Ebay treasure has landed!!

Irish Flute
1

Well now this is just to cool. The antique flute I got on ebay for 76 bucks is a real beauty. I know I made a mistake when it got here today by playing it for about 2 hours but I couldnt help myself. It sounds just great. I will probably never find out where it is from or who made it but I will discribe it here and maybe someone will know something about it. It is made of African blackwood with german silver rings and maybe key work. The head is brass lined and the tuning slide appears to be silver. The key work is in great shape and the two bottom keys are just to cool. The bottom one is a 3 piece afair and the secound is two. Very delicate but in perfect working order. In fact all the keys are in great shape except the one that you work with your left thumb. That one has a weak spring. Pads are good. The cap screws on to a threaded rod centered on a plate before the cork. There are a couple of repaired cracks, one in the tuning slide section and one in the head. Although they seem to be ok they dont look like very good fixes and I think they would be worth redoing. Now what I realy need to know is how do I keep it in as good a shape as it is now. The barrel and foot are perfect. Assuming it is a hundred or a hundred and fifty years old I would say it has done pretty good. Did I mention that it sounded real good. I did somemore research on oiling and such and still dont know a thing. Someone says wax, someone says a drying oil, someone says never oil African blackwood.....and so it goes.I suppose I should re-break it in which will realy be hard to do it is so fun to play. I realy dont know what to do with eight keys but the C# key sure is nice. I could learn to love that one. The rest I haven`t figured out yet but I know where to find out about them. So realy I just neet some ideas as to the care and feeding of what might be a genuine antique flute. Maybe even a German one. So let me know what you think. There are a couple of pictures in my previous post if that will help. God flutes are wounderful…

Tom

2

Wow, it sounds like you got a great bargain. Whenever I bid on a flute that cheap, it ends up going for a couple hundred more than I’m willing to bid…but my bidding addiction has been cured by the Seery - at least until I decide I really need a one key transverso.

I’ve heard some of those anonymous German flutes can be really good, and it sounds like you’ve got one. What’s it’s tuning like? Is it to A 440, high pitch or low pitch? Just curious, up way too late, and in need of sleep!

Eric

3

Caution: Slow down in your playing time. If you keep playing it as much as you have you’re likely to crack the thing. After 10-20 minutes, swab it out and let it rest for a couple of hours. Repeat if desired. I would not exceed playing it beyond 40 minutes a day for the first week. If you just can’t resist, swab it out frequently.

When the flute is dry, i.e. not right after playing, oil it up. Protect the pads with wax paper or something and then put some oil in the flute. The choices are many, sweet almond, pure linseed, etc. You’ll have to form your own opinion about what type of oil to use. Regardless of your choice, count on putting some on about once a week or so for the first month. Be sure to let the oil stay in contact with the flute for awhile, like overnight before swabbing out. You’ll find that the tone should firm up as the flute absorbs oil and moisture.

4

COngrats on the new addition Tom. It’s always fun get a winner like that.

Pat Olwell says to oil blackwood…wouldn’t he know?

I use almond oil on my wooden stuff. Maybe Dave Migoya will chime in. If anyone knows how to tend to an oder flute he would.


Have Fun with the new baby. :slight_smile:

PAtrick

5

I would NOT recommend lindeed oil…as it can be a very tricky substance and is varies greatly (ingredients) from supplier to supplier…linseed oil never dries 100%, and your instrument can “sweat” at later dates, leaveing boogers and residue on the instrument. It CAN be used, sparingly and carefully however.

you need any pure extract oil like almond oil from a health food store…the other stuff (sweet) can leave nasty residues due to the sugar content etc, or dry the wood out (due to alcohol content)…

just my 2 cents of experience (trust me, I’ve REALLY screwed up some instruments using the wrong oil!)

6

I knew I screwed up when I played it for so long when I first got it. I am now in control of my self and starting a breakin period. I have used Almound oil on my other wood flute so I will stick with it on this one. The flute by the way is in Eb and dead on with the tuning slide just a tich out.
I would like to redo these cracks. Does anyone or has anyone tried this before. Just woundering what glue works best on this stuff.

Tom

7

Here are my thoughts based on my experiences with my own antique 8-key. (Warning: long post.)

First, you want to use a drying oil like linseed oil or commercial bore oil. Use it vary sparingly–just barely enough to leave a slightly shiny surface in the bore after application. Let the flute dry out completely before oiling, and allow to sit for several hours undisturbed after oiling. Then gently remove any excess oil with a clean dry cloth and allow to set for several more hours before playing. Be sure you don’t get any oil on the pads or in the key mechanisms! The endgrain on the tenons, the embouchure hole, and the tone holes should all be oiled carefully in addition to the bore. Oil on the external surfaces is optional; I would hesitate to put any oil in tone holes covered by keys unless you take the keys completely off the flute first and make sure any excess oil is completely removed before replacing the key, as oil can make pads stiff so that they won’t seal as well.

