Some parents and students have asked me, “why should I rent an instrument or buy one for $600 when I can buy a cheap one on eBay for $100?”
As the saying goes, “You get what you pay for.” A rental flute from a music store is guaranteed to be in good working condition when you first rent the instrument. It is also covered under the rental agreement that the store will perform routine maintenance on the instrument while you’re renting it. Even a new flute (especially if it is of poor quality) will need adjustment at a repair shop after you’ve purchased it. A good quality instrument should be taken to the repair shop once a year or so. A poor quality instrument will need more frequent adjustment…and you may find that a $100 flute may start costing you a lot more in repair fees. In fact, most instrument repair professionals will not work on poor quality instruments. This is because many of these repair shops guarantee their work on good instruments for a certain period of time. They cannot guarantee their work on an instrument which was built poorly. More importantly, the poor quality flute will cause frustration and hold back progress because the student has to work much harder to produce a decent sound. Also, the time lost while the flute is in the repair shop does not help.
Please talk to your flute teacher before you buy a flute. Or ask a flute repair person for suggestions on good brands or models.
Check out this advice from a real flute repair professional:
Read “Recommendations for Parents with a 10-Year Old Who Wants to Play the Flute” on Lori Lee’s website.
