Well not literally. But as close as can be. My flute is about 4 years old, and while I’m not good at making much more than honking noises out of the thing, it was becoming difficult to get much of anything out of it. I borrowed the lady L’s Yamaha and what a difference in tone and ease of use! So a while ago I mentioned the problems to one of the folk I work for. His wife teaches flute and he immediately suggested someone local. He said, the guy is very interesting person and does the best work I was likely to find. So about 3 weeks ago I called the guy and found he lives and works only about 5 blocks from here. He’s from Russia and has been making and fixing flutes for 35 years, and also is a professor and former teacher. He has a workshop in the basement of his house, and in the shop there are milling machines, a lathe, a workbench with lots of highly specialized tools, an extraordinary cimbalom, and dozens and dozens of flutes, wooden and various types of metal. He repairs and creates truly fine instruments and yet was not at all critical of my humble Gemeinhardt student flute. I showed him the various problems with it, he gave me what I thought a very reasonable quote. I also asked if I could see him assemble the flute as I wanted to know how they go together. A couple of weeks later he called to tell me the flute was ready. I’ll spare most of the details but the flute literally works better than when new and also has better tone than the Yamaha. The key points were re-milling the embouchure, fixing the springs and adjusting the travel on the keys. Plus he polished the flute inside and out un-bent some things and corrected some errors stemming from the original production. He also said he went considerably over the time he’d estimated but refused to charge me more, even though I said I’d be happy to pay. At some point when I don’t have a bunch of monthly bills to pay, I’d like to get one of the nicer flutes. The ones he makes are in the 10K-30K range and they are both works of art and have remarkable tone.

Anyway, the repair was a very reasonable value, and while no expert on flutes, I could not be happier. Based on this experience I have a far better appreciation of what it is that AMG does to the breathing abilities of the average MB engine.

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...Tracy

'00 ML320 "Casper"
'92 400E "Stella"

Isn't it wonderful to discover craftsmen like that?

Here in River City we have a luthier that I do believe could make an old oar into a guitar. A friend takes all his new guit-fiddles to him for what we jokingly call "Walterization."

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

30k for a flute.. but you barely hear them in a marching band let alone an orchestra.. or im just looking at the really hot xylophone player the whole time..

now the piccolo's on the other hand....







they makes ears bleed....

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-1983 VW Rabbit LS Diesel (5speed, VNT/Giles build)

Yes! The guy has done some amazing restorations. His specialty is wooden flutes. I’m thinking about getting a wooden head joint as it is the least expensive way to increase the tone quality, but I’ve been enjoying my flute actually working. What a difference it makes!

The guy that did the work, his name is Alexander Eppler, to give him a plug, said that there are often minor manufacturing problems with even mid-range flutes. Another person I know of, who is a really good flute player says to take any flute, even when new, to a competent person for analysis.

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...Tracy

'00 ML320 "Casper"
'92 400E "Stella"

A friend who plays in a symphony paid about half that for hers. I'd shoot for ~7K for as nice a flute as i'd want to buy, but doubt i'll spend half of that when the time comes.

Re the xylophone player, naturally, what ever rings yer bell

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...Tracy

'00 ML320 "Casper"
'92 400E "Stella"

... are you mad?.. thats absolutly daft... but do as you must... id probably blow the same amount on some sort of home stereo equipment and play various tones to test the structural integrity of my flat

As with most things, you get what you pay for.

A truly professional, high-end instrument of ANY kind... flute, guitar, piano, trumpet, drums, whatever... is going to be expensive.

I've spent far, FAR more than that on nice musical instruments and recording equipment during my career. And I don't regret a dime of it.


By the way... Congrats, Lebenz. It is truly a pleasure to play an instrument that responds as you want it to, eh? Makes all the difference in the world, and would be worth it, even at twice the price. Enjoy.

Mike

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1979 300 SD
350,000 miles
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1982 300D-gone---sold to a buddy
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1985 300TD
270,000 miles
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1994 E320
not my favorite, but the wife wanted it

www.myspace.com/mikemover
www.myspace.com/openskystudio
www.myspace.com/speedxband
www.myspace.com/openskyseparators
www.myspace.com/doubledrivemusic

Go for it! Hell commision yourself a nice baroque replica flute.

I love musical instruments. Dang I wish I had the money. Ever notice how most players have one instrument, maybe two, and most "enthusiasts" have tons? I have a friend with at least 5 guitars at any given time. All of them at least 5k and up.

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

Thanks for the continued positive comments. I was delighted at getting past an obstacle that unknowingly to me has been a hindrance for a long time -- Something really cool happened a few days after I got the flute back. I was practicing a particular song that I’ve been struggling with since I got the flute. For the first time I made it about 95+% of the way through without missing a note. Now there is a lot to be improved by way of, well, everything, but for the very first time, the flute was able to generate tones as I’d played them. Before the tune up, many of the lower notes would not work unless strongly finessed. Well as a result I got a strong charge from the prospect of being able to actually play something. It was a first, and I also found for the first time why real musicians get such a strong emotional charge out of playing. The sense of accomplishment is surprisingly powerful and oh so seductive.

Don, I don’t understand why you’d be reluctant to spend a little $$ for a nice, fully functional machine that can last you the remainder of your life? Not that I’m hinting at spending $30K for a flute; as I said, somewhere between $3 and $7 will likely be the expense. Not quite in the range of typical commissioned products and well within the range of the off-the-shelf stuff. Now were i to find i had a talent and could maybe even get paid to do gigs.....

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...Tracy

'00 ML320 "Casper"
'92 400E "Stella"

This may be the one for you.......http://www.friendlyplumber.com/pipe_flute.html

I guess I must have done the "Pep Boys" treatment on my nickel Cleveland flute back in high school...tried to adjust the low "C" key with Vise Grips! What an idiot!

Still have the flute (looking at it now)...low "C" still doesn't play right. Hope my daughter has more respect for her clarinet!

BTW, I played piccolo in marching band for the reasons mentioned by TheDon. That little puppy pierced through everything in the woodwind section!!

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2009 ML350 (106K) - Family vehicle
2001 CLK430 Cabriolet (80K) - Wife's car
2005 BMW 645CI (138K) - My daily driver
2016 Mustang (32K) - Daughter's car