I like Hammy Hamilton’s schedule for oiling: once a day for the first week, then once a week for a month, then once a month from then on.

For playing time, I’d start with fifteen minute sessions and over a couple of weeks move up to an hour a day or more. I don’t think it’s so important that it only be exactly 15 minutes a day at first; you could probably have a morning 15 minutes, maybe a noon one, and an evening one, for instance. But what you definitely want to avoid is picking up a dry, dessicated old flute and playing it for several straight hours–that’s like just asking for a crack or even for the wood to warp out of true.

Watch the joints carefully: they may tighten up on you as the flute returns to a more normal state of affairs after its long sleep. Never use force! A tight joint needs adjustment, not force.

As for cracks, you can use superglue if you are careful. I like the gel kind as it’s a bit easier to work with. The idea is to lay a bead of glue on top of the crack, close off the joint, and carefully suck the air out (use extreme caution if doing this with your mouth!!!) to draw the bead of glue down into the crack. Wipe off excess and let cure for several hours. You can use a “suck test” by again blocking off all openings and drawing the air out of the joint with your mouth. Each part of the flute should be airtight and not leak any air at all when tested this way.

Part of the reason for checking in this way is that a crack can be almost too fine to see without a microscope but can still significantly degrade the tone quality.

Also be aware that, especially at first, my old flute was a cranky thing, stuffy on rainy days, durn near impossible to play on hot, dry days–the thing was more cantankerous than an old car, and better at predicting bad weather than any anchorman. But when it plays well, it plays really well. Here’s my old pre-Civil-War flute on a good day:

http://www.flutesite.com/samples/contradiction.mp3

Things level out over the first couple of years. My old flute is now a solid, dependable instrument, but during the first year I would never have guessed it would have turned out to be such a good player.

Having an antique flute is a uniquely rich experience if you are willing to endure the inevitable frustrations. It is a living relic of a time that is gone and to which there is no return. But you have to let it be what it is: try to make an Olwell out of it and you do it and yourself a great disservice.

Best wishes, and good luck with that flute!

–James

8

Looks like you got yourself a bargain there Blackbeer!
It shows that you can still get good buys on E-Bay-I see that someone got a Tony Dixon 3 Piece,with a Calfskin pouch for $102.50,but I bet your ‘oldie’ beats that!
I’m awaiting an old ‘Nach Meyer’ piccolo with Ivory head (without any cracks!),though that did cost me $140-a bit pricier than some,but I figured it was worth the extra for a complete headpiece.We’ll see.
Excellent and informative post,as usual, Jim.I am still playing in an old (19th c.)Boxwood flute.I oiled it on the day it arrived,then again the next day,and then approx. weekly,using Almond oil.I’ve been careful about not overplaying it-longest it’s had so far has been about an hour and a half,though I play it daily,then dry it carefully and keep it in an airtight plastic box.This is my first Boxwood instrument,so I am being very cautious with it.
I like to think that we are ‘custodians’ rather than owners of these oldies.

9

Thanks James for the info. The first thing I did this mourning was jump to your web site. I remembered you had an old 8 key. Cantakaris fits this beauty to a tee. When I first played it yesterday(for way to long, may the gods forgive me) it sounded beautiful. Last night I could barely get a squeek out of it. I dont have any linseed oil at hand and am in the middle of cutting hay behind my favorite horses so I am going to put the almound oil to her. Hopefully I will have time next week to get to town and get the linseed oil. I hope I can apply it over the almound oil. I was thinking supper glue so thats great. I do feel the same way that both you and Kevin feel about old flutes. Care taker for sure. I will now get busy taken care of her. Now thats weird she just became a she...... Just what I need, another women in my life, as if Molly werent enough.

Tom

10

I’d consider having those cracks professionaly repaired. Any instrument repair shop that works on clarinets can work on this flute. I had some decent canyons on my German flute which are now barely distinguishable.

That’s cool it turned out to be an Eb.

Cheers,
Aaron

11

That just may explain why I have had a weak tone on the E and D of an old, 8-key flute that I have. I have had the pads on that particular joint replaced twice now, with no improvement in tone. ( It is fine in the higher register). I never thought to investigate for a really tiny crack.

Any suggestions on just how to look for very tiny cracks? I don’t have access to a really talented flute repairman, and the guy I have been using is really a clarinet/generalist kind of repairman, not used to looking for cracks. Would also not mind suggestions about a good repairman in the Atlanta general area, if one exists.

12

Best way I know is to do a suck test. Close off all fingerholes and keys, and suck the air out of the joint. It should be able to hold a strong vacuum with no leaking of air. If you are continually having to pull more and more air out to keep a strong vacuum, you have a leak or leaks.

Knowing they are there is only the first part. Finding them is the real challenge.

–James