Side by Side Comparison of: Lazarro vs Gemeinhardt

My daughter loves this!! It looks just like the picture. She was tickled pink about the gloves included.

Got this as a gift for my daughter. She loves it and I was proud to watch her at State Marching Band. I could spot her above everyone with her green flute :)

This was absolutely wonderful. It was ordered as Christmas gift and was a big hit. Just what I was looking for.

We bought this as a second instrument for my daughter who is exploring many different instruments. We didn't want to invest a lot but still wanted a nice flute. So far, we are very pleased with this one. Not only does it have a pretty sound, but it's beautiful to look at. My daughter loves it.

I bought this for my daughter as an honor roll gift and I've never been hugged so hard. this instrument is not second rate... Her teachers have had no problems with it. And for my little girl that dreams of painting the world pink, she has one less thing to paint.

This has been a very nice instrument.I think it was well worth the price that they were asking for the instrument.

Fabulous flute for our 14-year old daughter. She loves it, and it is a beautiful instrument to look at and to listen to. And the case is perfect.

This item was exactly as we expected and it came quickly.

I've only had this a few days, but it's really a beautiful instrument, and the sound and tone is great. I am just relearning the flute. Like many, I played as a child, and now have the desire to relearn. I was amazed at how quickly I was able to pick this up and start playing. I think it's great for the beginner to intermediate.

I cannot believe I found this flute at the price I did. My daughter was taking a music class and was using her grandmothers flute. When my daughter said she wanted to continue I saw this and bought.

I was looking for a decent flute for my beginner and didn't want to spend a fortune. Tonal quality is beautiful. Great find for this price.

Very pleased. Was paying 25.00 a month to rent. Good product. My granddaughter is in 6th grade. It's fits the purpose. Plus she said it's a friend magnet. Would recommend to anybody.

I bought this to olay in community band, after about 30 years of not playing at all. I didn't want to invest a lot, not knowing if I would get my mouth back or how long I would play with the band. Interestingly, I checked with the local music store who said it would cost $30 a month to rent a flute. I saw this price and thought it was worth a try. Well, right out of the box, UT plays great! Beautiful tone and keys and pads are nice and solid. Unfortunately, the mouth plate is already starting to discolor, after about 5 rehearsals. But, again, for the price, I wold rather go this way rather than sinking the money into a rental! If I had a child who wanted to start playing flute, I would probably consider this brand as a good starter until I knew she would stick with it.

I bought this flute to learn for fun as I already know clarinet and bassoon and did not want to spend a whole lot for a flute to expand my repirtoire.many people have complimented me on this flute for it's fun color and very pretty sound I would recommend this flute to anyone who wanted to buy an inexpensive flute but would also recommend that you buy the original color or nickel as the color of mine has been peeling off

So here's the scoop. OBVIOUSLY this is not on par with a high level flute. Its less than $100! But I have to say, it arrive today and I am blown away. My student flute was quoted at $300 for a complete overhaul. The guy was nice enough to tell me that its not worth it (crappy 1970's Artley nickel) because you can buy a used better one on Craigslist for less than the overhaul. I asked him about these cheap flutes online and he told me they might be fine for recreational playing (what I do) but they wouldn't hold up to daily use and most places won't fix or adjust them. I completely ignored his advice and ordered it anyway. For $80 and 2 days wait it absolutely seemed too good to be true. It came on time, reeking of chemical manufacturing smell, and had corrosion under the embouchure plate (where you wouldn't look if you weren't closely examining it). Thank goodness those minor inconveniences were the only things I have yet noticed. I ordered the silver one instead of all the beautiful colors, because other reviews complained about the color chipping off. I'm guessing its still cheap coating and not real silver, but at least if it chips off it won't be too different than the nickel underneath. I got EXTREMELY lucky and mine works perfectly out of the box, not even needing adjustment. Also, I scoured these reviews and it seems people with the most trouble are children in school. These kids may be grabbing the flute by the keys and jamming it together, which would shorten the life of any flute, but especially a cheaply made one. Not really the kids' or the flutes' fault, but fragile things don't typically do well under those circumstances. Better made flutes hold up much better. I know my footjoint doesn't go on the body easily, but I refrain from firmly gripping the keys to twist it on and just gently take my time because I want this cheap thing to last. I hate the embouchure hole, its smaller than I'm used to, but I'll get used to it in time. I REALLY hope nothing goes wrong with this. I will update if anything changes. Although honestly, at $80, even if it did break I'd probably buy another. I could go through 4 of these before it would be more cost effective to fix my old one or buy a higher quality used one.

