1. Free Serial Number Lookup
2. Emerson Flute Serial Number Lookup Model Year
3. Yamaha Flute Serial Number Lookup

Hi Jen, I was looking at your as my teenage daughter is in need of a new flute. You mentioned that you felt that folks should stay away from Gemeinhardt and Armstrong flutes. These are both brands that my daughter has heard are reputable. Can you give me more information as to why you feel differently? Thank you for any advice you have to offer. I get my information from the collective wisdom of the four different flute discussion groups that I read each day. For the last 6 years, the 1000+ flute teachers on those lists have been comparing student level, and pro-level flutes for longevity, reliability and sound quality.

Gemeinhardt flutes have come to be known as having 'soft mechanism' in the past few years. This information is from professional flute repair people online.

Deford Flute. EL DeFord C Foot Flute Check It Out $150.00 Audio sample of Yamaha 581 flute that I am selling. Solid silver head, body, and foot; plated mechanism (showing signs of wear), inline G, B foot, CY headjoint. I just aquired an old Deford-Elkhart flute, model #3 - serial # A27654. Seems to be in cood condition.

Free Serial Number Lookup

Their company has evidently switched to a softer metal, and less precision in machining parts, which means that the keys, rods and mechanism bend too easily, and do not hold up under use. They tend to develop key leaks, binding, and bent moving parts very quickly, and students have reportedly had to take them to the repair shop repeatedly, and become frustrated by repairs that don't 'hold'.

They also have a slightly out-of-tune scale, as do many of my 'not recommended flute brands.' This is frustrating for the student, in terms of getting the flute to work fluidly, and creates more work to play in tune. Armstrongs have a different problem; they tend to have headjoints that are stiff to blow, and not particularly suited to flute players above the beginner level. Intermediate students, working on tone and fine control over the headjoint, have found the Armstrongs too rough-sounding, and hard to control with the embouchure (lips), in order to play with finesse.

I've personally found the keys and mechanism stiff and clunky; difficult to advance to fast, fluid, rapid playing. Either flute would perhaps do for an average young beginner band flutist in their first year or two (the Armstrong probably is more sturdy than the Gemeinhardt for this use), but once the student is taking private lessons, and really 'going for it' skill-wise, a better quality flute would then be sought, on the private teacher's advice.

I think it is a better financial investment for the parents to buy a single good-quality closed-hole student flute that will last for the first five years of the child's playing, rather than spend $600 on one, and then two years later, spend $1600 on another. A particularly bad idea is to buy one of the Armstrong or Gemeinhardt, or other band-flute company's 'step-up' or so-called 'professional' flutes. These are the same stiff-to-blow, out-of-tune, poorly fitted, needing repair every two months flutes as the beginner flutes from those companies, but made of more expensive metals (solid silver or gold plate) and priced at over $1400. A very poor purchase; throwing good money after bad when trying to improve the student's poor quality band-flute. As a point of interest, I had a 21 year old Dutch student last year, who was a tremendous player, who was still playing a closed-hole Yamaha 300-series after eight years, and didn't need to upgrade!!! What a great instrument for lasting that long, and playing at a high high level without trouble.

Additionally, you may want to consider that the resale value is better kept on the more desirable brands of flute, so that when and if you do upgrade to an intermediate flute, you receive closer to 2/3rds of your initial investment, rather than only a hundred dollars or so. For this, Yamaha is probably the safest bet. Check out the prices of used Yamahas at www.usedflutes.com and other used-flute sites to see how this works. Used Armstrongs/Gemeinhardts sell for $150-$300. Used Yamaha student flutes sell for $450-$800.

Have a look below for some sample ads on the usedflutes site. Finally, in the world of internet shopping, and buying a flute without professional assessment: Parents today sometimes buy online, or from a local music store without a professional flutist enlisted to pre-test the flute. This is unnerving to the flute teacher/performer specialist, as not all 'identical' flutes are in fact of equal value. And so I've recommended the name brands that I think are more likely to send out a decent flute, even if the flutes are not individually selected from side-by-side comparison. In general, when making an investment in an instrument, it's best to have a private flute teacher with you to help play-test 5 to 20 'identical' flutes (for example) before choosing the best one.

Emerson Flute Serial Number Lookup Model Year

In my opinion there would likely be a higher number of GOOD flutes (sturdy mechanism and good headjoint) among certain brand names than others. I know this from testing lots of 5-20 brand new 'identical' flutes for my own students. The brand names that are least likely to produce one good flute in 20 are listed in my 'flute brands to be avoided' mental list ( not published).

The brand names that are likely to produce several good flutes in a lot of 20 are usually found in the brandnames that I recommend. See: I suggest that for student satisfaction, ease of play, reliable mechanism, least repair trips, best headjoint, and good resale value, that a parent buy a Yamaha or Jupiter/DiMedici or Azumi. If the student is serious about the flute (studies privately) have the private teacher help choose the model. If you can afford a $1600 flute for a seriously devoted young flutist, try out the AZUMI 3000 by Altus.

The lightweight AZUMI 2000 or Jupiter 511 would be fine for a younger student. The Azumi flutes are head and shoulders above the competition at the same price level in terms of ease of play. But no one beats Yamaha 200-400 series for a flute that can be repaired multiple times because its parts are of high quality, and don't break down in student hands. Hope this helps, Jen Cluff P.S. Good reading for students/band teachers: Previous posts of mine on this blog feature videos on and that demonstrate how to avoid damaging a new flute. They are much viewed, it turns out, as many self-teaching amateur players were unaware of how easily a flute is damaged by not having a 'how to assemble' instruction sheet with each new flute.:) NOTE: The comments below contained an old supposition that may have remained too long unsubtantiated. It was a non-fact checked opinion about Yamaha flute with A in the serial numbers, or 'Made in Indonesia' written on the barrel.

Please do your own research and take the flute to a quality fluterepair technician to determine if your Yamaha flute needs key adjustments, is genuine, is solidly built, correctly finished and also is manufactured as a genuine brandname flute. I can not know as much about the era and serial numbers as a flute seller, or the Yamaha flute company.

Yamaha Flute Serial Number Lookup

I'm a flute teacher who only sees my own student's flutes. So do go ahead and contact the company, and the top experts about the flutes with various markings on them from various Yamaha manufacturing plants.

Jen Cluff, added: Sept 2010.

Version ⌊π⌋ = 3, Corrected Edition. Carl Stitz, Ph.D. Jeff Zeager, Ph.D. Lakeland Community College Lorain County Community College. July 4, 2013. Option of downloading the book as a.pdf file from our website www.stitz-zeager.com or buying a low-cost printed version from our colleges' respective. Students had the option of downloading the book as a.pdf file from our website www.stitz-zeager.com or buying a low-cost printed version from our colleges' respective bookstores. (By giving this book away for free electronically, we end the cycle of new editions appearing every 18 months to curtail the used book market.).