I have had my Jupiter flugel for a year now so I thought I would give my opinion on living with it:
1. Mouthpiece choice is fairly critical for intonation and mid register playability. Throw away the mouthpiece that comes with it as it is useless.
2. Lacquer finish is very durable. Quite similar to Yamaha. Overll finish is very good and has stood up to a lot of abuse. Also the case is very strong and has a useful compartment for music and other things in the lid. Overall its a well built instrument that is likley to last a long time.
3. Good upper register. No problems up to a high F which is as high as I ever want to go on flugel. Mid register is suspect on some mouthpieces so you need to experiment.
4. Main water key does not appear to work. Its an amado and it rarely lets any water out. I have heard of this problem with other Jupiter instruments. It may be badly fitted or the surface tension may be too high to let the water out. I need to get a saturn water key fitted as this is a major bugbear and something that puts me off using it in performance.
5. Could do with a first valve trigger for E. Its a common problem with flugels but its liveable with and only causes problems with slow passages ending on an E really.
6. Some problems with edge on the sound due to its narrow bore (In the past I have used Blessings and Bachs which are larger bore) but this is just the way smaller bore flugels sound so you can't blame the instrument. It does make it less useful for classical Corno Da Caccia concertos i think (I used to do the Telemann in D on flugel but on this one its not quite the right sound).
Overall I would give it a 9 out of 10 for playability and value.If I was playing flugel as a main instrument I might go back to a larger bore instrument to guarantee a more mellow sound when I am not as well warmed up or doing a quick switch from trumpet.
It would be interesting to try it alongside the Weril Regium which is a similar price to see which was better.
I think the Jupiter is worth a shot especially if you can find a used one as they sell really cheap sometimes but you need the one with the trigger and rose brass bell.
