Hi

I have an Azumi AZ2000 flute with a 958 solid silver head. I have recently come into a little money and would like to upgrade, preferably to something a little kinder on the high notes.

I'm going along to the shop on friday to try the flutes, but wanted to know if the schreiber is any good in the long run. I'm a little dubious of the trevor james as i think my altus head on the nickel is probably superior to the solid silver entire flute by trevor james, but I'm flailing wildly around here.

There is a possibility I could stretch to a miyazawa or altus silver plated throughout, but would a solid silver (non-miyazawa obviously) one be better? I'm trading in my current flute intact so as to be able to afford another one, so there's not really any chance of keeping my head.

I've been playing Briccialdi's carnival of venice and need something a little more, well, flexible. I borrowed a students yamaha 211 to attack one of the passages which flies from the top to the bottom, and his flute faired much better than mine on the low notes!

I'm just hoping for some advice to head into the shop with to help me make a good decision, thanks

I personally would not go for the trevor james or Schriber as an upgrade to the Azumi 2000.

What kind of price range would you be looking at?

As an upgrade, go for a brand which will last, and allow you to develop your playing without needing to change again in a couple of years time. A silver plated altus 807 or 907 will be a good choice, you already use the same make of headjoint, but the mechanism is far superior.

£1100, plus maybe another 500 if i max out my credit card. Not too sure that's the best bet. I'm wondering if I'm better staying put with mine for a while, but I know the money will disappear into the wonderful world of bills if it doesn't become a flute.

What do you think to the AZ3000? Would I be better off with a more expensive nickel altus (and a hefty credit card bill)?

I would agree with sags, although I have had a few pupils fall in love with the Trevor James silver flutes and get on very well with them. Do go to a shop with a lot of choice, not just the local music shop who stocks 1 or 2 makes - they will try and talk you in to something that may not be great - I had this with a student a few weeks ago, but luckily she had the flute out on approval, nearly £1000 and rubbish!

do you mind if i ask which make the rubbish flute was?

The Wind Section is the only shop in Edinburgh that stocks anything above a beginner flute, they're pretty good usually, always ready to order flutes in to try if they don't have it in stock, which is what we may have to do.

I'm not sure I can really afford more than the trevor james, so I guess if it's not a vast improvement then I'll stick with what I have.

I don't want to be 'had' for slander, but it isn't a make that has been mentioned on the forums as far as I am aware. I would have advised against purchase if it was one you talked about! And to be honest most students would be able to tell that it was no improvement on even quite basic student models.

Don't rush into anything, there is a lot of choice out there.
Consider how satisfied you feel separately with the mechanics of your current instrument and its tone quality.
Then consider whether, you wish to upgrade the whole of it, or only a part of it - maybe a really good headjoint on your Azumi body would give you the result you are seeking. Or perhaps you dislike the mechanism and would rather invest in a new body? What about a seconhand instrument? the Altus are generally very well put together but .... take your time and try out a lot of flutes to find what suits you. I always tell my students "when you go to try instruments, leave your purse at home! "

That sounds like a very good idea, I will in fact do that very thing tomorrow

Where would be a good place to buy a second hand instrument, and also to sell mine? I'm kinda over a barrel at the music shop as they have offered me 500 trade in on my flute, when considering i only paid them 700 for it nearly 2 years ago, I'm not sure I can get a price like that elsewhere, nor have any idea where to look.

And can I just say how pants the flute emoticon is, it's cute and everything, but everyone elses move, no fair! (except the clarinet, who appears to be turning a fetching shade of scarlet)

I'm actually really happy with the mechanism, I barely move my fingers and the holes cover beautifully. The embouchure hole is really rectangular, altus says it's to give resistance throughout the range, but in my case, it means screeching in the 3rd octave. It really does sound awful on the upper register, so I'm thinking ditch the whole flute and get something different

One thing, where would one go to try out different headjoints? Please say something within reach of Edinburgh! I feel a london mission coming on...

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Flute-2059/2008...anced-flute.htm

Someone is asking a similar question here.

If you are considering going to London, look at rail prices on www.nationalrail.co.uk - you can get really cheap tickets if you book now for after the schools have gone back (but beware - they're usually non-refundable if you don't travel) and there some basic but very clean hotels around Paddington or Victoria on www.lastminute.com. It might be cheaper to stay overnight and have longer to look, play and consider!

I only had £500 plus my flute to trade in, so a trip to London would be very expensive, maybe at some point in the future when I'm in a better position.

I actually did a whoopsy and went to the flute shop with my flute and purse and therefore came home with a new flute.

Having tried out the miyazawa 102, which I knew I couldn't afford, but needed to compare them; I found the Trevor James virtuoso 3 with gold riser and lip plate (second hand) to have a lovely rich dark tone, preferable to the light, bright tone of the miyazawa. It's high notes didn't play quite as easily as the miyazawa, but a ###### of alot better than the azumi. I proved conclusively that the high notes on my old flute suck, and (thankfully) it's not just me.

The trevor james V3 9LR flute was £795 and in perfect condition, so with the trade in of my old flute I only handed over £295, thus ensuring my electricity bill gets paid.

At some point in the future I will take a trip down to London and peruse head joints and payment options, as I would like a solid silver miyazawa head joint, or maybe another will suit. Now I have a nice solid silver to put it on!

Either way, I'm actually really happy with the sound of my new acquisition, and am now off to upset the puppy with more playing!

Thanks guys x



I'd just like to point out the the #'s were only the opposite to heaven and not swearing!

Hey

Me and the trevor james flute had a terminal falling out and it trotted back off to the shop. There were 2 main problems with it:

1. I'm allergic to the lip plate. Usually copper that sets me off, so that's probably what's in it.

2. High F# and C were awful out of the highly well acoustic-ed practice room, almost impossible to get c to play immediately without running up to it.

So I trotted off home with a beautiful flute that sounded much better out of the practice room and into the store room (normal acoustics). It can slur from bottom C to high top C. My lovely miyazawa 102 was obtained half on credit and I'm very happy. I just hope the eczema on my bottom lip goes away soon cause it's itching and I'm having nightmares that the miya's lip plate might have too much copper in it too!

Oh and the schreiber flutes came in, it was hard to blow, making it almost impossible to get a clear tone straight away without massive embouchure adjustment, and I generally thought ugh.