Nope. A smoking flute trumps any imperfection even if its maintenance requires the occasional coke and doobs. Besides, this one has managed to age without cracking.
Now this I get.
Okay, so he shaves his legs and plucks his eyebrows. Curmudgeon.
hmmm… perhaps i misunderstood the original post. or i misunderstood the intent of the original post. but, when i read it… mostly what went through my pea-sized brain was something along the lines of… if the sound makes you happy, but looking at the superficial imperfections does not… close your eyes… listen…
… a wave can be no taller than the water is deep…
be well,
jim
I enjoyed this thread. I know I’m never going to buy a high end flute. If I had $4,000 ready to spend on something, a flute wouldn’t be it, that’s for sure. What this thread did make me wonder about though, is how much additional cost would there be to making a flute look very pretty? If a person was going to spend $4,000 on a flute that sounded good, wouldn’t they spend $1,000 more to have some custom carving? I can appreciate the OP’s desire to have something of beauty, both of sight and sound.
Personally, I wouldn’t want any custom carving on an expensive Irish flute that I might purchase. I like the elegance of a straightforward design done with good craftsmenship. Likewise with violins. The best and most-expensive violins in the world are not the ones with fancy carving on the scroll and back.
Endcaps are an art form in themselves. Not only inlayed caps but lovely designs
entirely of wood. Murray, Burns, Olwell…
http://www.noyflutes.com/photos/images_custom_head_crowns/P2042200_chat_silver.jpg
Yeah, that’s pretty much my taste, too. When I had Pete Noy make my flute, I specified that all I wanted for its looks was the classic and clean-looking standard you’d see out of your “typical” antique flute. Elegance in simplicity.
blingless…so sad
You have only yourself to blame for what follows:
http://www.noyflutes.com/photos/images_custom_head_crowns/P4151492_chatter.jpg
http://www.noyflutes.com/photos/images_custom_head_crowns/P2042202_amber.jpg
http://www.noyflutes.com/photos/images_custom_head_crowns/P2042196_ameth.jpg
I confess these make my heart beat faster.
don’tcha just hate it when they beg?
I was thinkin’ more along the lines of JessieK’s Noy,
somehow the stick on disco ball tape does not work for me. 
I suppose that, given the economy, having to hire a body guard
to look after the flute, if yer off to the loo or somethin’, could be considered a good thing.
They would also help keep the laughter down! 
He may have learned to play from Kevin Henry but he definitely got his wardrobe someplace else.
-Kirk
Understated crown bling on a simple and elegant Cochran D.
http://tiny.cc/Axmog
I’m not sure the world ever needed the S&M flute.
Or the lamprey flute, for that matter:
Life is a series of Eels.
I’m still creeped out by it, tho. A lamprey boom hit the great lakes when I was a kid - one of the first invasive species to get a lift in a ship’s bilge or in water carried as ballast. We’d see dead salmon on the Lake Ontario beaches, each with one or two lamprey punctures about the size of a nickel on their sides. Once in a while, we’d see one swimming in a pond or creek. Yuck.
Less is more as regards flutes. As to Michael’s attire, well he is a former Golden Gloves champion so I guess he has the balls to wear whatever he likes and carry it off 
Hey, look what I found!!
