Hi, I’ve been playing flute for 6 years and for 4 years I have used an Armstrong 80 which is falling apart. Also, it was decided that I was a long time overdue for an upgrade, so I started looking for flutes in the $2000-$3200 range.
Since the Armstrong 80 is an inline G open hole flute, I was looking for an inline flute as well. However, I was also looking for a split E, and not many flutes had both features. The brands I’m looking into are Sonare, Trevor James, Miyazawa, and possibly a Muramatsu. Here’s where the dilemma arose.
Should I get an offset-G with a split E mechanism or an inline-G with a high-E facilitator? I am aware of the mechanism issues of the inline split-E, and the intonation issue with the facilitator, and I really don’t want to switch to an offset G if possible. What are your experiences with this kind of situations? Which do you recommend?
No one else has jumped in, so I’ll answer you.
Dunno. Probably most of us don’t know much about any of that orchestral/Boehm flute stuff. This forum is mostly about simple-system conical ‘Irish’ flutes, which are a whole different animal. Stick around and learn more, if you’re interested. But you may need to find a more orchestra-centric forum somewhere to get answers to your questions.
Cheers
I play classical flute as well, but I use Yamaha’s student model, the Advantage 200. I great flute for the price ($500), but I don’t have aspirations of being a great classical player. Here’s a clip of my classical playing to kind of establish my credentials: http://www.box.net/shared/vss6nyxfvf.
All the brands you mention are good. I’ve tried a Trevor James and a Sonare, but I think the Japanese may be a better value for the price because of their precision. Try as many as you can till you find one you click with or have someone else listen and give an informed opinion.
A split-E, you’re right, is great and something I’d love to have. If an offset G really makes that mechanism work better/be more reliable, perhaps a change to that would be worth it. I switched from an inline Gemeinhart to the offset on my Yamaha and I actually like the offset better–seems more ergonomic and make playing a lot more comfortable and have less tension in my left hand.
Hope that’s a bit helpful.
Jason
The offset G is a good thing. Much better ergonomics.
join http://listserv.syr.edu/archives/flute.html
and search their archives for the rest of it.
Hi there,
seems like you’ve got enough experience to know what you need to look for.
May I ask why an offset G puts you off?
At that price range, you can get a Trevor James solid silver Recital series flute with a shaped head. It is better value than the Miyazawa or Muramatsu, which are great, but you are literally going to be buying at the bottom end of the market with your budget, whereas you could get the top of the range Trevor James, and a better headjoint. If you upgrade later, the Trevor James with the solid silver body makes more sense, since you only need to change the head, whereas the Miyazawa and Muramatsu at that price, will mean a complete upgrade would be more sensible.
Gizmo keys etc are more decorative than useful. A split E shouldn’t determine the flute you wish to get. Dimedici’s series are also worth while looking into.
If it helps, my alto flute is the top of the range Trevor James, and it does not have a split E mechanism - that is more of a marketing gimmick for beginners, and you’ve got way too much experience, to have to worry about whether you have one or not. The off-set G is important ergonomically - that’s all. If you find that your finger is too short, it will come into great use.
It’s a myth that the Japanese flutes are better precision: the Trevor James Recital series which you would be looking at, are hand-assembled in England.
If you have the opportunity, try a number of lip plates and find out which one suits your embouchure temperament best. I suspect, that given your time done with an Armstrong, you would be pleased with any flute from any of these manufacturers.
As crookedtune said, the emphasis here is on simple system timber flutes as used in Irish traditional music, and we like to keep it that way. If you’re just hitting all the flute bases, that’s fine. 
You’ll find some people here who have experience with silver Boehm flutes as well. But you’re best off asking elsewhere. For example, James_Alto has suggested the following online forums as starting points:
http://www.fluteland.com/board/index.php
http://www.8notes.com/f/forum25.asp
Good luck.
