Short story: It’s a used David C Williams silver headjoint with a gold riser. I purchased it from Flutistry for $1795.

This is the first time I’ve purchased a headjoint. I was in the market because one of my teachers suggested I consider changing my headjoint as an affordable way to upgrade my instrument. I was specifically looking for a more immediate response, as my current headjoint was quite resistant and finicky about responding.

In September this year, I scheduled my first in-store trial at Carolyn Nussbaum in Plano. It was very easy to set up- they asked me what kind of flute I had, and when I arrived, they were ready with several headjoints that fit my instrument. I got to play in a private room for as long as I wanted.

I found a couple of headjoints I liked- my favorites were the McKenna with gold lip plate and Adler wings and the Arista, also with gold lip plate and platinum insert.

There’s definitely a different quality of sound with gold! Because I had a specific quality I was searching for (response), I sorted through the options pretty quickly. If I wasn’t sure, I checked it side by side with the headjoint I was currently playing on. I was pleasantly surprised with the different colors and depth in the sound from the gold. That became a second quality that I looked for in my headjoint.

In October, I returned to Carolyn Nussbaum for another in-store trial. I got the two favorites from the last visit, as well as some other options. However, the two that I had liked before remained the favorites. This time, I did a take home trial of McKenna and Arista.

I had the headjoints for a week. It was interesting- at first, Arista seemed easier to play. It definitely had the ease of response and depth of sound that I discovered I wanted from my headjoint. However, it wouldn’t take as much air as the McKenna. After a certain point, when I put more air through it, it became “tinny” instead of resonant.

McKenna required more accuracy with the attack, and had a little more resistance than Arista (though less than my headjoint at the time). At first, I perceived this as a downside, but then I realized with practice that the McKenna could take a lot more air, and the resistance allowed for a really voluptuous, smooth legato.

By the end of the week, I definitely preferred the McKenna over the Arista. I believe the Arista was around $2400, and McKenna around $3200.

I didn’t want to do a payment plan, and wasn’t really prepared to drop that much cash on a headjoint. I decided to look for more options, so I contacted Flutistry.

They scheduled a consultation with me on Zoom, where I told them the qualities I was looking for, what I do, what I’d tried, and what I liked and disliked.

During the week of Thanksgiving, I received 5 headjoints to try. It was a little frightening to see the invoice for $15,000!

The Powell was a little too big for my flute. The other Williams headjoint had Adler wings, which I liked on the McKenna headjoint, but not so much on this one, for some reason. Arista was almost the same one as I had tried before, but with a silver lip plate. Martin Gordon didn’t fit well in my flute (though I know this is adjustable), and was also more than I was looking to spend.

I didn’t do a side-by-side comparison of McKenna and the Williams headjoint I ended up purchasing, but I felt confident in my decision after my trials. I definitely got the qualities I wanted in the Williams headjoint, and I knew at that point that this headjoint was a “bargain.” It is used, and has some scratches and tarnishing on it, but that’s not something that bothers me. In the end, the price was was a big selling point. I realized that it didn’t really make sense to buy a headjoint that cost almost half the price of my current flute.

It’s funny how we project ourselves into the things we own, and I definitely saw this in headjoint shopping. Of course, the first priority is the sound, but I think we also use the look of the headjoint as a way to express ourselves. Some people like elaborate engraving, or colorful gems on the crown. I realized that I actually really did not want that. The look of this Williams headjoint gave me the perfect (for me) restrained elegance. There’s a little gold ring around the crown, which is a nod to the gold riser. You don’t see the gold riser unless you look under the lip plate, but it definitely influences the sound.

I am so pleased with my purchase! I got what I wanted at the price I wanted (under $2000). And now I have access to new frontiers of tone color, dynamic, and articulation!