I have recently aquired a used, fully keyed boxwood Noy. Because it was used I figured it had been broken-in to some degree; but because it had perhaps had not been played too much recently I gave it a several week break-in period by playing it first every other day, then every day for longer and longer periods.
So Sunday I took it to a three hour gig and by the end of the evening I was having what I think is some subtle key leaking. What was happening is that I would occasionally loose the bottom D entirely. Working the keys and pushing all the pads down usually fixed the problem. I think the underlying problem was that as the flute swelled with moisture one of the key channels bound up a bit thus holding a key off a little. Whatever the cause, it was subtle not patently obvious …mind this was all happening in the middle of a performance in the middle of tunes (sometimes solos) so I didn’t exactly take the time to slowly check it out. When I got home it was late and I went to bed and I couldn’t reproduce the problem the next day (leading me to the moisture conclusion). When I pulled the flute apart at the end of the gig it was TIGHT! My blackwood flute doesn’t swell up like that!
So, it occurs to me that this being my first boxwood flute I am in need of some advice from those of you out there who are experienced with the wood. For instance, I presume I need to oil it more frequently …what else? Should I just play the heck out of it to keep it at its’ humid best and make adjustments when it’s “plump” …or is this a flute that should never be played at long gigs.
The joints swelling during a long session is one of the “perks” of boxwood flutes. I sometimes have to let one of my flutes sit overnight before I can get the middle section separated from the head. For some reason this seems worse in the winter than in the summer – like the wood is just primed to absorb more moisture, or possibly the socket is just a tad smaller. In principle this can be alleviated a little by making sure to oil all the endgrain around the joints.
I don’t play with keys much, so I dunno about the sealing problem. I’d recommend sitting down one day and trying to reproduce it. It may be, as you suggested, the blocks swelling. If you can identify which one, you can take some very fine sandpaper (600 grit or so) and open up the channel a little. I had to do this once with a blackwood flute; it’s quite easy.
I’m at work, and so can’t post a proper reply at the moment, but would like to caution you about oiling and humidifying boxwood: A little of both is fine, but overdoing it on either can be disasterous, seriously. If I get the chance to upload the photos, I’ll post pictures of a Boxwood Murray that was seriously damaged by too much humidification and oiling - not a pretty sight.
My advice, try to keep the thing at as stable a humidity content as possible. You’re in Hawaii, correct? Should be humid enough as is, don’t stick the flute in an ultra humid container. Swab out the entire bore as frequently as possible while playing.
I agree with my friend Charlie that this may be fine if one is absolutely certain the problem is a too narrow key channel… however, there are other things that can cause a key to bind in the an otherwise proper keyway: This same boxwood Murray I mentioned had several keys that were binding. One person in the shop looked at the keys and immediately said “We need to open up the key channels” (file), however on closer inspection I determined that the keyways were already plenty wide, and in fact bearing plate problems and sligtly bent axles were to blame for the binding key action - things that wouldn’t be easily observable without taking the keys off and knowing what to look for.
One thing I’ve learned over the last couple of years and hundreds of repairs: These “simple” instruments often have not so simple to correctly diagnose problems.
Good point – In the cooler months, our music room is probably 65 degrees or so, so I get LOTS of condensation in the first half-hour or so of playing. I always swab the head out a couple of times during warm-up.
Loren, how much oiling do you think is too much for boxwood? I try to keep it monthly or so in the warm months, and maybe every couple of weeks in the cold months.
Why would blocks, on the outside of the flute, swell as a result of playing? I’d bet that the pads are the problem. Have you tried a bit of greasy stuff, or leather preserver, to help the seal?
Have you contacted Peter Noy-- lovely man, very accessible and sociable, about the problem?
Swelling was a poor choice of words on my part. It’s not the blocks themselves, but a differential expansion in the bore can actually cause the width of the channel in the block to change. I agree about talking to Peter. When this happened to my wife’s flute, we talked to the maker before taking any action.