Really like this flute. I play professionally on weekends and needed a fast replacement, as my current flute lost a couple of corks and needed pads replaced. The lip plate is the color of the cupronickel. The embouchure hole is smaller than the professional model I have, but a minor adjustment brings clear tone, even on high A and above. The cleaning rod is plastic and moves smoothly through the instrument. Only minor issue is the case interior has a strong chemical smell, which transfers to the flute. First thing is to clean the lip plate/embouchure hole with alcohol, which eliminates the odor in the headjoint. The second thing is to take the flute apart and leave it out for a few days in air-conditioning. That took away the chemical smell completely. I tossed the case and used one I already owned. All in all, a good flute.

My daughter already plays 2 instruments & is starting a 3rd. Trying to keep my rental costs down, I purchased her 2nd & 3rd instrument. The flute is wonderful-she loves the color. The only problem we have had so far, is that a pad on the bottom of one of the keys has fallen off. Fortunately, this key does not cover a hole, so it does affect the use.

Beautiful flute and sound for a decent price.

Will include clean kit

Sounds OK good price, my 9 years old love playing it.

This is right in size and amazing. Worth purchasing .

I was surprised with the sound of this flute. More than expected for its price.

Returned, no instructions for assembly, care, or use. Looked nice, but then I have never had one before. This is not something you can buy just because you want to play happy notes. Way too complicated for that.

Good

The product was initially okay. I purchased this for my boyfriend as a Christmas present. It was his first flute and he was so stoked. After a few months of use, the flute's notes were not as defined when being played as they had been. When my boyfriend took the flute around to a few stores to get it repaired, they informed him they would not repair due to the fact that the product was not made in the US, but in China and was a very cheap model. It would cost more to repair than to purchase a new flute. I ended up getting him a new flute.

Didnt last as long as i expected. it has a spring that broke

The flute plays ok. I have had it for a month now and the paint is peeling.

Received damaged. Not easy to return for a replacement. Searching on how to return for replacement for 50 mins

The flute was okay.

Not very sturdy.

I daughter loves it even thoght she never played a flute. I am diapointed because only 2 keys are working but the rest make to change to the sound at all.

Can barely get a sound out of it. but it is beautiful.

To be fair :Shipped on time= 1 starLooks just as described. = 1 starPackaging = 1 starBut could not use Parts fell off on the first key press = ( minus 1 star)

This flute is already broken and when we brought it to the store to fix it would have been $75.00 to fix and they said it was not worth fixing- My daughter used it for one season in school and that was it.

I was very excited about purchasing this flute. My granddaughter wanted to play the flute so badly. When her father knew he could not afford to buy her the school choice, I bought this one. The band teacher told us that she could use this flute, however, it something goes wrong with the flute, there would be no one to work on it. One month into her lessons a key was off key. I had a disappointed granddaughter and I was embarrassed that I could not afford the best for her.

After reading positive reviews for this flute, we purchased it for our beginning player as a replacement for a rental. Within a few months after using it, 2 of the notes stopped playing. We paid to have it repaired, since we figured this kind of "maintenance" wouldn't be covered under warranty. After a few more weeks, the same problem reoccurred (rods that went out of adjustment) and we needed to have it repaired again. The repair tech told us that Gemeinhardt had been sold to a company that doesn't use the same quality materials that the original manufacturer did. He said the 1SP (made in China) is constructed of brittle metal and that we should have at least purchased a 2SP or considered a higher quality brand.

