chrismontez: Yeah, because there were so many junk flutes lacquer-painted with colour to attract buyers on ebay. When I saw the pink flute I too thought it's one of those junks too, until I clicked his name and saw Guo's flute. Mr.Guo is a very nice humble old man devoted his life to flute making and future composite flute making, my first teacher was a Taiwanese studied flute in Paris and she introduced me to Mr.Guo and tried his ceramic metal headjoints.

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If we type "Grenaditte Flute" on youtube, there are some Guo Grenaditte Flute clips. Here are some of them:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG3EnsNE85I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EHH34B6YiM

This is the same headjoint I tried before:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I60j4EhC60Q

Surely there is a place for flute-makers on this forum.

A basic, "Buy my flutes" post would be in poor taste.

However, I think having honest conversations with players of all levels, flute techs, teachers, reps for major flute companies, and used flute sellers (all of which we have here on the forum) would be interesting.

Thank you, Pyrioni, for providing the you-tube clips. It sounds like these are legitimate, quality flutes.

I do not like the colored (white, pink, etc) flutes. I would imagine that there are some young girls, starting lessons, that would really love a pink flute. Perhaps you could make a modified key system, curved headjoint flute, that plays only to low D (much like the Jupiter Prodigy model) in pink for those little girls who insist on a pink flute.

Let's not forget that Geoffrey Guo flutes and/or headjoints are sold by such reputable U.S. distributors/retailers as Flute Center of New York and Flute Specialists of Michigan (among others).

"In short, the flutes are marked up more than twice what they should cost."

Aren't they all? $2000-$3000 for a wooden headjoint. $5000 for a silver headjoint with $100 worth of metal in it.

Mr Numptie, I thought I was agreeing with what other people were saying and trying to lend my support. If I am mistaken and people round here do like spam then that is fine, enjoy.

I don't know.

Is posting about flutes on the flute forum 'spam'?

I've never heard of Guo flutes until this thread - in that way, it's at least useful for readers like me.

Does flagging a line of colorful flutes equate to 'spam'? I don't know that either - maybe the mods should decide, and us readers should concentrate on just trying to remember that if we met a poster whose posts we didn't like, would we really be that horrible to them in person?

There's enough strife in the world as it is. I like playing the flute to relax, as well as using the forum. It's just not worthwhile being so unpleasant to complete strangers by posting unpleasant things. If the OP had written 'Buy new X-Box and Playstations or Rolex watches' - yes, I can see that is spam.

But the flute market isn't exactly brimming in the modern world! What's wrong with letting small niche manufacturers inform us about what they do? Maybe the OP violated the forum owners' rights, and he should've asked for permission to write about his own flutes.

Thanks for the links Chris.

It sounds very smooth and mellow in the middle register.

Like the commentator says on the clip - what on earth are those overtones!

It sounds like a hulusi on LSD!

Well the vid below explains why those overtones are like that - sounds like these overtones can be modified by the head piece plastic (instead of cork).

Maybe the sound quality isn't coming across too well on the Yootoob clip.

I found the Guo promo video which has a clearer sound sample:



With each note, I can hear a kind of 'lisp' which I associate more with the kind of baroque flute (second flute played in the demo). With the Grenaditte flute - it looks like this could become one of the standard kind of synthetic instrument, a bit like the way Aulos has made a white plastic baroque recorder and is probably the best seller throughout the world. The Aulos is much cheaper, I guess because it has cornered the recorder market with a unique instrument at a great price point.

Well I'm not averse to the Guo flutes, but that is the same budget for a Grenaditte flute as it is for an alto flute!

Dear travel2165,

I am not Mr. Guo..

My best friend in band owns a blue piccolo, Venus I think, she got for about 100-200 dollars....

Looking around the Youtube and the internet clips, the Guo 'New Voice' flutes get some fabulous feedback, as do their smaller piccolos.

I really am not a piccolo person. I find it really earpiercing and can't wait until it finishes. Shame Guo don't make an alto flute

As much as I'd love to try one, I'm reminded that my Trevor James 10x student flute in nearly new condition cost $150 and a headache, compared to the $850+ for a Guo flute.

There are some great second-hand bargains out there for flutes. Colour is great for tonality.
I like the grenaditte colour flutes best: look dark and sound dark. Hmmm!

No worries.

But, yes, $2500 or so for a normal C flute made out of a composite material is too expensive for what it is, just like how a guitar made out of plastics and more modern materials should not cost nearly what one made out of wood does.

Before you get too carried away, Micron will come on board shortly to tell you that materials matter less than design lol.

I'm not an ardent traditionalist - synthetics are capable of being incorporated into design philosophy which exceeds the limitations of natural materials these days - not just in flute making.

In any case, I'm just an amateur flute player. I don't ever intend to earn my keep by playing the flute (although busking on the hop in a foreign country is very tempting ) so $2,500 for a mere headjoint is beyond me! I like Guo flutes making flute playing more accessible to plebs like me. Not all of us want to be Emmanuel Pahud.

This is probably the best example of the Guo flutes I've come across http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sn71DhB8HA