Keyless Flutes
This is the instrument recommended for beginners, although many advanced players use them as well. One of the advantages of this flute is its durability and ease of maintenance, which can be very useful where a younger player is involved.
Buying a keyless flute does not mean buying a new instrument when you want to have a flute with keys. The middle/foot joint can be replaced with a new middle/foot joint which has keys.
In the case of block mounted keys, this is a completely new joint and does not mean having keys "stuck on" to your original flute. With post mounted keys, I can in fact add keys to your original flute, but the drawback here is that I need to have the original keyless flute for what is for most people, an unacceptably long time. The new keyed joint is of the same quality as a newly purchased keyed flute. In most cases, I will take back the keyless joint against the cost of a keyed one. See images of keyless flutes here.
I had a link here to a YouTube video of my standard keyless flute being played with wonderful panache by a young Orlaith McAuliffe. Now C.C.É has made the video private ( their perogative ), but if you simply go to YouTube and search for Orlaith McAuliffe, you've a treat in store.