do they typically play flat of A=440? or is mine broken, it plays about .25 flat of 440
Many different makers made flutes to many different pitch standards.
Mine plays quite sharp to A=440 with the tuning slide all the way in, but works well enough with the slide open a bit more than a half an inch.
You will see some flutes made to A=440 (usually really A=435 but this isn’t much of a problem), some marked “LP” for “low pitch” which I believe is about A=415, and some marked “HP” for “high pitch” which can be as high as A=450.
Unless the flute is marked, about the only way to know what you are getting is to try the flute.
This is always good advice on German flutes anyway, as the quality and playability have the reputation of ranging from pretty decent to absolutely horrible.
–James
it’s a flute that I’ve had for a while and while it sounds great on its own I can’t play along with anyone that’s tuned to A=440 with lipping it up so sharp that I can’t hit the low notes at all.