Disclaimer: I’ve never played a Trevor James, and I haven’t played Boehm flute in eight years (but I played for about 15).
I’d did the opposite of what James_Alto recommends: when I was shopping in the roughly $2500 range, I found that I preferred the low end models of high end makes. Material is only part of the equation–I ended up with an Altus 907 (silver plated body and hand-cut Britannia silver HJ that I picked out), and it served me very well.
I’d also recommend an off-set G. Unless your ring finger is longer than your middle finger, inline makes no ergonomic sense.
The links are useful and maybe the ‘we’ word deserves a wee bit more care. I really am profiting from this thread.
And we may be doing the poster some real good, after all, which counts for something, IMO; not self evident this is such a bad place to start, given how it’s going. If we start getting
inundated with such questions you might have a point, but as things are,
our emphasis is safe. ‘One swallow does not a summer make.’
“We” meaning, in this case, the wonderful people who volunteer to bring you this board, who approved prodo’s first post, and who set the general guidelines as to what constitutes on-topic and off-topic discussion. 
There’s certainly no prohibition at all against discussing Boehm silver flutes or any other flutes. At the same time, it would be a disservice not to also redirect first-time posters and players of orchestral and art music to other fine internet resources whose emphasis is more targeted to their interests. That will remain the Chiffboard policy, and we are always happy to clarify the policy.
Carry on!
- The very friendly and helpful Moderators
For the money, you can get these, in either in-line or offset G, choice of B- or C-foot, plated or solid silver tubes (plated keys), modern A=442, add $50 for Split E mechanism. Good stuff. Yo might even want to look at their wooden ones, too.
Di Zhao flutes, by a former long-term Powell employee. http://www.dizhaoflutes.com/
A New Jersey dealer:
http://www.thefluteloft.com/Prices.html
Kevin Krell
Yes, thank you…I’ll have one grenadilla C flute with offset-G and split-E, and one alto flute. Much appreciated. 
I too have a Yamaha Advantage model flute and I love it. Real cheap and plays great. What I did was upgrade the headjoint to a Tom Green headjoint (I love his stuff).
Statistically, chances that he’ll answer are very small…
It’s okay - we won’t miss him 
J/k
well things have moved on with respect to the quality of manufacture. A basic flute from a top grade manufacturer, of a 10 year old design like Altus or Sankyo, is just not as competitive as the best of broad spectrum manufacturers like Trevor James, Dimedici and DiZhao. I’m sure there will be those who want the basic bottom end of a label, just to be able to say that they own it, however the flute market has moved on. For the price of a basic Altus flute - you can get a professional head joint and all the extra touches: rather than just the basic Altus flute.
Even Altus rely on professional head joint makers for their more expensive flutes. What is a flute player paying for then, if not prestige and name branding? For a newcomer to the Boehm flute - none of these matter. A basic $200 flute will do, since most will never make it pass Grade V in the ABRSM. Once a step-up flute becomes the goal, then the goal is to ‘step up’ from the basic - and the myth that anything from the bigger branded Japanese manufacturers - just doesn’t cut it.
In any case, there are plenty of Boehm concert flutes on the market. The newer (innovative) ones which pull my attention are the Guo flutes in grenaditte (a synthetic compound).
Have you actually played one? I tried them at the last National Flute Association convention in Los Angeles. An interesting concept, for the sometime doubler, or someone in a harsh environment, but still with some adjustment problems IMO. And then there’s the tone - some “darkness”, different from either a silver or wooden Boehm or Irish flute, but somehow not… good?
Me too. I don’t actually own one, but they were interesting to try out.
I thought it was more interesting because I play outdoors a lot.
I already have 20 flutes, so unless I gave up one, I wouldn’t get another…!
Oh, is there a limit?
Yes … I only have so many Hercules stands!
Will someone tell me what is a split e mechanism? Thanks. Don’t know much about these flutes,
but they rather fascinate me.
Looks to be a “High E” helper.