Product Reviews: Haynes James Galway Q Series Flute

Oh crikey. This flute could have been made for me. I have virtually no span at all and always had to plug for fast low passages or completely change my hand position for one-off Middle Cs....NO MORE!!! Haynes have come up with something that is truly designed for midgets like me! No gizmo key and the B foot is easy to reach; the G# key is longer and the G key even more offset plus a C# trill key and another couple of alternative trill fingerings.

I wasn't sure I'd like the Haynes headjoint as it is quite brittle but the more I am playing it the more I love it. I also have a McLauchlan head and a Mancke (which I use for the baroque stuff). The head isn't "easy" like my previous Altus but the power on it is pretty impressive.

Overall this instrument is worth one heck of a lot more than I paid for it. The tuning is out of this world - every note is 100% true and with the bulk of the weight in the middle of the tube I haven't had a single twinge from my shoulder which has been a profitable repetitive strain for my osteopath over the last 20 years!

Well done, Haynes - I was adamant I would NEVER have anything other than a Japanese flute - and sincere thanks to Adam at JF for calming me down and being totally supportive through the whole process.