C natural springy thingy

Irish Flute
1

Hey all,
this is a little hard to describe, but i hope it’s clear, lately i’ve been noticing that a metal ‘springy’ bit of my C natural key keeps on slipping down (that piece of metal below the key itself which acts as a spring to hold the key in place). that bit of metal would normally sit still in its little silver coloured circle on the wood, but this one , always wants to wander downwards, off its seat , and now it’s even carved a line in the wood :frowning: i have to push it back onto its place ever so often, but what can i do to keep it still?? it seems like something is loose.. but i don’t know what to tighten, if that’s even possible. i wouldn’t want to go anywhere near tinkering with keys in case it cant be reversed. other wise everything works fine, the key can open and close normally, no leakiness. I’m just afraid the springy thingy will snap if it ever wanders off too far

thanks

2

Could be a few things. Sounds like the leaf spring may have worked loose, where it is attached under the touch of the key usually via a “flattened nipple” if you pardon the description. It may be that the leaf spring has flattened out, losing some of the induced curvature which gives it its spring - which in turn would make the tip of the spring overshoot its predestined landing site on the flute body. A few close up photo’s of said " Springy Bit " can only help. If you don’t feel confident, you would be advised not to work on instrument yourself, and enlist the services of a flute maker/restorer if you are in any doubt as how to remedy the situation.