New Altus Flutes

Known as "Speedy" to his friends, Mr. Shuichi Tanaka, the founder of Altus flutes is a man of many talents. He is an artist, musician, engineer, businessman, and most notably a master flute maker. In 1977, Mr. Tanaka met British flutist William Bennett. The two men had much in common including their respect and admiration for the vintage flutes of Louis Lot. With Bennentt's influence and the inspiration of the finest vintage flutes, Mr. Tanaka designed an innovative modern flute rich in expressive tone colors, with ample capacity for resonance, accurate intonation, and mechanical strength. This was the first Altus flute, built in 1981. Speedy Tanaka and William Bennett shared an admiration for Albert Cooper's vision of updating and modernizing the traditional flute scale, creating the Altus-Bennett scale - a new standard for flute design. The Altus-Bennett scale was carefully designed to provide effortless intonation, impeccably tuned harmonics, and exceptionally balanced registers.

Altus leads the way in providing an unprecedented array of tubing and material choices for the needs of discerning flutists. By combining old world craftsmanship with modern alloys and tubing construction, an incredible range of flutes can be tailored to the specific needs of any flutist. Altus provides the most unique variety of flute tubing and materials in the world today.