My mind is blown. I've played flute practically my whole life. I wanted a practice instrument that I could leave at my city condo so I didn't have to keep carrying my Yamaha with me. I saw this and couldn't believe the price. But I really don't have hundreds to spend on another instrument that will just be used in my practice room. I thought the colors would just be cool. When I received it and took the case out of the box, I looked at the cheap, soft-sided case and, well, I wasn't expecting much. Well I was in for a shock. I put it together and just stared at it. The metallic blue body and brightly polished gold-colored keys were dazzling. Very cool indeed. Now for the real test. I put it to my lips and ran two octaves of scales up and down a few times. Wow. Crystal clear, smooth tone, excellent, effortless vibrato. The pads all seal tightly with the lightest of touch. The keys all work flawlessly. I expected my finger's muscle memory to have a problem with the return spring tension. Not so. Closing my eyes, I can't tell the difference between this little mind-blower and $3000 Yamaha. I played a little Irish ditty. I played a little Bach, a little jazz and a little Jethro Tull. I certainly found a good practice instrument! If you have a good ear, especially that of an experienced flutist, the difference in sound between a really fine instrument and this is very distinguishable. Bottom line... Need a really decent, inexpensive practice instrument? Look no further. Have a child interested in learning the flute? Here you go! For incredibly minimal investment, you could start your child down a path that can provide a lifetime of enrichment. Or, did you play flute in high school or college and just want to see if you have any of that talent and skill left? Here you go! Get one and some music and go play in the basement. You'll be surprised how wonderful it feels to have one of these lovely instruments in your hands and how genuinely fine the sound is. Read more
Came so fast, order came within 2 days. Great flute for the price, amazing for beginners. Read more
Extremely good flute for beginners at a bargain price. I got this for my kid a couple of years ago. It only had one small piece break after about a year of play that some super glue took care of. I told my kid that if they made it work and stuck with it, I'd upgrade it. After two years of playing with it, they used this cheap flute to make the band team and made it sound good for how cheap it is. Read more
I am a professional flutist and was looking for an inexpensive beginner flute to recommend to beginner students. I tried it out and it plays in tune, has a great tone, and looks beautiful. I was surprised by the quality of the flute for the price. This is not the cheap-o quality flute here. It comes with the cleaning kit which is exactly what every flute and flute student needs, the case is decent and it comes with a shoulder strap too. I purchased this flute from this seller for $69.99 in May 2015, the price has gone up a little bit since then. Considering it is a flute under $100 it is a fantastic deal. If you are looking at this flute - you'll see that it has an offset G and a C foot. This means that the Key named G for the left hand ring finger is a little distance away from the flute instead of inline with the rest of the keys. This is a BONUS feature, as the inline G is tough to reach especially for beginners. I have the offset on all my flutes both Intermediate, and Professional. This is a nice extra bonus for this student flute. The other feature of this flute is the C foot. There are only 2 options here, either a B foot or a C foot. C foot is standard on student flutes. It basically means that the lowest note this flute will play is low C, aka middle C on a piano. This is an appropriate choice when you consider the music that the beginner flutist will learn for the first 3-4 years of playing will not go any lower than this C. The B foot makes it possible to play the low B, one note below C, aka one note below middle C on the piano. The low B note is commonly found in more Advanced levels of music. I know other professional flutists that still have opted to keep the C foot, and not use the B foot. I don't know how long it will stand up to a beginner flutist's tendencies to be rough (dropping, banging it into a music stand), but honestly for the price it is far better than renting, and better than a school-rented instrument. If handled with clean hands, clean mouths so there is no sticky spit put into the flute, gets cleaned with the provided swab-cloth, and fingerprints rubbed off with the cleaning cloth each time the instrument is used it could last for many years before needing a tune-up at the repair shop. Read more
Great flute for my beginner child. Read more
Bought this flute nine months ago and I have been impressed with it since tge day it arrived. It's beautiful, elegant, and sounds great. Highly recommend. My daughter still smiles when she plays it. Read more
