Hey… Uh… I imagine I should’ve done something about this ages ago (last October) when it started becoming a problem after a very cold outdoor performance.
I’m borrowing a friend’s Lambe flute, and in past years, in the care of another it split open on the head joint/tuning slide area… not where the embouchure hole is, the other part. I should know the name for it, but it escapes me right now…
Anyhow, after playing outside in 30 degree weather at a festival last October, the tuning slide on this flute has refused to move. Now that I’m getting closer to finding ways of getting my own flute, I’m realizing I really need to do something about this, though I know it should’ve been done a long time ago.
Any tips on what to do? Cork grease? Oil? I think the only thing I have in terms of oil would be olive oil, which I imagine won’t do much use…
You have to put your flute on the floor, step on the headjoint, then pull the body as hard as you can.
Actually, maybe cork grease might help if you can get it in there and twist, but not force anything. When it happens to me, I just keep twisting it until it slowly comes out. Oil might be eaiser(like almond oil)to get between the two metals to lube it up a bit.
I know when it is warmer, I don’t have those problems. In fact, now I have to put the white plumming tape for it to fit. But winters get stuck like that.
This does sound like a problem… Is the slide stuck in the closed or open position?
First of all do not use vise grips! You may think this is funny, but I had a repair where it got out of hand, and he decided that vise grips would give him a good bite on the flute.
If the female slide is exposed, you can try heating it up with a blow dryer, this will expand the outer liner an may free it up. You can try a penetrating oil like liquid wrench, it does smell awful, but will work into the slide to free it up. Try these methods and gently twist the head to work the slide out.
Good luck!
put the head into a freezer cell for 3~4 minutes
than ask someone to hold the head firmly and pull the barrell out strongly with a twisty movment…
if it doesn’t work… well, try something else…
A penetrating lubrication can really help to get it un-stuck. Don’t use polymerising (sp?) oils as they will fuse it worse. Besides oil you want to try to make the inside tenon cool and warm the outer socket, if you can. The movement doesn’t have to be too much to give some help.
I think that the term you are looking for is the “barrell joint” that is the tuning slide portion of the head joint, if that helps.
cork grease is good for the slide,while its functioning right, but it must be maintained and cleaned and reapplied often-- i would not use oil for a lubricant this isn’t a piece of machinery, it it a finely tuned instrument and must be cared for as such
I would let it sit for a day or so before you do anything with it, let it acclimate in the house then try to slide, in my experiance with things, if you rush ,things get messed up
let it sit and then by hand just keep trying
grease suggestions- Docs slippery elm , almond oil and beezwax blend (make creamy)
I agree with some of the other comments here - caution and patience are vital. Buy some penetrating oil (not expensive) from a DIY shop, bike shop or motor factor. Put a very little on the metal bits you can get at - inside the barrel socket and (if exposed) where the female outer slide (barrel half) overlaps the male (head liner) part and leave it a while. Then gently warm the whole thing up with say a hairdryer and try to twist-&-pull the parts apart. Be careful how forcefully you twist, especially if using an assistant, cloths to improve your grip, etc. However, and thinking of Jon’s caveat about tool use, as you only need to get it to move rotationally a tiny bit to “break” the seizure, there is one tool you can use fairly safely if you can get them - those rubber strap wrenches that work the same way as a chain wrench but which won’t damage the wood of your flute (e.g. on eBay). I doubt whether in a modern made flute there is too much risk of you breaking the glue holding the liner tubes in place inside the wood, but there is just that outside possibility, so keep a very close eye (in the embouchure hole) on what is happening as you twist and the minute you get some movement check it isn’t the wood shifting on the metal rather than the two metal parts moving
A bit strange for a modern flute that has been in regular use to have this happen, whatever climatic conditions it is living in! Do you never adjust the tuning slide to play in tune with other folk??? Looking to the future and caring for this flute and any others you may come to own, it is a good idea when storing a flute to close the tuning slide to stop fluff and dust getting onto the metal. You’d then have to open it to tune up when next assembling and playing… and the regular movement would militate against it seizing up. Even if there is a build-up of old grease and accreted gunk, maybe also affected by any water getting between the metal tubes, it shouldn’t seize up unless left unmoved for long periods or, just maybe, exposed to extreme conditions. It is not surprising if an antique, untouched for decades and with old grease and maybe electrolytic metal corrosion products affecting it seizes, but it should not happen to a flute in regular use.
When you do get it apart, clean any penetrating oil off the wooden parts and clean and polish all the metal parts. Then use some slide grease on the tuning slide (e.g. http://dealnay.com/132789/superslick-slide-grease.html - easily available online or in a music shop! - “cork” grease will do but is less suitable) when reassembling it, and in future clean that off and reapply periodically (say 3-4 times a year) as well as making sure you regularly move the tuning slide to and fro.
Ok, this is how I do it:
Take the flute head and barrel and using the blunt end of a pencil push a condom into the socket so that it reaches inside as far as the slide, roll thr rest back over the barrel and hold it in place. Hold it upright and pour in hot water (I usually say just off the boil, not sure if condoms can survive boiling!) and wait for a minute. pour out the water , pull and twist the barrel and head apart. Repeat if required.
This method introduces heat from the inside right to the affected area and in my experience does no harm to the flute and works like a charm.
Not all slides are meant to be greased, is my understanding; the tolerances of “dry” slides are just too close to accommodate the extra surface volume grease takes up for that. My own flute’s tuning slide, for example, is intended to remain ungreased, and it’s as snug as a fly’s patoot. The grease, or most of it, would just be pushed away except for maybe a streak or two. That wouldn’t be of much good for anything.
My inexpert opinion is that dry slides ought to be used for what they are, and failure to do so will indeed carry the risk of metal surfaces having the opportunity to corrode together and seize up, for that is what metals in contact with each other naturally do when left undisturbed. Now I’m not saying that this must be the reason that the OP’s slide seized up; I don’t know. The reason I say this is that I am a near-daily adjuster of my tuning slide (for I don’t buy the idea that there’s one best spot and having found it I should leave it there and damn everyone else who has to play with me), and up to this point I haven’t had a problem.
i think this is a hot tip too Daily adjusting, these instruments must be pampered, i am a “fiddler” myself , i am always fiddling with something, i dont let anything be–sometimes though i have messed things up, patience is the key to everything-------- i just need to learn that
Thanks everyone, realized I hadn’t checked on this in awhile, being busy with things… Yes, perhaps not moving it could have been a thing, but I don’t fully recall anymore. I’m pretty sure I moved it often, so I still think it was just something to do with the cold… And the barrel joint is the term I was looking for, thank you!
Where would I put the oil/grease/etc? On the barrel itself, on the slide? It’s stuck sort of from
I have no doubt it does. Dominic says that it is the way he does it. And he should know, he learned his trade and is a top quality maker. He speaks from experience, unless some other suggestions voiced here.
I guess I never thought of it as pampering…just something that comes of being hands-on and not assuming that my tuning is infallible. I’m perennially surprised how much difference the weather can make for pitch on a mere tube.
In point of fact my M.O. is already dictated for me, because my flute’s headjoint won’t fit into its place in the case without the barrel being butted up against the head, or at least nearly so. So, whether I’m going to play or put it away, I have to change the slide’s extension no matter what.
Curious. My flute must have the head extended from the barrel to be secure in it’s case. Coincidentally, it appears that this is by design, since the extension puts the flute within a millimeter or less of its playing at A 440. The slide does get ‘fiddled’ with because I must adjust the in-out orientation to suit my embouchure.
Bob
You may think this is funny, but I had a repair where it got out of hand, and he decided that vise grips would give him a good bite on the flute.