Thanks for the advice thus far. I’m not going to get carried away with the humidity thing. Here in Hawaii the only extra humidification I provide for my flutes is to just play them regularly. The ambient humidity is 50-60% summer, winter …all the time. I still want to know about how often I should oil boxwood. My blackwood and mopane flutes I oil about once every other month for the bodies and I might do the head joint a little more frequently. Should I do more/less with boxwood?
As for the not being able to play the low D during that gig being a pad thing, I haven’t been able to reproduce it as yet so I don’t consider it diagnosed. I agree with Loren that these things are simple, but also very subtle to nail down and I’m not going to run amuk with sandpaper. I’m a patient and meticulous guy. Also, I’m not ruling out “pilot error”. This morning it occured to me that because the space for my “D” finger (right hand ring finger) is just barely big enough for my finger to squeeze between the Fnat key and the bottom foot keys (low C#, C) that I could have nudged up against one of these keys thus causing the D to dissapearl. When I’m playing fast with the keys in position I can sometimes feel these keys at the edges of my fingers and it was at the end of a long and tiring gig. So maybe my solution is to just roll the keys away when I don’t need any of them.
I agree with David and Charlie: It’s always best to speak with the maker before attempting DIY repairs.
Charlie, my short answer on oiling is: Once a month should be fine for most instruments, assuming the instrument is kept more or less at the proper humidity day in and out. With keyed flutes, I’d personally oil even less just to avoid gumming up the pads, but that’s just me.
There is a longer answer, having to do much with the discussion of why we oil, and how effective oiling really is (or isn’t), but that’s been discussed a bit here before, so I’ll leave it at that.
Bottom line from my perspective: I see hundereds of instruments, from many different makers, in for repairs every year, and by far and away, I see much more damage done by over oiling than under oiling.
Clark, sounds like you’re taking the right approach, and I do think you may well be onto something with your hunch regarding the possiblity that you were cracking keys open a tiny bit, causing the bottom to drop out on you - leaky pads usually seal better as you play longer, not the other way around, so your theory makes more sense to me. Another possibility is a leak at one of the joints: if you have a corked or threaded tenon that’s too loose, it can leak in one little spot or another, and sometimes only when you’re pressing on the flute in a certain way. Still, I think your theory about tipping the keys is most likely.
Please let us know how it all turns out, I’m always interested in the solution to a good mystery
I played a four hour session Friday with the Noy without any problem. The only difference this time and the gig where I had the problem was that I rolled the keys away when I didn’t need them - so I think I was nudging the keys and cracking a pad.
Also sounds like my oiling regime is about right. I gather from you said, Loren, that boxwood doesn’t require anything different than “blackwood”.
Cool, glad to hear there seems to be no problem with the flute after all
Yes, in terms of oiling, Boxwood doesn’t need it any more often than blackwood, probably less: You can oil boxwood till the cows come home, but changes in humidity will still make it warp/oval. The only solutions are to keep the instrument’s moisture content stable, or seal the bore and the exterior, which is what we do on most vH instruments. Yet boxwood is much less likely to crack than Grenadilla, oiling or not, so the argument could be made that Grenadilla actually needs oiling more often than Boxwood.
I think part of the confusion comes because boxwood seems to absorb more oil when you (over) oil your instrument, which is true, however box will tend to sweat this oil back out, particularly with even minor changes in humidity (including from playing), leaving extra oil on the exterior and bore, which then tends to gum things up, particularly when key pads are present. OTH, with blackwood, no matter how long you let oil set on the flute, it’s hard to over oil, because the wood simply won’t take a whole lot - the extra just stays on the surface until you wipe down the instrument, and then that’s the end of it, rarely do you get any oil sweating.
Aha! Now I get it. That makes much logical sense to me - thanks, Loren. Well, I’m lucky I live in that big constant humidity humidor called Hawaii. Seems to be heaven for for wooden instruments of all kinds. Our problem here wouldn’t be variation in humidity around the seasons, but I suppose air conditioning. Most people here I think don’t have it and most who do don’t air condition their whole house - just certain rooms and even then not all the time. The exception I think would be those living in the high rises.
