I was wondering if anyone has ever actually seen a flute crack or heard it crack that was the result of moisture imbalance and not from impact? Do the cracks just gradually occur and sneak up on us overnight? Or, do they happen more dramatically?
I actually heard a didgeridoo I was making crack one evening. Since I don’t have the luxury of having the Australian outback termites to eat out the bore of the didgeridoo here in the USA, I have to split the didgeridoo lengthwise and carve out the inside, and then glue it back together. I had just finished gluing it up and placing about 25 adjustable hose clamps on the it to hold the two halves firmly together while the glue was drying. At that point, I usually give it a toot to get an idea of what key it turned out to be, and to see if there are any air leaks. I played it a bit and set it aside.
A couple of hours later, while I was sitting on the couch a few feet away from the didge, I heard a loud snap come from the didge. I thought a hose clamp had slipped a notch, but, on closer inspection, I found a 2" hairline crack inside the bell. By morning the crack had traveled a bit and was showing through to the outside of the bell. I doused it with Superglue and that stopped it in its tracks.
The didge, which was made from our Christmas tree from the previous year, probably spruce or fir, finished up beautifully and is a gorgeous player in the key of E flat.
So, has anyone ever heard their flute crack like my didgeridoo did?
Someone made me a bamboo flute many years ago when I was in college. It wasn’t anything special, and I put it in a checked-through suitcase to take home on the plane. (Alright, I didn’t know anything about wood flutes then).
Anyway, I got home that night, and unpacked my bag. In the middle of the night I was awakened by a loud crack, and found the flute, completely cracked and wide open down the length of the flute.
I have a low C notch flute that was made in Vietnam, I believe. It is a rather strange flute with four finger holes and a vent hole on top and two thumb holes on the bottom. It is turned to a standard diatonic D major scale. The flute is simulated bamboo, made from a solid piece of wood with turned fake bamboo joints. It has been bored out except for an endcap where the notch is cut. The flute is painted black lacquer with floral design, quite pretty acutally.
I saw it in the music store in Dayton, Ohio, and since I was in the store for a promotion with my flutes, I was looking around for something to keep me from getting too bored. I ended up purchasing the flute. One of the store clerks said that I was that only person who had been able to play it. I noticed that the environmental condition inside the music store was very dry, and I suspect that this flute was really dried out. When I got it home, I was gentle with it, only blowing in my warm breath for short periods of time. However, that evening I heard a loud crack, and, sure enough, the flute had opened a major crack. Since it wasn’t worth very much, I did a quick fix with glue and some clamps. The flute has been stable since then. It actually has a nice tone.
My first traverso was made from boxwood. In Vancouver, humidity is not an issue, so I never realized that this wasn’t always so. I took the flute to Boulder with me. The first time I assembled it there was a surprisingly loud sound like a piece of unseasoned firewood popping in a fireplace when I was putting on the headjoint. I looked down, and there was a 2 inch crack from the reinforcing ring around the socket extending upwards, open to the bore.
Touch wood, that was my first and so far only flute mishap.
