BAHAMUT Bahamut B Foot Flute, 17 Open Holes

Nice quality instrument. Works well

I have never played the flute before. I tried playing this and so far I haven’t been able to get the embouchure right. At first I thought maybe there was something wrong with it because if I flip it 180 so it’s going the wrong way I can get it somewhat right but I had a friend that plays look at it and they think it’s something I’m doing wrong. They were able to play it and get what they said was a pretty decent tone for this level of flute but also said it wasn’t the highest quality flute for a beginner. In fairness to this flute they considerably over guessed the cost. I haven’t had much free time of late but I’m going to keep working with it and see if I can improve my form.

Going by my friends observations I would say this flute might be a good choice if your funds are limited and especially if you’re not extremely serious about playing the flute, more just a try and see how it goes.

I’m actually quite pleasantly surprised by this instrument. For the cost, I was expecting something extremely stiff and resistant to play, but getting a decent tone is surprisingly easy. There’s one big issue which I’ll get to, though.

I’m comparing against a Yamaha 221 for this review. It’s not an entirely fair comparison given the price difference, but the 221 is An Flute that many beginners learned to play on. I’ll make a good benchmark.

First of all, the workmanship is a little lacking. For instance, there’s a design stamped around each key. On some it’s well defined while others it’s very light. The small pieces are sometimes a bit crude, but functional. It’s about what you’d expect for a sub-hundred dollar flute, but even an old Bundy or Artley looks nicer.
There were also sharp burrs around the bottom of the head joint, which should have been cleaned up at the factory. Thankfully, it’s mostly reserved to out of sight areas, and everything moves smoothly and accurately.

As for tone quality, I was actually quite shocked at how easy it was to get a good sound out of this flute. When compared with the Yamaha, it does feel like the material is less eager to reverberate all the way to the foot, but it’s also not what I’d call stiff. It’s surprisingly friendly. The pads all seem to seal well, too. In manners, I’d prefer it over the previously mentioned budget Artley or Bundy.

On the subject of the pads, though… This is the biggest issue with this instrument. Most of them, I counted twelve, were sticky right out of the box. While the keys still open freely, they do produce an annoying click. Since there’s no way to clean tissue-covered felt pads, the only fix for this is a replacement by an instrument repairperson. That’s going to cost more than the instrument is worth. I know it’s a very cheap budget flute, but this is disappointing.

When you first unpack it, there are a handful of red plastic wedges you’ll need to remove. Included are a cleaning rod, a small screwdriver, and a polishing cloth and cotton gloves for cleaning. The case is decent quality and the zip-up type. While there’s an outer pocket, there’s also a LOT of wasted space taken up by the formed insert. There’s also no specific spot for the cleaning rod, although being plastic it won’t scratch the inside of the flute up if you store it there.

This really is a mixed bag. On one hand, I’m impressed at how readily this flute can produce a good tone. It doesn’t feel like a struggle to play, in the slightest. There are some signs of poor workmanship, but thankfully they’re only visual and don’t seem to affect operation. On the other hand, having this many sticky pads OUT OF THE BOX is entirely unacceptable. I’m not sure if this is an issue with mine (showing poor QC) or not. Then again, it’s quite amazing you can get such a playable instrument for so cheap. I give it an ‘ehhh, you get more than you pay for, but maybe you should look higher up’ rating. For a casual player, it would do fine.

I’m having some of the same issues as other reviewers. This flute looks beautiful and is packaged well. The case is nice, and so are the extra accessories. However, at the end of the day the sound isn’t working for me. If there is some magical way to assemble it that I’m missing, I couldn’t tell you. It seems self explanatory on putting it together but there aren’t actual instructions included. So no matter how I do it, it’s just blowing air. No musical sounds at all. I suspect it isn’t sealing properly, but as a true beginner, that is just a best guess.