Miyazawa is a Japanese company that produces hand crafted professional flutes. The company, Miyazawa Flutes was founded in 1969 by Masashi Miyazawa. Its instruments are distributed worldwide and played by such musicians as Ian Clarke, Tadeu Coelho, Pierre-Yves Artaud, Jill Felber, Clare Southworth, Mihi Kim, Moshe Aron Epstein and Helen Manente. Miyazawa flutes are made in a variety of metals including sterling and 958 silver, gold-silver alloy, 9k, 14k, 18k and 24k gold and platinum with options for customization.
History
Masashi Miyazawa founded Miyazawa Flutes Mfg. Co., Ltd. in 1969. The Miyazawa headquarters is located in Asaka, Japan. Masashi Miyazawa is currently the Chairman, and the President is Kazu Miyazawa, the son of Masashi Miyazawa. Miyazawa worked with Danish flutemaker, Johan Brögger, to produce flutes with the Brögger System. The Brögger System is a new type of key mechanism for which Miyazawa specifically owns the patent.
Models
Miyazawa Flutes produces flutes with materials such as Silver-plated Nickel, Sterling Silver, Miyazawa's proprietary 958 Silver, as well as Gold and Gold-plated flutes including 9K, 14K, 24K, and Platinum purity levels. While the flutes are largely the same between the Japanese market and the Western market, there are different model designations depending on Eastern or Western market. To make models more confusing, the UK, listed under miyazawa.com as "/gb/flute-models" has another model system where most designations start with BR along with the specialty flutes being named as either Type I or Type II. There are numerous differences between the US models and UK models, even though some of the flutes share the same numbers, such as 402 and 602. For instance, the BR-602 is equivalent to the US "Miyazawa Vision" while the US 602 has similar specifications except the US 602 has silver plated keys and mechanism as opposed to the previously mentioned models where all parts of the flute: body, head joint, mechanism, and keys are made with Miyazawa's 958 Silver. The models according to equals markets: 102 = 102. 202 = Atelier-1 402 = Atelier-2 Vision = Atelier-3 Elite = TH 9K Gold = AZ The Eastern market also has an 18K Gold option in addition to the Western market's 9K, 14K, 24K, and Platinum offerings.
Brögger System
The Brögger System is a unique key mechanism which does not use the traditional key and mounting rod system of other flute manufacturers. Unlike the Brögger System, traditional flutes need to use flat springs which contact the body of the flute.
