In the recording I posted, I am playing relatively close to 440 with the slide pulled out considerably. I’m guessing the intended pitch was higher, maybe around 445 or maybe even 450, although intonation at 440 is decent enough.
interesting to know that this is probably American, rather than German! Would there be any particular time period associated with this design? Maybe early 20th cen.?
If I had to guess, from about 1880 to the start of WWI.
I rather like these flutes.
The nickle-silver seems a little finer than the run of the mill German flutes, the kind that were sold through Sears & Roebuck as ‘good’,‘better’ and ‘best’. Perhaps not quite as nice as the ‘maille-chorte’ metal on branded, atelier produced French flutes.
These flutes would have been sold through Music Shops, and sometimes branded to the shop name. My grandfather, as a young man in Portland, Maine purchased something very like one of these flutes before the turn of the century.
Bob
So, some experimenting with tape and tenons today, and was able to get a much stronger set of lower notes by assembling the flute and taping over every joint. Fooling around with different combinations, there is a definite problem with the crack in the barrel, as once I taped over the joints where the barrel meets the head and the middle of the body, the notes started sounding clearer. There is also a hairline crack in the right hand body piece, extending around one inch from the tenon that joins into the left hand body piece, 90 degrees or so away from the holes. It doesn’t go near any of the holes, and is so small as to be imperceptible, so I’m not terribly worried about filling it (should I be?).
Now that I know that the barrel is the main culprit for the weak notes, I’m going to have to work up the courage to do the whole remove-from-liner-and-re-ream thing. What is the best easily procurable heating method? Some sort of steaming contraption?
There is also a hairline crack in the right hand body piece, extending around one inch from the tenon that joins into the left hand body piece, 90 degrees or so away from the holes. It doesn’t go near any of the holes, and is so small as to be imperceptible, so I’m not terribly worried about filling it (should I be?).
Yes, you should fill it! Even a small air leak here can weaken the lower notes. The integrity of the socket is compromised by a crack like this, and even though the crack looks tight it can open when a tight fitting tenon is inserted. The socket ring is really what is holding the socket together when you have a crack like this, so its important for that ring to be fitted and glued securely. Ideally, you would do this before filling/gluing/sealing the crack. Even more secure would be to line and strengthen the socket from the inside, but this would be a much more involved task.
Now that I know that the barrel is the main culprit for the weak notes, I’m going to have to work up the courage to do the whole remove-from-liner-and-re-ream thing. What is the best easily procurable heating method? Some sort of steaming contraption?
I use a heat gun for this and blow the hot air down inside the metal head liner. The metal conducts the heat quickly. My heat gun has two settings. I usually use the lower setting, but even with that if you heat for too long you can start to burn the wood, so keep an eye on that. You are going to have to get the tube pretty hot to melt the glue, and even then it probably won’t slide out very easily. But don’t worry too much, these flutes can stand up to a lot of heat. Wear some gloves so you don’t burn yourself though. I usually find that the liner is easier to extract via the crown end of the head.
The barrel lining will be harder to remove, because its end has probably been bent over inside the socket, which is difficult to reverse. The other end of the liner (the outer part of the slide) is often thicker, due to an external nickel liner, so the wood is trapped between these two wider diameter sections and will not slide off. This being the case, its often easier to just fill and glue the crack with the liner in place. In other words, do not ream the barrel. This way the socket will end up being the same size as it originally was. From a structural perspective this task is a similar to mending the socket in the right hand section of the flute. The integrity of the socket is what matters most, and its really dependent on the ring, so make sure this is glued firmly in place, then fill and glue the crack.
You should be able to make these crack repairs invisible on cocuswood like this. Fill the cracks with dust from the reamed head, pack it in with a knife blade, ensure that its proud of the surface, soak in extra thin CA glue. Once cured, sand down to the surface level, finishing with 0000 steel wool. Make sure you remove all surface traces of the CA glue (except in the crack itself). Finish with pure tung oil (wipe some on, leave for a while, wipe off ALL the excess, let dry for a day, repeat). Finally, apply your wax finish of choice or do some french polishing.
I phrased that poorly. I will absolutely be filling the crack, I was saying that I’m not worried about it being a complicated process to do so. I probably won’t do the whole lining thing, but will definitely do the rest!