I must say I don't enjoy the sound of such flutes. But it worries me that I can't identify a reason. I just feel they seem thin in tone. Anyone agree or disagree?
Funny you should mention this, because I also dislike playing flutes with lip plates like this.
There are several things I dislike. I don't like the cold feeling of metal against my bottom lip, and I don't like the slight metallic taste/smell that I experience when playing them.
The full tubular lip plates add significant weight to the head, not as much as some of those old German flutes where the entire head is covered in metal, but the extra weight at
the head is noticeable to me. I tend to prefer playing flutes with a lighter overall weight, and especially dislike those that are head-heavy.
Finally, I find that the embouchures tend to be a bit unpredictable. This last point might relate to your feeling that the tone is thin.
My theory is that its because the chimney wall of the embouchure hole has three different layers: the metal lip plate, then the wood of the head, then the metal head lining.
Over time, and with humidity changes, these materials behave differently, so the surface defined by the embouchure hole's chimney wall changes shape compared to the shape
the maker originally produced and fine-tuned. Specifically, the wood component that is sandwiched between the metal parts shrinks back slightly as it dries, leaving the metal
edges to stick out a bit. If this is corrected to make it flush with the metal again, when the wood is dry, then when it gets wet and expands (during playing) it won't be precisely
aligned again. These changes are only slight, but flutes are notoriously sensitive to very small changes in the embouchure, especially around the blowing edge itself.
This is theoretically a problem both for the metal lip plate and the head lining, but can be solved easily for the head lining by filing the metal back out of the way, essentially
undercutting the embouchure hole. So long as the lining is not misaligned and has a hole that is a bit larger than the rest of the embouchure hole, things work fine. However,
it is not so simple with the lip plate, because the edge of the lip plate defines the blowing edge itself, and messing with this, even slightly, changes the way the embouchure
behaves and the tone produced.
For a flute with a lip plate to play well, the metal edge and the wooden surface inside the embouchure hole need to remain perfectly aligned, but over time, and with humidity
changes, they likely will not. I have seen this slight misalignment in antiques.
I have been slowing forming the opinion that lip plates (either tubes or ovals), with an embouchure hole cut through the layers, are just a bad design. I realize that they may be
necessary to help people with allergies, but if they are used I think it would be better to use an embouchure insert with them. If the insert extends all the way through the
head, the embouchure wall can be homogeneous, which solves the problem.