Hello,

This message is probably more for the technicians on this forum. I was told that over the 4 Japaneses brands: Sankyo, Muramatsu, Altus and Miyazawa, Sankyo is the one with the stronger/more reliable and stable mechanism. I am not talking about tone quality but purely mechanical robustness. Does this statement match your experience? Or is it only vendor BS?Thanks.

I should ask the models discussed are the entry ones: silver head and silverplated body (Altus 907, Mura EX, Sankyo CF 201 and Miya PA 202).

I was just curious--who has told you this?

My local dealer

From my experience and acknowledge, Muramatsu has the most realiable mechanism ever. This is not just because I have a Mura (a 30 year old all silver standard model, btw), but is sort of a concensus among the flautisti community.

I now own a Sankyo, not exactly a beginner model, but also well commented as being very reliable and durable.

Zevang

i have a muramatsu and ive never had issues with its mechanism. i know someone that has a comparable miyazawa though and it always in the shop. it may just be the way shes taking care of it, but it seems to be in perfectly fine condition i i doubt that shes mistreating it in a way that would cause it to come out of alignment every few weeks

Any good quality flute (and these are all good quality flutes) given the proper care and maintainance should have little trouble with the mechanism holding up. As we're discussing silver plated bodies, after a while the plate will wear off on high contact areas, which can be a cosmetic flaw, but the mechanism should continue to operate normally. That said, most makers have a clunker every once in a while (some more commonly than others), so there's always the chance that one will need to be in the shop more than others. How hard the instrument is played, and how often will also affect how well it holds up between servicing, but that dealer may have a vested interest in selling Sankyos over the other makes. They are all solid instruments, and should not give you any inordinate amount of trouble.

I would say Muramatsu.

I find the Sankyos to be very robust. I would say that muramatsu is also in that league as well (with the older high end models being more robust than today). The altus and miya are fine mechanisms but more delicate.

My general impression of a sankyo mechanism construction brings the word "tank" to mind. (In a good sort of way...)

Joe B

It's indeed a relieve to hear that from you JoeB!
I decided to purchase this new Sankyo, because it was the only flute available for me to try playing.
Happy to see that my old Muramatsu also will give me many years ahead :-)

cheers,
Zevang

Thanks a lot for your kind and helpful answers.

My music shop dealer was seeing that I liked the Sankyo flute and maybe he was just pushing the sale.

Actually I am hesitating between the Altus and the Sankyo. The Miyazawa and the Muramatsu are wonderful and amazing flutes but I suppose that they are just not for me. I find the Muramatsu tone to be a little too lyrical for my taste and the Miyazawa one a little too smooth (and that is just me).

I am taking the mechanic robustness as a pro for the Sankyo over the Altus.

Cheers !

Did they not have any Powells to try out? They are not as lyrical as the Japanese brands. (Just my opinion.) You might like one of them.

Hi Kara,

No, unfortunately. They have Hammig, Yamaha, Jupiter and Trevor James (I currently have a student Trevor James) in addition to the one I mentioned. Few shops are carrying Powell or Haynes in France, I know only 2, and they are far from my place.

Does make sense. The larger the surface the stronger one has to push down to reach the sealing pressure.

Thanks for the warning. I will look carefully at the tone holes.

What I like with the Altus is the great intonation and the sweet tone. The Sankyo tone is different, I would say deeper, and beautiful too.

I realize that I can really comment only about the 4 particular flutes I tried. I understand that the head joints are hand cut. Hand made operations are usualy subject to more variability than machine made ones. I am wondering if I am ordering the same flute than the demo model, will it have the same tone? How consistant are the productions of those makers?

You know, there's really no way to be sure what a flute will sound like ahead of time. If the same person cut the head, it may be remarkably similar to what you tested, but then it could be similar if someone else cut it, or play quite differently. The quality on any of them should be good, but you may want to try matching different heads with the flutes to get an idea of what range in tone exists among that maker's heads.