Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Battle of the Plastic Flutes- Guo versus Nuvo

I recently made a youtube video comparing two plastic flutes of mine.  A Nuvo Student Flute and Guo New Voice Flute.  Both flutes are pretty new to the flute scene.  Both flutes are either entirely or mostly made out of plastic.  Both flutes also have very good intonation and come in a variety of colors.

The video can be found here:
http://youtu.be/ew3Vog5w_lw

 The first flute in the video is a Nuvo Student Flute. I am playing it with the curved headjoint instead of the straight headjoint.  The reason for doing this is sheer laziness on my part.  The Nuvo flute comes with interchangeable lip plates.  One of these lip plates is called "first note", this lip plate allows you to blow air directly into the flute like you would with a recorder.  This is a great feature for little kids (like my son) who want to try to play a real flute but can't get a sound out with a traditional lip plate.  Changing the lip plates is a little bit of pain so I decided to just use the curved headjoint. 



The Nuvo student flute retails around $200-$250 USD. This flute is completely waterproof. What I like most about this flute is the low register. The low register speaks very well. The high register doesn't speak as clearly and notes above the 3rd octave G are difficult to get out, granted I haven't played on this flute all that much. The mechanism on this flute feels a bit spongy, though I must say that the key placement is very comfortable. This is seriously the most comfortable flute I have ever played. All in all this is a great flute for those of you wanting a flute that you can take out into the elements. I wish I had this flute when I was in high school marching band. To learn more about Nuvo Flutes click here http://www.nuvo-instrumental.com/

The second flute is a New Voice flute by Guo. This flute currently retails for about $1,250 USD. The mechanism on this flute feels a lot nicer than the Nuvo but it should considering the big price difference. The high register on this flute speaks pretty easy. I have a harder time getting the lowest couple of notes to come out on this flute than I do on others. This flute doesn't project as well as a silver flute but I think it would a great flute for playing in a small ensemble.  A few months ago, I made a video doing a blind comparison of the Guo New Voice and some of my more traditional silver flutes.  The Guo flute was the hands down favorite of my friends and family.   Guo also makes a student level plastic flute called the Tocco flute, which currently retails for about $700 USD.  To learn more about Guo Flutes click here http://www.guoflute.com/



Out of the two flutes I prefer the Guo.  It is a lot more refined than the Nuvo, but like I said before it should be since it costs $1,000 more.  I consider the Nuvo flute to strictly be an entry level student flute while I'll can see using the Guo in a more professional setting where you might not to take your expensive flute.




Llama Hat Preview

Been working on making/designing a llama hat for a friend's daughter's halloween costume. I need to test out the pattern for larger sizes but here is how Mr. Llama is turning out so far.