Product Reviews: Yamaha YFL-874W Wooden Flute

I have been brought up and played professionally on solid silver flutes all my life.

For some time now I have had the debate with professional colleagues on the merits of wooden flutes.
How many times have we heard the expression - “ that just sounds like a wooden flute “ and what extraordinary lengths do we go to trying too make a metal flute sound like a wooden instrument !

One word of caution though - metal or wooden, you will find that there are many poor instruments on the market out there. So, to avoid disappointment from the outset, it is always advisable to start looking at the top range of the market. Don’t be put off with an inferior instrument. It is always better to stretch the budget that bit further if possible.

I have recently been “ converted “ and purchased a new wooden flute - YAMAHA 847W.

The experience of playing my new flute has changed my whole approach to tonal expression.
I have found that this particular flute offers the player a wide tonal range without the loss of carrying power. Articulation is crisp and the quality of the tone is incredibly sweet throughout the full range of the flute register.
If required, the sound is very full and can be extremely powerful, contrary to the belief that a wooden flute produces a
“ weak and weedy “ sound. One of the first comments was - “ good grief what a powerful instrument “ not at all what we expected !

It is particularly well suited to the Baroque, Classical and Romantic repertoire giving the timbre of sound of a wooden flute, without the “ technical battle “ and problems of intonation and articulation of flutes prior to the introduction of the Boehm system.

Fellow musicians have expressed their opinions to my “new found love“ - and thoroughly enjoy the full rich and broad tone which my flute has brought to the ensembles in which I play.

I need to point out however, that I do still continue to play my Oston-Brannen and Powell silver flutes. The need for a modern, more strident hard sound is still required in certain situations. Perhaps this is the only negative issue, but on those grounds I would never part with this instrument because even in those situations, it will still give a metal flute a “good run for its' money“.

The wooden flute has certainly given me a new approach and re-think to flute playing. It has also improved all aspects of tone production on my silver flutes !
From personal experience, I thoroughly recommend that any flute player looking for a wooden flute tries the Yamaha 847W - it is good value for money and is a first class professional quality hand-made instrument.

At this point, I do need to give my thanks to the staff at Just Flutes for their enduring PATIENCE and abundance of TIME given during the many hours I have spent trying out the instruments in their practice rooms. The facilities are excellent and the quality of service during and after sale is first class.
I also highly recommend Ian McLauchlan of the service department.