Some additional excellent references on this question are here:

http://www.jennifercluff.com/goldsilver.htm

Bear in mind, all of this pertains to the objective physics of producing sound. In daily life, I'm a devout subjectivist. When I coach people on their job interviewing skills, I strongly recommend they wear a magic talisman of some sort, whether its a favorite pen, or a new watch, or lucky rocket-ship underpants. You can prove to me beyond a shadow of a doubt that these don't change a person's skillset, but I still hold that they make a measurable difference in that person's performance.

i know its not really a "controlled" experiment because its not completely the same.. i think the only brand that could have a controlled study done is yamaha because as far as i know there the only flute makers who use computers to make some of there flutes. But i think for me, what i did was enough because i played both Japanese and american flutes silver and gold, and there was a difference that i noticed between the gold and silvers sounds. for my search, i wont get rid of the idea of a silver flute, but i am definitely looking at gold flutes more i think.

I'm sorry, I just have to laugh a little when reading some of this on the gold plating. I would like to see what Joe B. has to say about this. And Micron? Where did he go? An old discussion that seems to never be at rest. You can find more in this forum on this subject by using the search button. If you set your mind to it, you can make yourself believe anything.

Alex,

Your comment on Yamaha is worth addressing because it speaks volumes about flute (and every other type of) manufacture. I'll take your word for it that Yamaha uses computer controlled manufacturing systems for some of it's flutes, but rest assured, this does not mean that the flutes come out identical.

On the face of it, this seems counter-intuitive. After all, computers are deterministic, digital machines - assuming they are operating correctly, and given identical input, they will always produce the exact same output. But the machines they are connected to are analog. They only work within certain tolerances of error. That is, you might have a computer controlled machine that can produce a headjoint with a thickness between 1.01 millimeters and .99 millimeters. Or if you spend way more money and spend much more time configuring it, you could improve the tolerances significantly. But you can never get it to produce EXACTLY 1 millimeter. (You might be interested in reading about Six Sigma for more on this concept.)

After all, if Yamaha could reproduce a flute "perfectly", then they could knock off a perfect Nagahara replica for no more than the cost of the raw materials and a little electricity. But they can't. Nagaharas are hand-made, because no machine can produce the exacting tolerances that a master craftsman can achieve with months of painstaking effort.

This is why it's so devilishly difficult to come up with precise comparisons - just like snowflakes, no two flutes, even of the exact same material and model, are exactly alike.

An objective test performed showed that there is little difference in metals:

http://iwk.mdw.ac.at/forschung/english/linortner/linortner_e.htm

Try a lot of different flutes at a shop that carries many different makes and models. Ask for help and see what works best for you. Good luck!

The search button will yield thread upon thread of info, as this very subject has been debated probably since the manufacture of the modern flute.