I’d like to share this Idea with all of you,
thanks to the genius of a frind of mine (Grazie Mario!),
I just bought this small inexpensive item at IKEA
“RATIONELL VARIERA” for about 5€.
a kitchen’s tool design for store neatly lids and pottery…
well, it perfectly suites as flutes and whistles stand!
closable, not too heavy, enough stable to keep even a single assembled flute
and could be useful for to keep single pieces while oiling too!
maybe could be also use on stage :- )
very very nice and… cheap!
Thanks Denny! Guess what, the GB IKEA catalogue search wouldn’t recognise/find the item when I pasted in Denny’s search criteria… but flagged up to try with the correct British English spelling of “organiser” with an “s”! http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/70154800
What a brilliant idea! I am going to get hold of one of those immediately.
I do however think I will wrap some cloth around the metal poles. At least if I am going to put my wooden flute up there
Huh. They’re not available to mail order from IKEA GB and the nearest store is over an hour away. So I won’t be going just to get a £5 gadget!
I do agree the spikes look a bit short to securely support a full size concert flute, especially for stage use - but if they’re hollow one could easily cut off the tops and insert suitably longer pieces of dowel. I wouldn’t worry about the metal in my flute bore, though - looks smooth enough and trying to securely wrap cloth around them would be fiddly and probably make it harder to put the instruments on and off.
I was just wondering whether the flutes in the photo came with the kitchen rack or whether you have to buy the flutes separately? I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
I do think that the rack would need to be anchored the floor, else the flutes could easily be knocked over doing damage to your flutes. I imagine a cat would have a lot of fun with it.
It does look a bit top-heavy with the flutes on it alright…I can imagine taking a flute off it in a hurry and sending the whole lot crashing to the floor. It looks like it would need to be fixed to a broader base, perhaps made of wood to give it more stability…Another visit to IKEA might sort that out as well…
I have a similar wooden peg accordian type thing. Whereas this is a 2x6 (12 pegs), I have a 4x12 (48 pegs). Right now it’s hanging above my kitchen cupboards holding all kinds of what-nots. The pegs are too short but it does have additional width that would prevent tipping. I like the collaspability of this. A carpenter could modify things.
Brilliant Thinking. No functional fixedness going on in your head.
Great idea! I have one of the folding racks. And they were all out of flutes when I bought mine, Doug.
The pegs measure 3/8" in diameter (approx 3.5" long) and will support your Feadog, Waltons and Generation type whistles. In fact the Gen high G fits nicely too. Ikea also sells a wooden rack along the same lines with ten pegs that works as well and it sells for $3. It’s called “Fanby”, I think. Sorry, it doesn’t fold up. I am sure most kitschen do-dad stores have similar items.
aren’t the metal pins (don’t know if it’s the right word) a bit too short?
I use a test tube drying rack with similarly short pegs. I extended the pegs using rolled paper or cardstock secured with tape to accomodate the low whistles and flutes.
If the pics are accurate, we’re talking smooth brushed metal with a rounded top, no obvious sharpness or roughness - no wouldn’t worry me particularly. I would check the spikes carefully first, though, and probably put a rubber or foam pad ring around the spike-base to protect the end of the instrument where it rests its weight down.
One of my rules is “never put anything harder than blackwood into the bore of a blackwood flute.” The potential for scratching the bore is just too high, even with those rounded edges; the bore’s going to rub against them and you’ll probably get scratches or rings inside the bore over time, affecting the sound of the flute (possibly for the better but you never know).
Good flute makers will supply you with a cleaning rod made out of either the same or a softer wood than the wood your flute was made from. They do that for a reason!
Years ago a friend of mine made a simple flute stand out of a plank of wood with holes for dowells. The holes were drilled in the side for storage, and another set of holes drilled through the broad surface for use as a stand. For traveling you keep the dowels in their storage holes in the side of the plank, and then when you want to use it as a stand you pull the dowels out and stick them in the holes in the broad surface of the plank. It works well except that the dowels have a tendency to swell in the plank from the moisture of the flute, making them hard to pull out. If I still have the thing I’ll post a picture here.
There are no rough edges on a good, metal cleaning rod, and yet we don’t use those…do we?
Unless those rods are polished glassy smooth, they could scratch the bore. I see enough texture to do that, plus that edge where it transitions from a cylinder to the domed end looks unkind.
I like your flute pictures too…
I think I should get one of these - are they on an online catalogue? Link please?