I'm currenlty shopping around for a new flute (very exciting) and I've narrowed it down to two - a Yamaha 371 (solid silver headjoint) and an Altus 807 (solid silver lip plate.) I get them both to take home to trial for a week.

For me, the 371 produces a nice rich tone in the lower register an an okay tone in the upper. Whereas the Altus gives a nicer tone in the upper register and an okay tone in the lower.

I would like to get some opinion please - is it better to go for the nicer higer register tone or the lower one? Which flute would you recommend?

Your opinion would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Thanks for your feedback guys!

Do you have this next week to keep them or is your week trial just about up?


I have only 2 more days before I need to return them and make a decision..I've been trying various flutes for about 4 weeks now...I'm glad I made it to the last 2 to choose between but man, it's so frustration, sometimes I think I like the Altus' sound better and sometimes the Yamaha's.

I played for some friends and family without telling them which is which and they seems to be leaning towards the Altus. So there is a light at the end of the tunnel

I'm finding it a bit hard to maitain a good tone with the Altus though, not sure why, it seems to fluctuate. I guess I just need to get used to the cut of the lip plate ??? hmmm

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I haven't come accross an Azumi flute here in all the stores I've checked....the options in Australia are limited compared to America I think.

The Yamaha CY cut (I believe it is the same as the 374) is simple and very easy to play, but I do not about know the Altus to compare.

It could be that it may have a more complex cut, this could give you more possibilities to get better tone and more projection, but you will have to spend more time and efforts to adapt to it. But once this is accomplished, you will take much profit from this supposed complexity.

This is my recent experience with the YFL211 CY cut, the YFL674 EC cut and the Nagahara DA cut (the one I am currently using).

A sophisticated (and expensive) HJ as Nagahara's has much better tone in the upper range than the simpler CY cut. But it took me a couple of months to fully adapt to it and I am still in the process.

The presence of an E split mechanism could change things for high E, but I do not know if both alternatives are equal in this aspect.

When I was a beginner many years ago, my uncle let me tried his Altus 907 (same headjoint cut as 807), later he sold it to a USA flute player on ebay with a lot of profit - you know Americans they always overpay alot on ebay, lol. much cheaper price here in Asia. Australian too, price is very high down there, my Aussie friends always buy flute in Asia and play for a while and then sold their 2nd hand flute with a profit, can you believe that? they post ad on newspaper, and there are always suckers buy at high price.

I played Yamaha 211 with CY headjoint for 5 years before (same headjoint cut as 371 as Jose said).

I remember Altus is exactly like what you said here, it sounded good, but it fluctuates, could be it needs longer time to adapt. Also, there is a saying in China that Professionals said that Altus takes a lot of power/effort to play well, so it consumes more energy, Muramatsu would consume less energy than Altus. That is why China's professionals mostly use Muramatsu, but some super good players use Altus.

As for Yamaha, 371 is same as 211, student model, it helps you to progress well, but in the long run, when you are a better player, you will find 371 very boring and dull, and less interesting in tone. But Yamaha student flutes have its merits: good intonation control, fluctuate less, easy to play and develop embouchure and control, loud, and strong in mechanism etc.

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I don't know how much you pay for your 371 and 807, but I am sure you are overpaying it down under. 371 (made in China or Indonesia?) is only US$500-600 here and 807 is around US$900-US$1000 (still made in Taiwan? cheaper in Taiwan I think).

If I were you, if I have money, I would buy 211 or 371 and develop my embouchure and technique with Yamaha first, and then buy a professional flute years later.

If I have no money, I would buy Altus 807 now, and try to adapt to it with my best effort.

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Emmanuel Pahud was here 2 days ago, giving masterclass to us again(he comes almost every year), one of the students played a piece, Pahud was sitting far away and listened, then he said "are you using Yamaha"? "Yes", that student was using a Yamaha, Pahud then said, "I can hear it is a Yamaha sound, haha, try not to sound like a Yamaha, try to sound like yourself, you can change the tone by yourself in stead of Yamaha tone!"

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My point is: you are in control of the tone, not the flute.

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AW...One last thing I forgot to mention is: Altus 807/907 machanism and keys are very very good, much much better than 371, very light touched, wow, amazing for this price range!! The touch is wonderful I can't never forget, also the open hole is much smaller than Yamaha 371, also the plating was much prettier than 371! 807/907 is two stages higher than 371! very good for its price, 807 is a cheapest professional flute!

Thank you guys for your feedback. It has all helped to bring me to a final decision.

My flute teacher thought the Yamaha sounded better on me but after the Altus was warmed up the tone was definitely better so she recommend that I go with it.

I'll need to do a lot of practice to perfect my embrasure and tone for this flute, to illiminate the fluctuation in tone. I just hope I don't get too discouraged along the way...I like to see results immediately but know that's not practical.

Aw well, so Altus 807 here I come!!




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oops! *embouchure* not embrasure Hahahah they need to allow edits of post...

you know Americans they always overpay alot on ebay, lol

Uhmm.. no they do not. I have stopped selling flutes because the Americans will not buy anything unless you are practically giving it away. Also,the economy is bad right now. I am not sure how you came up with that notion but it is simply not true. It also sounded like some what of a put down to Americans which I (and I am sure other Americans on this board) really don't appreciate. I am hoping you didn't mean it that way

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I see what you were referring to now. The prices are much higher here for flutes. That is probably why Americans aren't buying too much right now. There is such a huge mark up price on many flutes which is sad.

I don't know if my experience is typical, but I recently started playing an Amadeus. It took me a couple months to learn to play the head joint, and I still have serious intonation problems between the registers. It may take you a while to get used to the new one. I recommend lots of long tones and don't get too discouraged during the first few weeks.