This is my primary flute. I bought it from the original owner (via eBay) in August '06. It was about a month or two old - virtually new. It retails between $2500 and $3000; I got it for $1200. It is in perfect condition with the original warranty card. It has a solid silver head & body, silver plated keys, B foot, offset G, Bennett scale. I have the Jupiter D-3 and D-2 headjoints. I prefer the D-3 because it is just a touch quieter and sweeter, less shrill in the top octave.

It is a high quality conservatory/college level factory flute. The tone is excellent and the key action is durable, smooth and fast. I can't find any obvious weak points - it is a fantastic flute. The tone has big dynamics and flexible tone colors with enough resistance to add a sparkling edge to the tone, but not the modern in-your-face flute sound that tends toward brashness. The bottom octave is big and full with some sizzle all the way down to low B. The midrange is can be played roundly sweet or with a dark menacing edge. The top octave has a noble sound which projects without being shrill.

Intonation is about as good as any flute gets - not perfect but very good. It's based on Bennett or Cooper scale (depending on who at Jupiter you ask), A=442. This enables one to pull the headjoint out a bit to get A=440, making it easier to flatten the short tube notes which tend sharp, relative to the long tube notes which tend flat, for a more balanced overall scale. The third B, C and C# tend sharp and highest Bb tends flat. But no flute is perfect and these notes are typical even of the best flutes.

I give this flute 10 of 10 stars for tone, intonation, quality, durability, and ease of play. There are more expensive flutes out there - expecially custom ones. Some are hand crafted works of art that add beauty and uniqeuness to the instrument. But in terms of the practical, tangible aspects of the flute: how it plays, intonation, tone, key action, durability, etc. I do not think they have advantages over a top quality factory flute like this. Considering they cost 5x as much, the 1011 is a superb value.

I already compared the Jupiter 711 with the Gemeinhardt 3SB. The 1011 is similar to the 711 with two key differences. First, it has a better headjoint and tone quality (or at least more suited to me). Second, it has a slightly different scale. All other comments from the comparison would pertain to the 1011.