Locally, Michael Copeland’s reputation as a flute maker is quite solid. I was recommended to purchase from him by several highly reputable sources here, flautists all, and I have, with great satisfaction, played several people’s Copeland flutes at sessions.
He is not new to making blackwood flutes, but he did take a long hiatus because his whistles had become so popular. I believe his new model has been described as “the Frankenflute” because he has taken a variety of features he likes from several different flutes/makers and combined them to make a sort of uberflute in a Mary Shelley sort of way. (I heard this from someone else at a session, not from him personally, so you may not want to quote me). Anyway, it really is a great flute, and different from all the other flutes that are dedicated copies of each other. I hadn’t stumbled across the Grinter I would have been very happy to own the Copeland. The price was very reasonable too (the fact that it was priced competitively with the Grinter after adding keys was due to the fact that the Grinter was a total steal, not due to the fact that Michael Copeland’s flutes were priced too high).
Ultimately, in my heart of hearts I think I really wanted a boxwood flute. I had played an Olwell (no keys, unlined head joint) boxwood flute on occasion at my instructor’s house and it had just the most amazing sound. On the other hand, I wanted keys and a tuning slide very much, and at the time was worried about maintaining boxwood. Thanks to the very informative discussions in the archives and everyone’s encouragement here, I think I got pretty much my dream flute and I’m much more comfortable about its durability.
People’s tastes certainly vary, and I would recommend folks who are looking to consider Michael Copeland.