just got an old 8 keys flute, 10 is too much for me :)

Irish Flute
1

Happy new year, hope the best for you.

Like i say, i just got an old 8 keys, two cracks in the headjoint (lined) and one in
the barel. I don’t know if it’s a good player for now. Pereheaps someone has
some informations about it. Hum, what you think about this flute, can i spend some
time to restore it in a good playable state?

Best wishes,
Patrick.

2

It probably worth it. The flute looks complete. No keys are missing nor broken. The cracks looks reparable. Is the tuning slide frozen?

It looks like a late XIX - early XX flute made in Germany but in the same time a few details differe from your typical german flute:

  • wood looks like rosewood (most german flutes are made with blackwood)
  • the head cap is wooden (metal for typical german)
  • the G# key is straight (instead of diagonal)
  • the foot end ring is not conical in shape
  • 4 sections instead of 3.

Might be a flute made in Germany for the export toward US or England.

Good luck!

Patrick

3

Hey Patrick!

Looks like she’ll be a beauty when she’s all cleaned up!

Having just started down this same path with my “Old Dead German”, I find the project quite rewarding.

There is nothing quite so rewarding as simply messing about with flutes!

I would put the flute in a humidor for a couple of days to rehydrate the wood and stabilize it prior to mending the cracks.

Tracking down airleaks is a bit of a booger, but using pure silicone sealant for the pads really works well. Take your time and let the silicone skin and start to cure before you put the keys back on your well oiled flute. I have also wondered about putting cellophane over the silicone prior to puting the keys on the flute, to help make the pads a bit stiffer. Jayhawk Eric describes the silicone pad process in an old thread.

Best of Luck and Enjoy!

Jordan

4

That piece somehow reminds me of a Pratten I saw once. No idea where…but it looks similar in a special way.

Another thing is that the keys are brass. Never saw a german flute with brass keys.

5

Hi
Nice old flute, and certainly worth repairing, small toneholes, post mounted and looks eastern European, a rough guess i would say the tenons have cork instead of tread wrapped, i prefer the tread on tenons, when tightened up and pads replaced and cracks repaired etc i believe that flute would be a real
nice flute, (not a honker) but a solo player or with violin, in house playing where you dont want to blow out the windows.

6

I like to steam out the liner on the head, using my trusty expresso machine. Then compress the crack and glue it , you will hardly see the crack afterwards. Then I ream out the head until the liner fits again and I glue the liner back in. That way there is no pressure on the wood to crack again. If there is any filling needed for the crack, save the sawdust that you reamed out of the inside of the head and pack it in the crack and use super glue, then sand. The crack will look like wood grain.

7

Looks like a fun project. I really need to get me and old Flute to restore. Jon has a good idea about the lined head.

8

I just picked up 4 old flutes (or kindling) as restoration projects from Ebay. The idea is to practice on low-value instruments. I know I’ll have 1 headjoint and 1 footpiece to make, plus a bunch of the usual pads and springs. I haven’t recieved them yet, but if any of them prove not to be my ‘thing’, or if any prove too valuable for me to muck with, I’ll post them here first.

This is gonna be fun! Several years ago I restored an Albert system Canadian military issue grenadilla clarinet (just rocks for Klezmer), but these flute-specific tips are priceless. The silicone pads trick is neat: I thought I had been original when I did it with Shoe-Goo, but I guess not.

9

thanks for the interest.

I’m happy with your comments, i’m fall in love for this piece of wood :slight_smile:

Sure, i’ll try to pull off the liner before repair the cracks, thanks Jon for the advice, i like
expresso a lot :slight_smile:
I can easily deal with cracks, crazy glue and dust, but the reamer part is more
difficult for me (but with priest and big luck …)

glinjack, the tenons are tread wraped, cool, i like to make them.

Sillydill, i don’t know much about key pads, so i have to read about Jayhawk old thread.

Adessiatz,
Patrick.

10

Here it is (I did not invent this, but picked it up off of either this board or The Session - although it is modified based upon my experience):

As for repadding, there are a lot of methods, but I had great luck with the 100% silicone pad method.

  1. buy a tube of 100% silicone aquarium sealant.
  2. remove keys and clean cups and the key seats.
  3. put a big glop of silicone in the cup so it’s higher than the cup wall and let it sit for about 20 minutes (until it skins over, be careful, this stuff is sticky and hard to get off your fingers).
  4. Oil the key seat.
  5. While holding the key in the open position, slide the pin back in and let the keys natural pressure close it.
  6. The flute is playable the next day, but I’d let the pad cure before trimming off excess silicone. Trim back slowly so you don’t cut too much and cause a leak.

Eric

11

I used that method on an old english 8 key. Worked very very well. Just one detail : the D# needs more wait, because it’s bigger. I waited between 30 and 45 minutes for all keys, and doubled that time for the D#. It probably depends on the material used too.

12

Matt - that’s a good point. Also, for the low C and C# keys, you need to add extra time because you’re going to have to tie or rubber band those keys into the down position.

Eric

13

That seems like a really good idea.

14

I have a “real” Meyer in blackwood that just came back from Jon C. This flute looks a lot like it. Did you scrutonize the head for a faint name? Not all German have a double bottom.

Nelson

15

I didn’t find any name on the flute, however there are four marks under each key and the
sockets, like four cuts ////. I don’t know if that wants to say something about maker.
On the other hand, i found this flute very similar to XIX French flutes like
gautrot aîné, thibouville, Lavigne. The embouchure size match, with 10,4 x 11,6 mm and
there are some Gautrot flutes without the maker’s mark.

Patrick.

16

Hum.. I have just realized that I made an error in the tittle,
It’s not 8 keys but 10 keys !!

17

I only see 8 in the picture. Are the other two spares?

18

ok, my joke makes laugh only me :slight_smile: I just finished unmounting the keys, rings …
so relaxation is cool before the continuation.

19

I’ve done the silicone repadding, too. Worked very well, although I didn’t do the Eb, C#, or C very well. You may need to try again if they don’t work out. It might be a subtle effect… if the low end is weak or you have trouble hitting low C# or C, I would suspect the Eb.

20

Thanks for the advice, I did not decide yet about the head (make a new one, but i must wait for some tools, or repair the cracks, some tools needed too … ) but perehaps i’ll make the pads, just to test the flute with cracked headjoint.