Flute Hire – Why it Makes Sense

Flute hire is an option that makes sense for many reasons: it may be somebody’s first experience of playing the flute and the question of whether they will enjoy it or not, a returning player who wants to start playing again, or a younger player moving from a curved head to a standard straight head flute.

We have made it as simple as possible. Order online, delivery across the UK, and the minimum hire term is only three months. After that you are free to continue the hire with no maximum period, use the Option to Buy, or simply send the flute back free of charge. For more details please visit how it works.

The Flutes We Stock

Curved Head Flutes

Silver Head Flutes

The Dilemma:

You or your child has the chance to have flute lessons, but you are not sure where to start.

If the flute is for a child, then they may not be ready for a straight head flute and may need a curved head flute to start with. An adult taking up the flute may want to try it out before committing to purchasing a flute.

Reasons for hiring a flute can be varied, but whatever the situation we can help.

The choices:

The temptation is to buy the cheapest instrument you can find and see if they take to it. But can you imagine learning to drive in a car with sloppy steering, awkward gear change, poor brakes and a seat far to high or low? Not great, and no difference with an instrument.

Your other choice? Hire a quality, professionally set up flute from us.

Things you need to know:

Unfortunately, cheap instruments are difficult to play, almost impossible to tune, sound terrible, and will almost certainly discourage anyone from playing.

There is absolutely no point in having the opportunity to learn the flute, paying for lessons, and trying to use an instrument not fit for purpose!

Problem solved:

We only stock high quality flutes,professionally set up, and from trusted brands. The result is a flute that is easier to play, sounds better and will help anyone to learn and progress.

If the flute turns out not to be the instrument of choice, we offer the option to send it back and swap to another instrument.

We have two goals. First,  to offer quality flutes that help and encourage anyone to learn. The second is to make flute hire as simple and as easy as possible.

We Only Stock High Quality Flutes

We only stock high quality, serviced instruments and the whole hire agreement is completed online and the flute delivered to your door. Every single flute is checked, serviced and play tested before it leaves us. If an instrument doesn’t come up to scratch it will not leave us. The brands we choose are always the best value for money, we have Jupiter, Trevor James, and Yamaha flutes for hire.

Which Flute Should You Hire?

To help you decide on which flute to hire we have put together a short ‘choosing your flute‘ guide that will give you an insight into flutes and help you understand some of the terminology. Above all else we are happy to help with making the decision and if you have any questions or queries please contact us.

Reconditioned vs New

A reconditioned flute returns the instrument to as-like-new condition as possible, including the replacement of all soft parts (pads, corks, felts, etc.)

The flutes are dipped in a solution to remove any dirt and grease from both inside and the flute body and keywork. It is then hand polished and new oil added to keywork as needed.

Once sparkly clean, the flute is rebuilt, replacing pads and corks as we go. Roughly, 8 hours in the workshop!

Flute Hire Cost

Flute Cost
Jupiter JFL511/700 Flute From £16 pcm
Trevor James 10X Flute From £18 pcm
Yamaha YFL211/212 FLute From £20 pcm
Yamaha YFL371/311 FLute From £35 pcm
Jupiter JFL511 Curved Flute From £16 pcm
Trevor James 10X Curved Flute From £18 pcm
Yamaha YFL211 Curved Flute From £22 pcm

Purchasing Your Flute

You are welcome to purchase your hire flute. At any point during your agreement you can contact us to arrange the purchase.  Option To Purchase

Up to a maximum of six months, and your deposit can be put towards the cost of purchasing a flute, or any other instrument, from us. More details can be found here.

Flute Purchase
Jupiter JFL511 Reconditioned £299
Jupiter JFL700 New £469
Trevor James 10X II Reconditioned £299
Trevor James 10XE Reconditioned £349
Trevor James 10XE New £499
Yamaha YFL211 Reconditioned £369
Yamaha YFL212 Reconditioned £499
Yamaha YFL212 New £649
Jupiter JFL511 Curved Head £329
Trevor James 10X Curved Head £379
Yamaha YFL211 Curved Head £399
Trevor James Cantabile Flute Reconditioned £749
Yamaha YFL311 & YFL371 Reconditioned £799

What is a curved head flute?

You may be wondering what a curved head flute is, and what it is for. The curved section forms a ‘U’ shape, and makes the head joint wrap back on itself, simply making the flute shorter. Trevor James TJ10X Curved Head Flute  Jupiter JFL511/700 Flute – Curved Head  Yamaha YFL211 Curved Head Flute

This means the arms of the player do not need to be as long as for a standard flute, making it much easier and comfortable to play for a younger or smaller flautist.

The flute body is no different at all, same length, and same key work.

Do you need a curved head?

As a guide, any player up to the age of 9 will start on a curved head. Or, maybe aged 10 if the player is slightly small for their age.

The image below shows just how much shorter the curved head makes the flute.

Curved head flute vs straight head

Playing the flute

Playing any instrument is rewarding, and learning how to play the flute is no exception. Not only that, learning an instrument has proven benefits for the brain.

There have been many studies and articles written on the subject by the BBC, Classic FM, and NAMM  to name a few.

A complete beginner will find the early months the hardest, and it takes perseverance to build the basic skill set.  Once this has been achieved progress is noticeable and learning becomes even more enjoyable, especially once you progress to familiar pieces of music.

There are many ways that you can help keep your flute in good working order with our maintenance guide. It is also important to learn how to put the flute together correctly to prevent any damage.

One thing to always remember is to enjoy learning to play and new skills. Whether you choose to pursue graded exams, play for fun, to read music or not, it should be enjoyable.

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