ALTUS Japanese Handmade Flute | ALII (Heavy Wall)

ALTUS

For over 30 years, Altus has hand-crafted flutes that embody the ideals of vintage inspiration and modern technology. Created by Master Flute Maker Shuichi Tanaka, each Altus flute reflects his passion to combine the finest playing flutes with the finest materials and artistry.

The meticulous design of the Altus flute and its acclaimed Altus/Bennet scales offers excellent intonation, carefully tuned harmonics and balanced registers. The masterfully hand-sculpted headjoints and precision tubings produce the remarkable sound of the Altus flute.

ALTUS AL

This very special flute made out of ALTUS Silver and a brazed tube revives the legendary sound of the French Louis Lot flutes. Louis Lot, one of the best-known French flute makers, used a unique material in the manufacturing of his instruments. The composition remained a secret for decades. ALTUS founder Shuichi Tanaka disclosed this secret and several more of a generation of flute makers, to whose instruments the ALTUS “AL” harks back. Just like the vintage instruments, the ALTUS “AL” is also made out of a brazed tube. The respect ALTUS pays to these masters of their art rings in every tone of this instrument. This flute is another example of ALTUS’ capability of crafting instruments that far surpass that which is possible with conventional materials.

Altus 946 Silver™ – Altus’ proprietary Altus Limited (AL) alloy combines silver with the world’s finest precious metals. It is a perfectly engineered blend consisting of 94.6% silver and 18 precious metals, including small amounts of platinum and gold. Inspired by the preferred metallurgy of the great French flute making tradition, Altus silver was designed specifically for seamed tube creation. Only Altus silver provides the correct silver blend for extensive hand forming and represents the highest art in flute making available today. This results in a flute capable of producing a wide array of complex tonal colors.

What We Like

In terms of sound, we find Altus flutes to be extremely malleable, colourful, and offer great projection and evenness throughout the registers. Perception of sound is subjective though so you will need to try them and see if they suit you.

What is not subjective is how good their mechanism is, and it is one of the best there is. You really need to run your fingers over these keys yourself in order to appreciate it. Unlike a lot of other companies that have switched over to a pinless mechanism over the years, Altus never did, and we believe it is because they simply never found a reason to. They have absolutely perfected their mechanism. It is quick to respond, light, silent and if setup properly and looked after well, stays in adjustment for an extremely long time. It completely satisfies even some of the most technically demanding and proficient flutists in the world, and best of all, they’ve included the same design on all their flutes - from their entry level professional quality flute, the model 807, all the way up to the venerable model 1807 (AL). The only thing lacking is a fancy name to help market it better. Oh well, you’ll just have to try it and see for yourself.