Hello!
The chance has come up and i wish to buy a new silver flute.
My current one is Artley Silver plated.
I dont know what to go for. Something more than a beginers flute.
Can you all give recomendations? Also is there anywhere near me (nr. edinburgh/scotland) that i can listen and play to try them out?
Hi Lifeforms,
My student flute (in the 80s) was an Artley, which was my Dad’s hand-me down. I’ll hand it down to my child someday. Then when I was 17, my parents gave me the finest gift they’ve ever given me, a Yamaha 581H. They’re still the finest semi-pro flutes out there, in my opinion. Another poster, Madeleine, has an even higher-grade Yamaha. Ask her about hers. Other brands I’d consider are the Miyazawa flutes (I’ve never played one, but they make hands-friendly flutes and Joanie Madden plays one) and Prima Sankyo, which I have played and was the equal of my Yamaha.
Since I’m in the U.S. state of Michigan, I can’t give you any tips about where you should find a flute in Scotland. But you should know that no amount of reading about flutes will tell you what you need to know to buy one. You MUST play it before buying. It’s going to be your companion for a long time.
all the best,
Cara
Lifeforms,
Do you have an idea of the price range you are looking in?
kitty
In October my parents realized I did have talent and got me a Yamaha Allegro, which I guess is like the Pro Yamaha serious, but not quite. It’s a really good flute, my flute instructor is blown away by it (which is always good to hear from a person that plays a $15,000 flute). It’s reasonably priced (I think) It cost around $1,500 which isn’t too bad for a solid silver, opened holed, b-foot, lined with gold flute 
. My friend Anna has a sold silver flute made by Pearl that was only $1000. There are special wood wind magazines that will let you try out about 5 flutes at a time to see which one you like best. Also, Go to your local music stores too… they’re always helpful.
[ This Message was edited by: chanse on 2002-06-15 02:33 ]
I don’t actually have or play a silver flute, but in the course of reading around flute topics on the web I came across these, which might be of use. allflutes is based in London but has an interesting web site, and would send things.
http://www.allflutesplus.co.uk/lutescotland.co.uk/
Have you heard of the Scottish International Flute Summer School, at Strathallan? Sounds great, but not for wooden flute or traditional music. It has some links and contacts, thought.
http://www.flutescotland.co.uk/
Can you let me know if you find a great music store near Edinburgh, please. I stay near near Dunkeld.
Pamela
Hello! Thanks for the pointers so far. im looking to spend around £300ish (about $450) so am looking out for bargins as well.
I know its not a lot when it comes to a new flute, but its about as much as i can go to.
One of the reasons of getting a new one is that my current flute needs an overhaul. And the cost of that will be more than i paid for it, and not that much less than buying a new one.
The other way i was thinking of doing it, as i dont have a huge amount to spend, is to buy a flute second hand, or cheap, and then buy a solid silver head and use that. Is that an impractical thing to do?
after thought
Maybe i dont need to go for a super douper model
I teach myself to play, so have not had any lessons at all, so I wouldnt even know what grade i would be up against. Would it be worth just getting another beginers flute?
Plus I read about flutes that are suitable upto say grade 6 or 8. What happens after that grade? do they just stop working? 
or is it just that they wont be good enough to use after that grade?
[ This Message was edited by: Lifeforms on 2002-06-15 10:24 ]
Lifeforms
Actually, though it’s not a lot, I get my intermediate Gemeinhardt for around $430. Everyone else has been pointing you to Yamaha, mostly, and yes, that is a very good quality flute. I think (even though I’ve never played one, just from the great things taht people have told me about it) it would be worth spending your money on. I guess personally, I point you to either Yamaha or Gemeinhardt. My Gemeinhardt is a wondeful flute and I don’t think that it compares hardly at all to the student Emerson that I had.
No, that’s not an impractical thing to do. But you do have to make sure that the body is in pretty good shape. Just because you have a solid silver headjoint doesn’t mean that you’ll sound great if the body is in bad shape.
I know what it’s like to have a beginner’s flute, and though they’re all right for a while, at one point or another, it’s time to upgrade. One, you’ll sound better, and two, it’s way more enjoyable.
No they don’t just stop working. 
Like I said, then I think it’s that they need to upgrade to a better instrument.
