good flute?or firewood?
Or there http://search.ebay.com/150103581781 
I have a few of these now.
Oh, they will play (or you can make them play) but on an average they are sorely out of tune.
I have to yank the head out stupid far just get them mostly in tune with itself.
I have a French one that actually is in tune and a very nice player. Not irish sounding but still nice.
Has there been any final answer as to why the low end seems so out on these things?
Terry had the answer?
Unless you know what to do to bring it in line and have the tools to do it… its interesting firewood.
Not a full answer but some interim asumptions that will need more work to confirm.
Firstly, it’s interesting to note that these German-made flutes do not seem to be made for use in their own country - the flutes by good German makers are generally much nicer. So I think we’re seeing an export item aimed squarely at the English-speaking world.
Secondly, it’s interesting that they have some of the same attributes that afflicted Nicholson-era (Improved) flutes, particularly the very flat foot. Not out of the question that, since Nicholson flutes were highly regarded, they copied some of these features for their export model.
Which brings us back to why Nicholson flutes had such a flat foot. The rot seems to have started when Richard Potter added the tuning slide - previously he used corps de rechange to deal with the range of pitches. Those flutes were great. But when he added the tuning slide, he based the flute on the longest corps de rechange (ie the lowest pitch one) - which seems to make no sense at all when pitch is rising.
The low C and C# extended foot also added to the problem - usually flutes that end in D have much less flat foot than those that go down to C
Then old man Nicholson opened up the holes on his Astor, but doesn’t seem to have shortened the foot. Opening up the holes sharpens the body notes, but leaves the foot notes flat. So in relative terms, even flatter than before.
Over the years both Rudalls and Nicholson (and probably therefore other makers) progressively shortened the feet, until finally Siccama and Pratten (effectively goaded by Boehm) pretty much got things back in to tune. So we can see that they considered these earlier flutes to be wanting.
Now, I know there are some makers and players who claim that this is how flutes were to be made and played, and that with enough practice you can, but I’d challenge anyone to record in front of witnesses a piece at dance speed or allegro, then play it back slowly into an FFT analyser so we can check the pitch of each note. I think that Nicholson’s own words were he comments that many claim his flute is out of tune tells us that a) it was, and that b) he could get around it in performance. But he was Nicholson and there probably hasn’t been a flute player like him since.
Was he being like the femme fatale that recommended to aspirant femmes fatale that they start every morning by scrubbing their face vigorously with a wire brush?
So, more work to do before we can really be sure of what happened, how it happened and why it happened. My own feeling is that you can kid yourself that you can play such flutes in tune, but you are using up more of your resources doing it, and that those resources could be better used elsewhere.
Terry
Hey thats great stuff Terry!
Thank you!
Glad to hear that practically no one can lip those things in tune.
Here I thought it was just me lacking the chops to muscle it to the floor.
A few words from Terry and I’m instanty a better flute player.
Thats magic right there kids!
hehe.
I have found that on a few of my flutes that were originally made to play at A=420 htz, like my Blackman/London. I know this, as the tuning slide has to be all the way closed to play 440, that the flute is in tune with it’s self at 430 tuning. But when it is played at 440 the foot becomes flat, along with the G and F# respectivly. The funny thing, as Terry has pointed out at his web site, the flutes that play best in the lower tuning, but have the tuning slide pulled way out, until it is ready to fall out! I could see the maker trying to satisfy the 430- 460 htz players, but it is kind of extreme… I mean, "what with that?:-?
My guess would be that the makers just used the template from the originals that were made back when the tuning was 420 and never changed them. So I guess they could have copied the wrong section of the corps de rechange, but it is kind of strange that they didn’t grab #6 instead… It seems that Clementi flutes were quite prolific and later Prowse, as I find a lot of them with different brandings on both sides of the pond. Meacham, Firth, Hall and Pond, Wrede and many others, and the tuning is usually a problem. All the american flutes that I have, do not have the flat foot, only the Firth, Hall and Pond 8 key, that looks like a Prowse flute…
With the cheaper German export flutes, I have found that a lot of times the holes are in the right place but the bore is incorrect. The one German flute that fit the measurements of the small holed Rudall, I just re-bored it with my rudall reamers, and the flute came into tune. I had to take off quite a bit out of the bore, as the cone was to short, making the second octave way out of tune with the first. The problem is usually with the lower notes like E and D. The drawback to re-boring is that a lot of times there isn’t enough wood on the flute left… The original Meyers that I have, is in very good tuning and has no flat foot. It has a very strong tone also. I could see why they would have wanted to copy it.
Well I have to go take the wire brush to my face and go play my beautiful Clementi… 
that guy lives in NY, why is he using euros as his currency? 