Hello fluters,
I have a 3 key Sam Murray. Lately it seems that the headjoint is quite loose when I put the flute together. Almost seems that it might move when I play it. Is there an easy way to make it tighter? Have I heard of using dental floss over the thread?
Thanks so much.
first try to figure out if it’s caused by the flute drying out
thanks for the post
hmmm, it is true that I have not oiled the flute in a long while - and have been traveling to some dry places. . .
Are you suggesting that some oil on the inside of the part where the tenon goes into the headjoint will swell the wood a bit and it may fit more tightly?
You should definitely make sure the flute is properly oiled and humidified. If the head joint is still loose, a few windings of waxed dental floss should give you a snug fit. This is a very common fix.
if the rings get loose you’ve gotten to the point where it is almost too late to panic 
if a joint gets loose over a short period of time it is most likely due to the flute getting too dry
That happened to my flute, and Mike Rafferty took and put pluming tape around where the thread was, and I haven’t had a problem yet with it.
Oiling’s secondary; if it’s made of blackwood, oiling’s negligible, IMO. If your flute’s drying out, what it needs is to be humidified.
thanks to all for the help with this
so how can I tell if it is drying out?
the joints get loose… 
there’s the buy a hydrometer technique…works pretty well
Santa Cruz is at 82% right now, if you have windows open then it isn’t likely that the flute is drying out.
If you have the heat on then the humidity inside should be below the 82%.
Is it cork lapped? Do you grease often? (like a wee bit almost every time you put it together)
The humidity is about 8% in Los Angeles at the moment, Santa Cruz is 33% humidity, a little better, but not enough to hydrate the flute. Is the Murray boxwood?
ah ha…so much for weather.com, eh 
Bill,
I’ll echo the others–get thee to a humidifier! That flute was made in Ireland, a land I’ve heard of very high humidity, i.e. dampness. It seems to me, and this is a bit of conjecture, that Irish flutes made in Ireland tend to crack more easily.
Get a cake container or something that has a lid and will fit your flute as well as keep in the moisture, put a sponge and a hygrometer, something that will tell you the humity within the container, and keep it between 55 and 65%. I try to keep my mopane Burns, as Dave Copley suggests, between 60 and 65%.
Please do it ASAP–I’m a bit scared and worried about your Murray. 
Jason
I use a guitar humidifier (called a Dampit) and a digital hygrometer I got (cheap) on eBay - total outlay is less than $20… I hope you’re not too late!
Pat
This is good advice up to a limit. I recently found one of my stored flutes covered in specs. As I recall, the presence of mold is a function of humidity, temperature, hygiene, and air circulation.
How about some details, Guinness? I’m sure most of us would like to know how it happened, with as much info as you could give about the flute and how it was stored-played, swabbed, oiled, etc, if you don’t mind. Thanks.
Barry
^I believe the keyword here is ‘stored’. I came home from 3 years of touring to find my closet instrument collection covered in mold… a member of my household thought it wise to keep the closet door closed, which created a warm, dark place for the stuff to thrive. It was a mess, and some of the cases wound up having to be replaced.
The less the flute gets used - the more ‘specialized’ the attention it will require. I think Cathy’s ‘play daily’* will keep things simpler. All have given pretty sound advice; and seem to have the bases covered.
*(but, don’t we all - just out of the joy of it?)
The general minimum I’ve encountered in the lore is 45%-50%. Lower than that, and you gots ta humidify fer shure. Not an option. It’s really amazing how quickly wood will desorb and the ferrules loosen.
With properly seasoned flutewoods, almost all cracking happens at the barrell, and the headjoint if it’s lined. As the wood shrinks, it contracts against the metal lining and has nowhere to go, and POP. World o’ hurt, then.
And, yeah. While you’re humidifying, play the flute every day to keep the air moving and forestall mold or mildew. Or at least take the flute out and look at it.
If you have an unlined head and no barrell, as in many untuneable “folk” models, I’m thinking cracking could be less of a probability, but the shrinkage will still be an annoyance and you’ll have to decide what to do to get the tenons to fit snug until things are brought back to normal.
In any case, it’s best to humidify. But you have to monitor things then, at least if you care.
Blackwood, lined flute, recently made. I bought it used in excellent condition but didn’t play it much . I stored it sealed in a new Rubbermaid container with some bubble wrap (recycled), and a small damp synthetic sponge (new) sitting in a separate small plastic cup. The flute was kept in a cool basement with other flutes (including antique ones) stored in a similar manner.
I’m guessing that either the flute came with some free spores or the bubble wrap was contaminated, since my other flutes were unaffected. I also wonder if almond oil actually exacerbates the problem. Now that I think about it, the flute came with a foam-lined gun case. I should probably ditch the foam too.
Unfortunately 60% RH is around the threshold where mold could start to grow. Anybody try Propylene Glycol?
Sorry; I was hurrying out the door so just made some blanket statements; probably shouldn’t have even replied. But ah, well, never one to let discretion stop me. So furthermore … The Olwell people told me boxwood is happier at 50%. For my blackwood flutes 50 - 60% seems to work fine (though my Murrays really do seem to shine their brightest when it’s raining to beat the band and more like 70% – though I don’t think I’d advocate engineering such damp storage for the long term. If you lived in Ireland, the UK, on the coast or in the tropics where they could be damp AND breathe that might be a different story).
I have a couple of old-timers that arrived cracked at the sockets, so I’d suggest that those are “be careful” places, too (although I think the stress of assembly and disassembly can have a lot to do with this as well, especially if the joints are swollen after playing a long session or gig).
OK, I think that’s everything I know, anyway.
