Just upgraded my flute to a Yamaha 824 (roughly the equivalent to an 814) it's second hand ....... but i had the most fantastic bargain, it's with my flute technician at the moment so hopefully i will get it next week ...... eeekk!!

WOW 800 series yamaha? how much did you get that for second hand? They are about 5k brand new. Would be interesting to see how the fully handmade with soldered tone holes Yamaha plays.

I tried out a few more flutes and headjoints yesterday.... The guys at Just Flutes were trying to convince me against my plans of getting a Powell Signature. Apparently even though it gives me that big american sound I play with, theres less you can do sound wise as compared to Altus or Miyazawa........we shall see! LAFIN headjoint..... the best I have ever tried.....no wonder James Galway has bought a few.

How does a top end Yamaha compare to other big names? Like sags says, a new 800 series would cost £5000, which is Murumatsu and Mateki territory. I was under the impression that top end Yamahas weren't quite as good as these, or am I totally wrong?

Enjoy anyway!

ouch !!

I'd love to try one but I could never afford one

Dont try one! You will fall in love instantly and then when you cant buy it you will be


As for the higher range yamahas no being any good, there are some great flautists who play on the handmade range of flutes by Yamaha such as Mimi Stillman and Jeffrey Khaner, both in the US

Yeah... I can't help thinking I'd have to try one if I got the opportunity, but that I would regret it! Hopefully I shall never be tempted to try and find out what I am missing!

I think even the cheaper lafin hjs probably cost almost as much as I played for my entire flute!! Though if I had a sudden windfall and that much money to spend, a really really good headjoint would definitely be high on my list

My flute arrived yesterday.

It's the best flute i've owned ...... so far
I've put my oxley headjoint in it, and the tone is a vast improvement, the tuning is good and the mechanism is very smooth.

It was a very successful e bay purchase !!! I bought it from E bay USA, the seller in Georgia sent it to a flute tech friend of mine in Arkansas, she gave it a check over for me and a clean before posting out to me, so when it arrived it was in an "as new" condition

I bought it for £925.00 from e bay, and with the shipping fees, import tax and VAT, the whole cost was £1205.00 which is still a bargain

I did check with just flutes, and top wind ...... the cost of this flute brand new is £5125 and they would anticipate selling a second hand one for any where between £3000 - £3500

Needless to say, i am chuffed to bits and it goes to show that although there are some drawbacks to buying stuff off ebay, if you look regularly enough you can catch a bargain ........ isn't that right sneekymum?

Really pleased you've found yourself such a bargain, angie. Enjoy!

I was wondering if you'd got it yet - glad it's all you dreamed it to be.

And yes, I've had one or two bargains (like my professional oboe) - but it's still a risk - you need to know exactly what you're looking at - which you did.

Fantastic, Angie

thanks sarah,

hhhhmmm this flute still plays a lot of wrong notes, just like my old one lolol

I think that was rather unfair of Just Flutes to say that about the Powell. The phrase that immediately comes to mind is, "bad workmen always blame their tools". The other thought, perhaps rather cynical, is that they'd sold a lot of Powell instruments and were wanting to flog something else for a change.

Powell have an excellent reputation and many professional players outside of the US use Powell flutes without any problems of flexibility or tone colour.

Regardless of what they say Im still quite fixed on getting the Powell signature with Aurumite head!!!

good on 'yer!! There's plenty of Powell flute fans around here who'll be glad to support your decision.

Wow, what a bargain, lucky you!