My daughter is looking for a new professional flute. I do not play and it is hard to determine if she is looking at the correct instrument. She is looking at the following brands
Trevor James
Sonare
Mikawa

She has tried the Trevor James Virtouso II and Cantabile. Unfortunately, the store we went had no knowledge of the flutes, so we continue in our quest. She would like to try the Masters.

She is also looking at the Mikawa XD703SS and the Sonare SF-705.

Any guidance you can provide to select the correct flute will be great

I have never heard of a Mikawa, sorry. But I really like the new Sonare 705's. They have a really nice sound and now the mechanism is really smooth. With the mikawa's do you mean miyazawa? I have never tried trevor james flutes but I have heard good things about them.

Lol, I mean I HAVE heard of trevor james flutes but have never played them.

I also have never heard of a Mikawa and I would like to think I am up on the almost all the current models and brands. Did you get the spelling wrong? Maybe you mean Miyazawa?

If you use the search button on this forum you will most likely find what you need to know. These questions are asked almost every other post on this forum and I think that people stop responding anymore because they don't feel like repeating themselves yet again.

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Also, I would not classify a Trevor James or Sonare to be a professional flute.
If you would like a professional flute, here are brands that I would recommend as I don't much care for Trevor James or Sonare flutes.

Miyazawa
Powell
Brannen
Nagahara
Sankyo
Haynes


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I forget to mention also..
Burkart and Muramatsu. How ever could I forget Muramatsu???!!!!

This is the information on the Mikawa flute http://mikawaflutes.com/mikprice_hoc.pdf

I seems that this is either not a popular flute or new in the market. Since the responses seem to indicate they have no knoledge of this flue

It seems that your daughter is maybe looking for an intermediate- advanced flute. Those are not pros. For other flutes in this type

Amadeus
Lyric
Dean Yang
Brio
Sonare

or any brands like Yamaha. Dont limit yourself to only one or two flutes. try as many as up to 20!!

Mikawa flute is to Brookmays
as
Allora flute is to Woodwind & Brasswind
as
Giardinelli flute is to Giardinelli Music

It's a stencil instrument made by some unknown flute company.

with that price range, id look into an actual professional flute, such as a miyazawa 102 ($2195) or the 202 ($2995) or the muramatsu ex ($2850). i know altus has the 807 ($2215) and the 907 ($2950) but i dont know much about their lower line.

my advice: dont go for the sonare. im really skeptical about them, especially since they had so many problems before. i cant say too much about their flutes now that theyre being made someplace else, but i feel that they need to "prove" that theyre arent going to be crap again.

my other advice: dont be sucked into a "solid silver" flute. a solid silver pearl has nothing on a plated muramatsu.

my last advice: dont buy a yamaha. for the kind of money it looks like youre wanting to spend (and if you can, try not to limit yourself. if you can afford more, let her try them. of course, dont tell her the price but it may work. if not, oh well), you can buy much more flute. im not a fan of the "professional" yamahas. i think theyre not any more "professional" than their student model, except maybe some more silver content. well, yeah they are, but compare against a miyazawa or muramatsu of the same kind of money, yeah. you get the point.

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if you want to look into the "intermediate" range as well, i can only say good things about the dean yang.

the amadeus flute is also something to look into as well.

im not a fan of the new avanti. i think they play and feel like a glorified student flute.

I am a music retailer and sell both Sonare and Trevor James. They are both very good. I can not give you any information about Mikawa instruments. I was doing an internet search for a former customer of mine that was trying to research Mikawa instruments. We have been unable to find any information.....I would strongly recommend Sonare or Trevor James they both have a wonderful reputation in the industry. I hope that helps.

Of course a rep is going to recommend those two if that is what they carry. I personaly hate both of them. Don't waste you time and money on mediocare flutes as they are all just glorified student flutes with holes in them. Go for a Miyazawa or Muramatsu if you can.

Hey, I say it how it is. I don't sugar coat anything. Sorry...
I will just have to steal OZ. lol!!

Try the Trevor James Virtuoso. I tried all of those you listed and it was my favorite. I liked it better than the Masters and most definitely the sonare'. However, you'll never know till you try it. I did these blind test as well.

I just bought a new flute last Saturday! I needed to step up from a low end intermediate flute. I knew I couldn't spend a fortune, but I wanted something that was not going to hold me back. After trying what seems like hundereds I went with a Trevor James Masters 3. If anything, I don't know if I will ever live up to this flute's potential. The sound I was able to produce out of this flute, albeit in only at forte and it broke down around the high F# (but I am working at it), was so beautiful it sent shivers down my spine.


I think that the best advise is to get your hands on them and let your daughter play as many as she can, until she decides on one or waves the white flag. I tried a few flutes that came highly recommended (muramatsu included) that didn't work well for me. In fact, I think some of them were "too much flute" for me. Professional flutes are engineered to be played by professionals, which I am FAR from! She also needs to decide whether she likes a bright sound, or darker, deeper sound. I did not really know it until I tried many, but I found out that I tend toward a darker sound (although I opted for the regular wall thickness).

Good Luck!
Kara

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I wanted to add that I did try a Sonare 6000 or 7000. I almost bought it actually, but to me it sounds a bit shallow compared to the Trevor James and Amadeus (by Haynes), which was another flute I really liked and had a very hard time deciding between. However, the head joint of the Sonare was very nice and it was a very responsive flute in the mid to high $1000 price range. Please note, this is all coming from a very mediocre intermediate player!

Oh, and yes, there is another Kara on the forum now. I am of course not to be confused with the first Kara who is obviously very knowledgable... I am not! :-) (although to "the first" Kara, its nice to meet you. It is rare to meet someone with our name certainly!)

OK, we need more clarification. Is the original poster looking for a professional or student/intermediate flute?

I was not impressed by any of the Trevor James that I was able to get my hands on, but that does not mean that this flute wouldn't work well for you daughter. As far as the nice step up flutes go, I much prefer the Yamaha, Azumi or Lyric. I did not try any of the newer Sonares, so I can't comment on them.

Trevor James and Mikawa flutes are both high quality flutes made by hand in China factories. I believe some of the entry level Sonare flutes are now made in China also. The beauty of the Sonare flute is that they have head joints made by Powell or designed by Powell. Also, the Sonare is distributed by Powell. Unless you want to pay a lot of money for the big name, I think that you will find that all three of these brands are very good quality and good values for the price. While none of them have the snob appeal of Haynes, Powell, Brannen etc, the proof is in the playability and response. The flute is a very popular instrument in Asian or Pacific rim countries and the ability to hand make them at lower and more affordable price makes them very attractive alternative for serious students of the instrument. I have heard good things about all three of these brands and know of student's that have success playing them. All flutes require some adjustment and maintenance and there is nothing about any of these flutes that can not be fixed by a local repair tech.