I don’t know if you’ve noticed how much the price of flutes has gone up over the past few years. As someone who teaches a lot of middle and high schoolers, I certainly have! A closed hole, silver-plated beginner flute from a reputable brand, which used to be something you could reliably find for under $1000, is now much closer to or over that line. To find something with a sterling silver headjoint, plated body and keys with open holes and a B foot, basic step-up specs, you’d spend closer to $2500 and a solid silver flute? Commensurately more expensive.

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It’s amazing what you can find! I bought a Haynes Amadeus last week to be a loaner for my students. It was a very good deal because it didn’t have a case–that’s an easy fix! And it plays beautifully, with no need for immediate adjustment.

I second the eBay advice. I was very careful, but I had a recent good experience with it. I wanted to add a Guo to my flute family. I found one listed as “used”, but it looked pretty good in the photos. It was. It was new. Somebody might have demoed on it, but it was perfect. I saved $250 with my bid.

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I recently had an all too familiar conversation with a family who was looking for an upgraded flute for their young flutist. They had borrowed an instrument from a friend to get the student started, and they were interested in buying something that would last through high school, but for only $1500, which is what that generous friend had paid for their daughter’s step up flute…seven years ago. I should know, I was there! I taught the older girl, too, until she went to college.

I’m not writing this article to lambast flute prices—they are what they are—but to offer tips for something that I’ve found myself doing more and more often lately: managing a family’s expectations of how much flute they can get for the money. Here are some things that I do.

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