different headjoint on occasion. for a gemeinhardt, mine isnt bad. but i absolutely despise it. i`ve tried numerous brands: yamaha, pearl, emerson (CRAP!), gemeinhardt, haynes, amadeus, sonare, dean yang, muramatsu, miyazawa, etc.

the brands i prefer are the japanese ones, such as muramatsu and miyazawa. this girl in my band plays on a dean yang and it sounds absolutely gorgeous. then again, she`s an extremely gifted player.

i am actually a "professional" by means of i get paid to do gigs. i play on my gemeinhardt, sadly. my flute teachers both have gold flutes (which i believe carry a warmer tone, but most do not agree) in which one is an older powell (gorgeous sound) and a muramatsu.

if you are on a tight budget, i`d say go for a dean yang. they`re beautiful sounding. and their price tag isnt exactly skyscraping large.

ooh thanks. When you tried the Dean Yang flute, did it sound airy? Was it hard to make a good tone? If anyone else has ever tried one, please let me know your experience.

I have a pro gemienhard X series and I love it! Most of my friends play gemienhards and they have never had any problems out of them and mine plays wonderful. The person at the music store that sold me my flute said Gemienhardt was a strong sturdy flute and has a beautiful sound. I never have had a problem from them and I think they are wonderful. My other flute is an armstong... not as highly recomended by me.

I play on a Pearl flute and love it! My teacher who is the Flute Professor at our local college compared my Pearl to my Professional Yamaha 684 and thought my Pearl had a much better sound to it. I would highly recommend any Pearl flute. Hope this helps,Shawn

I went to have my gemi` repaired for my daugher to play. She is a beginner. It was beyond repair. The professional player (several orch & professer) that now does repairs and sales in her own company recommended a Jupiter 511s. I then got a letter from the band director over the summer saying to get a yamaha YFL281s or a Geminhart FLS3. Who should I listen too? or is it all just a matter of opionion? I played my Gemi from 4th grade thru high school and never had a lick of problem. Only had to have repaded/adjusted 3x in 8yrs.

If you were to pick a new flute at $200 from wwandbw.com, fluteworld.com, or justflutes.com that is not an Outlet/Bstock/Sale item you should get a good student flute regardless of brand.

All the big student flute makers Gemeinhardt/Emerson/Yamaha/Jupter have testing guidelines before they ship out their flute and those websites also guarantee that they inspect flutes before they ship.

I would only really recomend a Miyazawa or Muramatsu. Yamaha are also a good brand but the third octave can be hard to play on some models. Everyone has their favourate brands so it`s best to try the flute before you buy it.

I had a Gemienhardt flute a few years ago but to be honest it wasn`t that good. I ended up selling it and buying a Miyazawa flute and i`m saving to buy a Muramatsu flute soon

"justflutes.com that is not an Outlet/Bstock/Sale item you should get a good student flute regardless of brand. "

I totally disagree.

".... websites also guarantee that they inspect flutes before they ship."

That`s what they say. but exactly what is meant by a `test`. There is a heap of evidence that any testing done by WW/BW is extremely superficial. You cannot sell a product cheaper than everybody else without making compromises somewhere. The usual compromise is no real testing or expert adjustment prior to sale.

Now you don`t sell instruments as well as repair them do you?

I`ve purchased the below instruments from WWandBW and have nothing, but praise for the company that has provided instruments at very fair prices for many many years from their original mail order catalog and now now online.

There is nothing wrong with online merchants. Their warranty, return, and price matching policies speak for themselves.

My WWandBW children:
Gemeinhardt 3SB - owned for 8 years. Adjusted twice and only after a couple nasty falls. Going in for another adjustment soon due to tearing of pad (don`t drag paper through your pads no matter how stubborn a sticky spot may be!).
$800

Blessing B202 Alto Sax - Owned for 4 years. 1st adjustment 2 weeks ago.
$400

Yamaha 411 Oboe - Used, owned for 2 years. Had re-pad, cleaning, and adjustment when received and has been fine and dandy since.
$1800

Without meaning to be rude or anything, different players have quite different expectations of their instrument. Many players have NEVER experienced (over many years of playing) just how well an instrument can go IF it is properly adjusted.

So anecdotal examples provided in a forum situation where the articles cannot be inspected, should not be taken too seriously.

On the other hand, a technician who is independent of any selling agency, who finds that the vast majority of brand new instruments (over the whole woodwind/sax range, barring possibly the very top flutes/piccolos/oboes) need some attention and don`t get it before sale...

Is it unfair to humbly suggest that that carries a little more weight?

I certainly respect that your personal experience and opinion are important to you though.

I agree with Arak on that. I have been playing a some time now and I know the flute inside and out like the back of my hand. I have tried instruments through that company (mostly piccolos) and they ALL needed some kind of adjustments.
You may not know that your Gemeinhardt needed any of attention without knowing the flute as a repair tech would.
You will have to pay more for an instrument through more of a private company, so to speak, that specialize only in flutes, because they do go the extra mile to make sure that the flute is perfect before shipping it out. Unlike, WWBW, in my experience.

Someone is looking for a suggestion for a student flute. A $200 Gemeinhardt, Emerson, Jupeter, etc. is certainly suitable for that purpose. Galway has demonstrated that he can produce his fine tone on such flutes through his own masterclasses.

You refute that you can get a quality instrument through WWandBW I can only state my experiences to counter that.

I`ve been playing the flute for 13 years and am certainly capable of determining when a flute needs adjustment, but then there are many older flutists who have played far longer who play far far far worse on far far wretched instruments. Like 20 year old muramatsus that have never seen the inside of a shop... :shudder:

Take it as what it is.

i have had a geminhardt (probably not how you spell it, but you know what i mean) and it was a piece of junk. i had to have it sent off for repairs about every other month. the foot would fall of whil marching.

but now i have a selmer omega and it is a whole lot better