blessing flute

[otomah]

Just wondering if a blessing flute is brand that people would suggest for a beginner - or is this the Monique of flutes?

otomah

[bruce bailey]

Better than a Monique but not much. Get a Yamaha, Emerson, Jupiter or even a Gemeihardt first.

[otomah]

Bruce

Thanks for the suggestion. I just got my Jupiter 511 today (refurbished) and had my first lesson. I can't believe how much easier the low notes are with this than the vintage flute I was trying to learn on. Now if I can just the tobacco smoke smell out of the case...

otomah

[hornimprovement]

I have sold,rented, and serviced numerous Blessing flutes over the years
and they are excellent. Many fine flute instructors have been pleasantly
surprised at the way they play and I have found them to be very durable under rental abuse. -JP

[Gordon (NZ)]

Hmmm.

I've serviced them, both old and new, for 24 years.

My notes of general observations say:

- G# spring too short for its diameter, giving a resistant action.
- Tone highly variable from flute to flute - often awful.
- Poor alignment of key cups with tone holes.
- Very soft metal.

(My 'yardstick' is the student Yamaha.)

Perhaps recent improvements have been made.

[hornimprovement]

Gordon, they must go through some weird molecular transformation in other hemispheres or something.-JP

[bruce bailey]

They are still bad here on the east coast US!!! Actually they are somewhat better than the ebay junk, but for a few $$$ more there are better choices. I worked for Blessing in 1971-73 and although they had no flutes then, the brass was nice as Conn had just left Elkhart for AZ and there were a bunch of good brass workers available.

[hornimprovement]

Maybe they just like the sunshine out west? I'll just have to agree to disagree... -JP