Product Reviews: Trevor James 31CF "Chanson" Flute

After playing the Trevor J James XX for a couple of years and no longer being happy with my tone decide to buy by myself a christmas present.

Want a silver head, open holes and a b foot joint to extend my range, since I dont want to buy another flute for while.

The finish to the flute is fabulous, on the down side the head joint marks very easily and now has a small scratch from a ring. Moving from a silver plate head joint to a silver head joint was easier than I thought and the flute has improved my tone. The open holes dont seem to have made a difference apart from being able to feel the air vibrate as you play. Simular to a wooden folk flute which I also play.

Overall very please with my purchase and hope to get many a happy tune from it.

I had a Trevor James flute as my student flute but as I progressed I needed a better flute with a silver headjoint. I tried some flutes over at justflutes and this one was by far the best, it had a nice deep tone on the lower register and it was not difficult to obtain some sweet sounding higher notes. The dynamics in the top register don't require too much effort and playing quietly is not a problem.
The middle register is good, not too airy, and pitching the notes is easy. The mechanism is great, there's not much clicking or sticking with the keys. The only problem is that it marks easily but I'm ok with that as long an I try not to scratch it.
I would recommend this flute, buying it has hugely improved my playing.
(Age 13)

This was a Christmas present so early days yet. This instrument was recommended by my daughter's flute teacher to take her into her Grade 7 exam and forwards and hasn't disappointed. A noticable difference between this and her old Yamaha starter flute. No negatives yet! Very please with the purchase and the service provided by justflutes.com

I recently returned to playing after a hiatus of over twenty years to discover that my existing Pearl flute, is now considered "vintage" (to say nothing of its owner!). Fancying a change to an English flute, I settled on the Trevor James 31CF "Chanson"- beautiful to look at and a complete package with cleaning rod etc, and the support of Just Flutes should it be needed.
I was not disappointed. This flute is a joy to play, responsive, beautifully balanced and sounds wonderful- bright, crisp, in tune in the middle and top registers, deep, sonorous and mysterious in the low register. It's easy to hit the very top notes and they are generally fuller and much less squeaky than they sometimes can be!
It came with two headjoint crowns; further research tells me that different crowns are said to change the way a flute feels and sounds. I have tried playing with both and to (amateur!) me the difference is negligible. You may think otherwise though, so give it a go!
Considering I bought this flute online, unplayed, unheard and with nothing modern to compare it with, I could not be more delighted!