Selmer bundy open hole?

[Squeakie]

Hi, new to this forum, though I've lurked for a while.
I play native american flute, recorder, and years ago, clarinet. Now I'd like to buy a transverse flute. I'd prefer an open hole, and due to a limited budget, am looking at ebay. (I know, a terrible idea, but i don't have any options where i live to try any flutes out.)
I'm only going to play to please myself, I don't aspire to play in the city band even, though it would be fun, I'm sure. What I'm looking at is a Deford open hole, inline, silver plated. Also, what I'd like some info on, is if anyone has ever played an older Selmer bundy, open hole, most likely nickel, made in USA? I don't think I've seen an open hole selmer bundy, just wondering if it'll be a decent beginner flute. I'm not hung up on silver plating, I'm thinking of a decent working flute that i can haul around with me without feeling anxiety about it, and wouldn't be too hard for a technician to repair, so a bundy sounds like a common workhorse to me.
I know a yamaha is a good flute, but a yamaha open hole is out of my price range by a long shot, so I'm leaning toward a vintage, american made open hole flute as opposed to something made in china. I'm never going to save up five hundred dollars for a flute, at least not for a long time.
I tried the search function for open hole bundy here in the forum, but didn't see anything helpful pop up, and selmer bundy website doesn't have serial #'s up for flutes, so i can't track down the model or do a google search for reviews using that since it's too general for a web search, i get a billion things that have nothing to do with a selmer bundy pop up, basically every other kind of flute ever manufactured, so i guess an open hole bundy must be rare? Maybe a mismatched body to a bundy mouthpiece?
Are there even nickel open hole flutes?
I like doing glides and slides, not sure if those are the right terms, but it's what I do on my recorders and NA flutes, so i think an open hole will be a better match for my style, and i played clarinet for ten years during school, so i'm very familiar with open holes and keys.
Thanks for advice, Lisa

[SylvreKat]

Hi Squeakie, welcome to the forum.

You didn't say what your budget currently is. So it's a bit hard to advise you.

My only experience with Bundys is from other girls in band--those playing Bundys always seemed to be in the bottom half of the section.

I just did a quick search on eBay for Armstrong flute open hole. There's several 80B's that are less than $300. That's the same model as my old workhorse that served me from high school through post-college. Would still be my main instrument if I hadn't found the Yami for insanely-cheap. It's silver body/head, good and solid, very work-on-able by any repairman, has a good tone, keys are pretty responsive (although I did have mine adjusted, and it's still tighter than my Yami--but then it's also what? 30 years older and $4000 cheaper)

There's also a bunch of Gemeinhardt silver plated listed. Just be sure if you go Gemi that it's an older one.

Even searched Yami. There's a 285SII with two technique books for $200 from a seller with 100% feedback.

Good luck, keep us posted how it goes.

>'Kat