I’ve just made a search regarding the topic but found nothing. The other day, I was talking with a friend about assembling and dissasembling the flute. I know you must no grab the keys while twisting the joints so you don’t damage them but the thing is, where should I do it? Where are the twisting points?
I have a three-part six keyed flute with a short foot. I don’t have any trouble holding the middle part, to separate it from the head, because I have plenty of space there, but, what about holding the foot from the end (to separate it from the middle joint) and twisting to assemble/dissasemble it? Is there any risk of cracking?
It shouldn’t be that difficult to remove the foot, if you have the cork (or threads) greased well enough. But if it is still hard to remove, it’s possible the joint is too tight-and could cause a crack if it requires too much force to put it together or take it apart. All you should have to do is hold onto the very end of it and rotate (or as you say-twist) the foot as you pull, and it should come off fairly easily.
How is the humidity where you store the flute, and do you swab it out after playing (including the sockets)? Both may have an effect on how easy or hard a flute might be to assemble or dissasemble, along with using enough cork grease. Sometimes new flutes are fitted very tightly with the cork or string, especially if they were not made near where you live, and the humidity is very different in your area-as you can see, there are many things that might affect the fit of the joints and how easy or hard it is to put them together or pull them apart.
Just don’t force anything-that’s when a crack is likely to happen.
Good luck-and use your common sense, and if possible, ask your flute maker if you aren’t sure. Or come back here and ask some more questions (or all of the above)! Oh, and ultimately, you might just have to sand the cork a bit, or unwrap a few threads to make it fit better.
Thanks for your answer Barry!
You’re right about the humidity (I live in a really humid place) but I think the sockets are fine, not too loose, nor too tight.
I don’t have any trouble removing the pieces. I just thought that putting pressure while holding the flute onto the end (and rotating), could end in a crack or something. May be I could hold the pieces by the joints instead, putting pressure there, but it’s less comfortable and also the keys are in the middle… so I’ll continue doing it as you say.
OK, I think I understand a little better what you mean now. I would try not to hold onto any tenon (as they are the thinnest and most delicate parts of the flute), but rather hold onto the fattest part of the body after the tenon, where there are no keys.
The foot should be no problem (if it is a short keyless foot)-you can grab that in the middle and twist and pull from there-yes, probably better there than from the very end, though there shouldn’t be much pressure on the tenon when you remove the foot (or any part) for that matter. If it has keys-I guess you’ll have to figure it out by what works best without holding onto the keys.
No doubt every flute is different for ideal hand placement when putting it together or taking apart, but it should be fairly easy to figure out after a little while, yes? I guess if it feels wrong, and that it might be putting the wrong pressure on it-don’t do it! Glad to hear it doesn’t take a lot of effort to do it, though.