I recently had the pleasure of a fine service. My M&E blackwood keyless flute had a cracked barrel, which after communicating with M&E I naively tried to repair myself (first time). It worked, somewhat, but was basically botched, and sounded nowhere near as good as it had. MTGuru responded to a cry for help on the forum, and I contacted Jon Cornia, who lives in the L.A. area. This of course is just a beginner flute, not a priceless antique or anything, but it meant a lot to me to have it sounding as good as it could. He was wonderful, very responsive, and went above and beyond the call to fix the flute, which now looks beautiful and plays as well or better than before. I have no commercial interest in this, but if anyone needs a true artist to do a repair out in this neck of the woods, he’s a very nice person, and extremely skilled at this work, in my experience, so I hope you don’t mind my saying so to anyone in this community who doesn’t already know him or of him.
Thanks, Jon, and MTGuru, and dedicated flute crafters wherever you are!
Jaydoc
Jay,
I would have sent you to the same place, if only you’d asked me.
You should have seen how much work Jon C. put into my Wylde:
Headjoint
A. Remove metal liner, verify crack repair, ream to reduce stress, replace liner.
B. Shorten cork (too long for flute).
C. Turn ivory “pawn” for top of cork adjuster.Barrel
A. Remove metal liner, verify crack repair, ream to reduce stress, replace liner.
B. Repair crack in socket and strengthen.Top hand section
A. Top tenon was cut shorter than socket, rebuild and reinforce with ring.
B. Reinforce lower tenon with ring.
C. Graft in new blocks for upper C key. Turn and cut to shape.
D. Solder broken long F key (this was the actual C key - they were switched), make new spring.
E. Pad and adjust all keys.
F. Replace tenon corks with thread.Lower hand section
A. Repair crack in upper socket and strengthen.
B. Remount proper long F key.
C. Reinforce lower tenon with ring.
D. Pad and adjust all keys.
E. Replace tenon cork with thread.Foot joint
A. Repair crack in upper socket and strengthen.
B. Reinstall loose foot ring.
C. Pad and adjust all keys.Overall
A. Sand, finish, add shellac in tone holes as needed for tuning.
And probably a few tasks I’ve forgotten.
Kevin Krell
Jon has worked on a bunch of my flutes and has done very good work for a reasonable price. He made a matching headjoint for a Hawkes flute I had, and it was identical to the original, the wood color and rings. He also is great at crack repair, you’ll never know there was a crack when he’s done with it.
Glad you discovered Jon. I’ll just add a quick thumbs up, he’s definitely a good guy!
This is great info to forward!
Let me add a word of praise for Jon C. He is a great craftsman and a good feller!
His flutes are hot stuff too!
I would actually classify Jon as, in the strictest sense, a “Cool Dude”.
It’s a title in California that doesn’t get handed out lightly.
Few truly deserve it.