I'm looking to buy a new flute right now. I've been playing my Armstrong 104 that I got when I first started but recently I've had to send it to the shop every couple months. I'll be a junior in high school next year and I plan to continue playing in college. I am kind of on a budget of preferrably under $2000. What would be a good flute model for me, any help would be aprieciated. I've done quite a bit of research and it just seems like there are so many that it would take me years to playtest them all, and I am looking for ideas of where to start.
Start by looking down a few threads in this froum. People have already spent a lot of time writing on this issue, and itis now time for you to spend some time reading.
"but recently I've had to send it to the shop every couple months."
This means either that you are treating it exceptionally badly, or you have put unrealistically severe price restraints on the technician, or you need to find a GOOD technician.
I suspect the last!
A good servicing job, IMO, should not need further adjustment for quite a few months, if not years.
Micron has a point about the tech. Most good techs will accept flutes being shipped to them, and then they'll ship them back. I ship mine 3 states (Colorado to California) away for work when I'm at college, simply because I want to be sure I get high quality work done on my instruments. Sometimes you have to go a bit further than the local repairman for that.
As for flutes, a Yamaha 221 is probably not going to do it for you. They're good flutes, but intended for beginners, and they do have some limitations. For the "under 2K" range, you're probably going to be looking at an intermediate instrument. Try looking at flutes from companies like these:
Yamaha
Gemeinhardt
Brio
Trevor James
DiMedici
Azumi
Amadeus
Sonare
Pearl
Muramatsu
Emerson
All of them produce models that can be gotten for somewhere around 2K or less. Be sure to playtest as many flutes as you possibly can within your price range (hopefully using blind tests), and then pick the one that suits you best. Good luck!
Altos and C flutes are two different beasts. Both their altos and their C flutes are of good quality, but a comparison of the two won't give you an indication of whether you'd like their C flutes. Give them a try, and then you'll know.
Also, if you buy a used EX, it's not difficult to find them in the $2000-$2500 range. It's worth keeping an eye out for one that you can afford, as they are very good flutes.
<Added>
I should note that the second comment applies to Muramatsus. The EX is one of their models.
Many flute dealers have a supply of used flutes that they're either selling themselves or have on consignment. The store you're going to may have some used instruments to try out, but if not, you can always have them shipped to you by other dealers, such as Carolyn Nussbaum, JB Weissman, Fluteworld, etc. You might be able to get "more" flute for your money if you go for a used instrument, but you'll have to pay for shipping, and in some cases insurance or other costs if you can't find used instruments locally.
I would try and get my hand on a used Yamaha 500 and up, Miyazawa, Sankyo, Muramatsu or Altus if I were you. Just look up used flutes in your computers search engine. www.usedflutes.com is a great way to start looking for one. If you want to get a new flute then I would suggest that you save up a little bit more cash if you can. It will be well worth it especially if you plan to go through college playing.
If you are in the US, you do not have to limit yourself to what a local store just has in stock. You can go through stores that just carry flutes like Flute World, JL Smith or Flute Center of NY and have some sent to you on a trial basis. Those are my favorite places that I have done quite a bit of business with in the past. Have a talk with Phil from Flute Center of NY and I am sure that he can set you up with something really nice. He is very flexible with payment plans too, so that may be another option for you.
This question may have been asked before but everyone else that does ask it seems to be in a different predicament or have a different spending amount, so we should learn to be a bit more tolerable to new comers on this board. After all, this is an open forum I would hate to see people afraid to post questions.
I had that same flute!
i got a pearl 665 RBE which would be around $1,200 give or take depending on where you get it from. it was a pretty easy switch from the armstrong headjoint and the pearl headjoint so maybe you should check it out...in your budget range too.
If you choose to use Usedflutes.com, I would recommend using a junk e-mail for any business you might do. That site is kind of notorious for leading to massive amounts of junk mail in your inbox. Also, I would suggest asking people to include a particular phrase in the subject of their e-mails to help you sort out the real sellers from the spammers.
I got an email from the place I"m going on Saturday with quotes on some flutes.
Muramatsu EX- used (mint condition) $1500
Sonare 7 series- 1550-1800
DiMedici 1011- 1500
DiMedici 1311- 1880
Yamaha 481H- 1295
They said that they also have the full line of Pearls, Yamahas, and Trevor James but those they quoted are what I would probably be most interested in.
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