I haven't yet contacted Gemeinhardt about this but I'm sure I'll probably get a response that "this type of problem isn't covered under warranty." Wish me luck!

After 8 months, the E flat and E natural notes stopped working. Repair shop said, "After further evaluation this instrument has been found to be not repairable due to parts not being readily available for this brand."

This rating is based on the flute that I ordered. I ordered it because one of the students in my beginning band class had just purchased one and it played beautifully. The tone was clear and rich in all registers and the mechanism was flawless.I ordered one to have as an extra flute but the third joint mechanism was not aligned and the keys didn't press down so I had to send it back. If It had been the same as the one I tried I would have given it 5 plus stars. Unfortunately I had to send it back and pay the postage.

This flute simply doesn't work. This comes in a nice box and the flute looks good, but many of the notes simply don't play.Music store wouldn't look at the instrument when I asked them to quote me for repair.

This is the worst sellers ever. First time buying from music 4 u , bought a flute had it only 2 months and it don't work . And they don't even respect the 1 year warranty . Don't ever buy from this company ever...

I bought this as a Christmas gift from Santa to my daughter (doing band). She uses it about 2+ hours, 6x a week. She takes care of it really well. It was working fine until after their band performance last week (1 month of usage). The keys just dropped!!! I am unable to return it nor have it replaced, because the window for return expired on the same week it broke. I was already afraid after hearing reviews about it, but I figured it doesn't happen to everyone. I expected it to last longer, at least a whole year of band! The band teacher is trying to have it checked out for repairs and we are waiting for the diagnosis. This is quite disappointing for my daughter (and myself) because now she has to use a loaner.

I got this flute for m 10 year old daughter, after a couple of weeks one of the notes was not working. The music teacher was not happy with this brand, I have tried to get it repaired and no one around here is willing to repair it. Basically if something happens to it, you will have to buy another one. My daughter would practice every day, so I would not recommend this flute. I had to buy another flute.

My Granddaughter loves this instrument.

Under the item description it says repair technicians approve of this flute. I have a hard time believing that. I am a repair tech and this is obviously a new Chinese made Gemeinhardt, which is made from inferior materials and will not last very long. The Gemeinhardt brand is generally very good, if you buy "real" (non-Chinese) Gemeinhardts. Anything under $4-500 is always crap.

I got this two months ago, and have been having problems with it being out of tune. It is too flat, even after the headjoint is pushed in all the way. I took it to a music store and the owner said that there were problems with the manufacturing. It was not made correctly. The return policy is one month, so I can't return it now. I just thought initially that the flatness was due to me not having "broken into" the instrument yet. Nope, the flute itself is flawed. Be careful when buying this particular model.

I bought this for my daughter and had to bring it to be serviced after only 4 weeks of play, because her music teacher realized that there wasn't enough cork under one of the keys. I brought it to an expert to have it replaced and he told me that the missing cork was the least of the flute's problems. He showed me how the inner tube of the head joint was split and peeling in two different areas. He told me that this type of damage was not normal after 4 weeks of playing and careful handling of an instrument. He further demonstrated how with minimal effort he could compress the tube which demonstrates that the metal was very thin. He showed me another flute that was used that did not flex the way that this flute did. I was shocked because I thought that the name Gemeinhardt ensured that I was getting a quality flute. Come to find out, there are different levels to denote the quality of an instrument and that often times on-line sellers will buy up the lower quality instruments that were demos, seconds, or not the normal quality and sell them cheaply on-line. I was very disappointed with this instrument, but luckily amazon was willing to refund my money. My father always said that if a deal seemed too good to be true - it probably was. Just because it is a good price does not mean that it is a good buy. Go to a reputable music store and get help selecting an instrument.

We will be returning the flute for another that will hopefully hold the lower register notes better than this one. My son's flute teacher, who has an older Gemeinhardt, says it should not be this difficult. Here's hoping.