Matija 202

Description

This is an intermediate flute with a few options to choose from. The delivery time is usually about 2-3 weeks depending on the options selected, unless it’s a standard and the simplest version: cupronickel body, silver plated, alloy springs, B foot, open hole, felt pads, and either plated or 925 silver headjoint which we can deliver within a week. Read full description below the options! The system only displays a part of it on top.

Body material: The most common one is cupronickel, or an alloy of copper and nickel. It is not too hard and not too soft, easy to work with, easy to silver plate, and cheap. Nickel silver is an alloy of copper, nickel, and zinc. It is a bit harder and more resonant. It is slightly more expensive. 925 silver is used most often among all other silver grades as it is not too hard and not too soft, easy to work with and it has a nice sound. If all parts are made from the same kind of silver, and silver solder of the same color is used to join them together, then a flute is usually not plated. However, if the tubing is 925 silver and the rings, barrel, ribs and the mechanism are made in cupronickel or nickel silver, then the whole flute is plated.

Pads: Felt: The most commonly used pads over the past many decades were wool felt pads covered with bladder skin. That’s what we call “traditional felt pads”. I wouldn’t say they are the easiest to work with, especially coming from Powell flutes where we only used Straubinger pads, but other than handmade flutes, basically all other use felt pads. Most flutemakers have been trained to use them, and for that reason it is the most practical choice which results in a lower price. If padded well, a flute with felt pads can sound just fine. In fact many players prefer felt pads over the harder pads which are more delicate, and require more skills to install, and a repad with those can cost a lot. Magnetic: Quite a few years in the making, we have a pad that brings the two worlds together, namely soft felt pads, and hard professional pads. The whole purpose of having a hard stabilizer glued to the cup, and a hard pad backing, or the bottom part, is that the pad stays reasonably flat which helps the process of installing them properly without leaks. They also tend to resonate better. Our magnetic pad comes in two parts also, a magnet stabilizer glued to the cup, and a magnetic silicone pad which adheres to the stabilizer. Those two parts together act as a hard pad with a soft surface which is a bit forgiving even if there are some minor leaks. There are no screws and washers, and therefore none of the problems associated with them. Other than that, the process of padding is the same, and any technician should be able to do repairs on our magnetic pad flutes. We are always available to supply the pads and everything else needed.

Springs: Alloy springs are mostly steel with maybe other metals, and I am actually not sure what they are 🙂 They work just fine Gold springs are softer and the spring action is more subtle. The are a bit easier to adjust, especially if the spring is short, as in some keys is the only possible solution. They cost a lot more of course Plating: Plating equipment and process got better over the years like everything else in the world, and as the result, the layer of silver or whatever other metal is often thinner. Sometimes, or maybe more often than not, the plating doesn’t last more than a year or two, but normally it lasts a few years depending on the player’s body chemistry, climate, etc. Normally flute companies don’t have plating facilities, and it has to be outsourced. That means that we don’t really have much oversight of the process, and we can only pray that it went well, and we don’t have upset customers a couple of years later. It is also assumed that we get what we pay for, and cupronickel silver plated flutes are so affordable that they are practically disposable, and expected to last two, three or five years at best. In the past, when plating was thick, you could actually get a flute that would last ten or twenty years without the plating wearing off. This is still possible of course, and we will see if we can make it an option. In the meantime, what we learned from the jewelers, a layer of rhodium can be added on top of silver, and it would make the plating more durable. We are just beginning to use that, and that’s one of the reasons why we situated ourselves in the midst of the jewelry hub of the world.

Key holes: Overture model comes with open holes as standard. There are some players who prefer closed holes, and we can accommodate that. It might take additional time as it is not standard.

Silver headjoint: Self explanatory. You could have standard silver plated cupronickel headjoint, or 925 silver one. I don’t have a good explanation as why silver headjoints normally don’t include silver crown, but that’s how it is in China, and maybe elsewhere for intermediate models. However, we offer silver or yellow or rose gold crowns and virtually any gemstone you can think of. We can just walk down the street to an enormous gem market, and get whatever you want, whatever size and shape you want. We can also design a custom crown according to your wish. Just make a hand drawing and we will take it from there. The price depends on the materials and the complexity of the design.