pete said:
That's equivocating a bit, Toby
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Seriously, if a headjoint is the main thing for flutes, there are a lot of "decent" flutes out there that could be paired with "really good" headjoints for a lot less than, say, a $35K top-of-the-line Haynes.
Go easy on me; my sister's the flute player
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Here's my experience: I have two handmade flutes, a Powell and an Almeida, who was Powell's foreman for many years before setting up his own shop. The headjoints on these two are interchangeable: one (the Powell) is Cooper-style, the Almeida is a classic Boston cut. They are very different, both in sound and response. The Powell has unbelieveable response--a bit of air and it is singing. The sound is almost painfully clear and focused, it has a brilliant midrange without any tubbiness or airiness. The Almeida has a lot more resistance, and the sound is more "French" with a whisper of warmth in the lows, some presence in the highs and somewhat muted mids.
They maintain their sound and response on either body, but there are differences as well: the sound with the Powell body (here I have to resort to descriptives) seems less solid, a bit less focused, but more agile than the Almeida, which is a bit stronger, and "adamant"--it is more stable but the sound seems a bit less "playful" than the Powell and feels just a touch distant. To use a driving analogy: the Powell oversteers and the Almeida understeers. I can't decide which I like better and the difference is subtle, but it is there.
Unfortunately I can't put these heads on my student flutes due to the great disparity in diameter, so I can't tell you about their behavior on cheap bodies.
I know that this is apostasy, but if I had my choice between a good body and a cheap headjoint and a cheap body and a good headjoint I would choose the former. I am a good enough flute player that I can get a decent sound out of just about anything (I have an old Artley and a bottom-of-the-line Yamaha, and I can get just as much sound out of those, playing all three octaves, as I can out of my handmade flutes), but nothing substitutes for decent keywork.
Rampal, when asked about the difference between his 1869 Louis Lot and his modern Haynes, replied to the effect that "at first there was a lot of difference, but it soon disappeared". You can pretty much get used to any headjoint if it is half-decent: a few tweaks of embouchure and airstream and you maximize what you've got. It is lovely coming back to the Powell headjoint after I have been playing one of the others for a while, but when I am playing the others they seem absolutely fine. The big difference only lasts a day at most. What difference persists is most evident when I am playing at relatively low power. If I open up and push air through the flute either of them are capable of singing, and this goes for my cheap headjoints as well.
This has to do (I think) with nonlinearities that manifest with different airstream velocities and flows, but the upshot is that, at the end of the day, the sound is limited not by the headjoint as such but by how much air is moving inside the flute body, but the approach to that maximum is determined by the way the airjet couples with the mass of air inside the flute, which is greatly determined by the geometry of the embouchure hole and affected by the restriction of the headjoint. Once you learn to "drive" the headjoint and to adjust for its particular personality you erase many of the differences you find when first playing it.
OTOH loose, clackity keywork drives me to distraction: good, tight keywork with properly set up spring tensions is a joy forever.
A final word: if you have a "bad" headjoint, and there are a few around, or an old design like the small elliptical embouchure common on flutes in the late 19th century, a new headjoint will work wonders on any flute.
And yes, absolutely: a stellar headjoint on a $2000 body is not much different from a stellar headjoint on a $30000 body. Sometimes cheaper flutes may even be "better" (that is often a matter of taste). I have a Hammig which I picked up for $600 on eBay that is only plated, but in many respects I prefer it to my expensive silver beasties. Don't get me started on gold and platinum. A fool and his money are soon parted. Enough said.
Is that less equivocal?
Toby