Hope I’ve helped…
Kitty
\
The Lord is faithful to all His promises and loving toward all He has made.
Psalm 145:13
[ This Message was edited by: kittythorn on 2002-06-20 21:03 ]
Thank you, it has. Its difficult which to chose or where to go. I ultimatly would like to listen and play it before i buy, so will continue looking out for some where where i can do this.
one more quick question, what is the split E mechanism, and is it something that i need to look out for?
On the split-E, that’s not something you are likely to encounter in the price range you are working in, so I wouldn’t worry about it.
What it is: if you look at your flute, you’ll see that the G key (3rd finger left hand) moves its neighboring key with it, and that in fact they are physically connected together. This is fine for every note on the flute except high E, which needs one of these open and the other closed for the best possible venting. It makes the high E easier to hit and a little better in tune.
Another advantage for the repairman rather than the player is it adds a much-needed adjustment between these two pads. Because those two move together on most flutes, they have to be adjusted to hit and seal together using only paper shims, which is one of the more challenging parts of repadding a flute.
(I have recently been told some repairmen bend the keys. You don’t want that done: on a plated flute, it’ll break the plating, and on a solid silver flute, it’ll weaken the key over time.)
All that said, if a flute is properly padded and the keys are the proper height over their tone holes, you’ll have no trouble with that high E.
As for brands in your price range, you should check Gemeinhardt–they make a very solid flute.
Best wishes,
–James
http://www.flutesite.com
[quote]
On 2002-06-15 17:30, peeplj wrote:
On the split-E, that’s not something you are likely to encounter in the price range you are working in, so I wouldn’t worry about it.
split E was the best invention for the flute
To go along with what James said, a split E basically makes the high E more stable.
kitty
Just FYI, if you’d like to see what a split-E mechanism looks like, see
http://www.btinternet.com/~fluteweb/flute/notes/splte1.html
Also for many good photos of flutes and special features, see
http://www.btinternet.com/~fluteweb/flute/fluteidx.html
Good stuff.
–James
http://www.flutesite.com
On 2002-06-15 11:29, kittythorn wrote:
Actually, though it’s not a lot, I get my intermediate Gemeinhardt for around $430.
I was looking at some of the Gemeinhardt flutes on their brochure I downloaded. What model is yours? (if you dont mine me asking)
Ive come across a good site for a place in Newcastle that have a fair range of priced flutes, and will allow me to play with them if i go down. The search still goes on.
I was looking at some of the Gemeinhardt flutes on their brochure I downloaded. What model is yours? (if you dont mine me asking)
No problem. It’s a 2SH. There’s a part number on it, too, but I don’t think you wanted that.
Of course, tell me if you do.
~kitty
In the price range you’re looking at, a used instrument may get you the most bang for your buck.
One way to improve an existing instrument (assuming that is has a decent mechanism, scale, and is properly adjusted) is to buy a new headjoint.
You may want to look at Jupiter flutes…they make some nice student and upgrade flutes at reasonable prices. Trevor James is also a good bet, and being a UK company, should be fairly available to you.
Good luck with the search!
I’d recommend the Gemeinhardt (sp?) for a good medium level flute. You should be able to grow with it for awhile. Or you might be able to find a nice older Haynes. I’d say to get the best you can afford, even if it seems hard right now. That way you won’t grow out of it and have to get another new one too soon.
Heather
Thank you all for the help! I played on someones old boosey and hawkes flute earlier today, and enjoyed it. So might consider adding that to my list to try. It was very light compaired to my current flute, very old, and very sticky on the hinges/screws or pads. But still good to play. Does anyone have any experience with B&H’s?
I listened to this playing and The Boosey and Hawkes had lovely rich low notes still although the flute has been unloved for sometime.
apologies for the necro-posting, but I think that Mev Taylors in Edinburgh stock Yamaha & Trevor James stuff. I have no idea what their service is like, since I can never find the place (I’ve tried to find it twice, so far. I just suck at map reading 
), but if you want to try out a few models, its at least nearby if you live in Edinburgh.
Thank you for that. We ended up going to Stringers in york place, edinburgh. Having tried a few out I bought a Trevor J James flute. “the Cantible” its a lovely flute, super to play.