I have purchased a vintage Muramatsu flute. It has a silver plated body and head and is the model where there is a brace/linkage between the foot C# spatula and the key cup. It is marked;the muramatsu flutethen in smaller script underneath;muramatsu flute - mfg co - tokyo.There appears to be numbers on the trill key plate but they are too small (for me) to read. Curiously, it is not marked Tokorozawa as the more modern flutes. Does anyone have a passing knowledge of this era of flutes?
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Any information would be greatly appreciated. I would get a magnifying glass to read the serial number, then ask Muramatsu.Their website page says:'Who has information about my Muramatsu flute?Flutes manufactured after April 1995 are all registered in the Muramatsu America database, as long as your flute was purchased through a legitimate dealer or agent, of course. If your flute was manufactured before April 1995, we will be able to contact the factory on your behalf to obtain information about your flute.' They don't reply. Or at least they didn't with me. Hold the head by the crown end.
Flick the open end with your finger. If it rings it is not silver. If it makes a dull 'thunck' sound, it is silver.The serial number of my one is on the head receiver. But is different, being a top model, hand made.If that case is plastic it does not look like it is 40 years old. Were plastic cases like that made in those days?I wonder what that brace is all about.
I've never seen such a thing - on anyflute. IMO it would be a lot weaker than the rest of the key and could not really be considered a brace.
Thanks again everyone for your input. The story with the instrument is that I saw it for sale online for what I think was a pretty reasonable price. It looked interesting, so I jumped in. Yes, the case it definitely non original, it is from a yamaha 221, but protects it adequately. There are no dents/dings/pings on the body or foot. There is a very shallow ping on the headjoint.
All tenons fit snugly. There is no play in the key work. I have done the 'tap test' on the flute and the headjoint is definitely not solid silver. The lip plate could possible be solid silver.
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I agree the embouchure hole looks of an older style compared to my newer headjoint, but that's not really an issue, as I was primarily buying the instrument for the body. When I get time to fix the leaks I will try the headjoint that came with it and see how it sounds. Lastly, I don't know if the C# brace is aftermarket. It looks very clean to me. I am attaching a link to an old online ad that has what appears to be the instrument, which they describe as being a, ' Muramatsu M 40 ', which also has the same brace.
Thanks again. I think the head is silver too. There is a possibility that the whole flute is sterling. You need to have the thing assayed by a Jeweler BUT do it on the dirty area where the tenon fits as silver plating can give a false reading. That arm on the C# looks added on and is nice as the spatula on flutes tends to bend down with use and this helps to keep it in place.Another simple test for silver: Get a small neodymium magnet. D6x1mm or D8x1.5mm, or something like that would be suitable. With the flute on a slope, slide the magnet down inside the flute where there are no tone holes.
Compare with a student flute. If the magnet slides down about 5 times slower in the flute being tested, then it is silver. Some of my magnet customers buy them for testing silver and gold.The science behind it: Google Lenz's law. Silver and gold are excellent conductors compared with copper-nickel alloys.
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