The universe of flute makes and models has exploded in the years we’ve been selling flutes. Today the number of brands and models available to musicians seems endless. This is largely the result of burgeoning Asian manufacturers and improvements in quality that have brought acceptance of their flutes in our market.
The significant manufacturing capacity from overseas has fostered the growth of many “house” brands and other “stenciled” brands, making it easy for new models to emerge seemingly overnight. For consumers this can be overwhelming. For us it means there is a huge array of models to explore, review, and assess in search of instruments that meet our stringent criteria for exceptional quality and lasting value for our customers.
Our criteria:
Construction
Taking price range into consideration, an instrument has to be of a quality that we are impressed with and it must be an instrument that we’ll be happy to service years from now.
Beyond the obvious fact that our customers are happier with instruments that are reliable, our concern with serviceability is also born from the fact that we are on the front line, not the manufacturer. If a customer has a problem with a flute, they usually turn to us to solve it, not the manufacturer. Most of our customers send their instruments to us for service year after year, so we don’t want to sell a flute we wouldn’t want to see back for service.
Value
We carry instruments of every price range, for every level of musician. We require our least expensive instrument to be the highest quality, best playing instrument we can deliver at that price.
Scale
It has to be able to easily play in tune in a modern setting. Understanding that a perfect scale for one flutist is not always a perfect scale for another, it still has to play within the realm of what is reasonable.
Selection
We want to offer a reasonable range of models in every price range so that our customers have enough choices, without leading to confusion.
Voice
It must have a unique sound when compared to other competing models we offer. It would not help you at all if our instruments all played the same. We don’t need redundancy; we need a reasonable amount of choices.
Manufacturer Support
We are responsible for giving our customer a high value, quality instrument. We support companies that give us the same level of support we give our clients, particularly when one of their instruments has a problem.