Hi, does anyone have a good source for slim hinges and catches suitable for a wooden flute case (that I am making myself). Preferably in Europe. The exact style of attachment depends a bit on what is available. Everything I currently have is too wide (at right angles to the line of bending) or made of too flimsy metal.
One example that I like would be the fittings on the box made by Freestyle Design which came with my McGee flute. But they are in Australia, so their supplier may be a bit difficult for me. You can see pictures of these boxes on Terry’s website. Mine looks exactly like the one he shows there.
I share your problem, suppliers I have used in the past are reluctant to sell nowadays unless you want to buy in bulk.
One solution that I have adopted to source clasps is to buy a new cheap french style boehm cases off Ebay and remove the clasps to reuse. Look for the ones where the clasps are screwed on rather than riveted. The last one I sourced for just over £10, which is not unreasonable. I have had no problem with sourcing 25mm hinges from good hardware suppliers.
Good luck.
Heh heh, just spent a day or so restoring a 19th century English flute to playing condition. Scariest aspect of the job? Fixing the two cracks in the barrel? Nah. Recutting all the key seats? Nah. Repadding all the keys? Nah.
Putting two of these catches on the lovely old mahogany case! I don’t work with catches much (Ken does that for me), and I was very conscious of how a slip of the drill, or getting the catches crooked, or having one catch misaligned so it doesn’t close properly or something else would really mess up the case. But all went well. I think I’ll have a little lie down now…
I wonder if anyone in the world still has their original key for their original flute case? I’ve never seen one.
I have never understood these flimsy locks on musical instrument cases*. I have 'em on my mandolin case and guitar cases, and they have no purpose whatsoever. One hefty screwdriver as a pry bar, and the thing is open. And then you have to keep track of the damn keys if you sell the instrument with its case.
Just wait a few years, you’ll need an app on your smartphone to open the digital lock on your case, like people are using now for their homes. Or maybe it will be just facial recognition to get access to your instrument. At least both my flutes live in custom Northwind French-style cases without locks, just a simple clasp. No worries I’ll have to tear the case apart to get to the flute!
For a vintage case restoration that’s another story.
Thanks for the suggestions - I have managed to find some 38mm by 22mm brass hinges from a UK supplier - no one in Germany seems to do these? I may well end up ordering a few catches from Lee Valley, even though they will have to go through customs and so on. The case is for my new keyless F flute from Hammy and is my second case attempt.
Lessons from this one:
When clamping, make sure your clamping blocks cover the whole of the sides of the box, including the bits where the top and base slot into the sides. Don’t try to clamp the last bit of gap shut with too much force.
Cracks can be hidden with sawdust and wood glue… And a small reinforcement strip on the inside can reinforce a crack at the long edge… Better, though, to not have to!
When band sawing the top off, make sure to leave space for your hinges and catches, especially if you plan on putting them on the outside of the box.
I am still looking for a supplier of large sanding sheets. I will be getting the top and bottom of the box to match using a block plane, but a big sanding board would have been easier. The smallbox maker site does not have them in stock. I am currently looking at floor sanding machine sheets, though they aren’t as big as I would like.
Small router bits are fragile.
Currently waiting on the arrival of suitable hardware and chip carving the top a bit. If it is all not too terrible then I
will post pictures.
As for locks; as long as someone can pick up the case and carry it away easily then no lock is going to save your instrument. We even have to chain ATMs to the floor since there is no safe that can survive being taken away to a remote barn and “worked on”. Even I manage to pick the average instrument case lock swiftly.
An angle grinder, cold chisel, magnesium tube with bottle of oxygen and enough undisturbed time will break anything. All the safe ratings are about how much noise and time you need to break them. A simple screwdriver is sufficient for most instrument case locks. (If not the lock then the hinges or just cut the box.)
The only use I can see for the lock is to show that someone has opened the case., though pickling would allow them to close it again without trace anyway.
I think many fittings, including the sliding button catches as on ‘french style’ flute cases, can be got from http://www.spry.co.uk/ From a quick look I don’t see those catches on the products page though.
To keep the servants out maybe? I clock restorer told me that the locks on long-case clocks were so that the staff couldn’t make mischief with the time.
I think there was a general tendency to put locks on things to stop people, maybe children, interfering with them. I just spent ages getting into an antique sewing machine that had been at the back of the loft since it was inherited, locked, a decade or so ago.
Hi Gromit, thanks for the tip - I had been considering the approach of gluing multiple smaller sheets and that is what I will probably end up doing -. I have a number of polished granite tiles 60x30cm and one of those would be big enough for flute cases. They are flat and stable enough.
@david_h: Thanks for the link to Spry - could be promising - I see that they are agents for a German company Gebr. Maissenbacher - I will try to track them or a German dealer down. Their website isn’t working right now, but the google images archives seem to show the sort of things that we are looking at.
Be nice to have servants to keep out of the instruments…
My son has a very nice violin in a Bam case with a combo lock. Of course he never locks it. One day in college he called me frantic about a chip on the edge on the back of the violin. He is a very careful guy and would remember any damage he would have made. My theory was some other orchestra member was interested in the sound of the violin, and having the brain of a 20 year old figured he or she could try it without asking, hit it on something and was too embarrassed to confess. In this case the damage was repairable, but it did stress out my son. That is about the only thing these locks are good for. If you instrument is valuable enough to steal, yes, anyone can dismantle a case or break a lock.
This is exactly what the lock is for, curious friends and family members. A thief would just carry the whole thing away. It just creates a situation in which a person needs to ask permission before looking with their hands.
I still have to wonder about the percentage of musical instrument case owners who have ever actually used the locks. I’ll bet it’s a tiny percentage, which leads me to think those locks are put on cases mainly for marketing psychology. A lock on a case implies there is something valuable inside, and who doesn’t want to think their instruments are valuable?
Anyway, I’m glad my Northwind flute cases don’t have locking clasps. And I’m nervous about the lock on my Pegasus mandolin case. It’s probably not something that would lock itself accidentally, but it would really suck to have to pry that case open and damage it in the process, if that ever happened.
I think they offer an extra safeguard against the case opening accidentally during transport - “Belt and braces”. The downside is the risk of losing the key. It’s not uncomon to see instrument cases, toolboxes, paintboxes etc with an extra strap. For luggage I have lockable straps but leave one of the keys in an outside pocket.
Maissenbacher.de sells the appropriate stuff, though only in quantities of 1000 or so. I have got them to send me a couple of sliding latches as a sample which should sort out the current box, but it is still not a solution for later ones. I am not really ready to buy 2000 latches (left and right) for stock. And I don’t really fancy trying to punt them individually on ebay either. They do seem to have all the appropriate hinges and so on though.
Reflecting on the options, buying some kind of cheap finished case and stripping the hardware may actually turn out to be the most effective solution - doesn’t help with my environmental attitudes about waste though.
I think the person I got the suggestion of www.spryco.uk from said the button catches came from Germany, so probably Maissenbacher.de. A minimum order was mentioned but I don’t think it was 1000 Maybe someone is buying them by the 1000 and selling them with a big markup in smaller quantities.
