I have a flute were the tuning slide seems very free,to the point that whenever I try to play the mouthpiece keeps on turning round which becomes very frustrating,any ideas how I could remedy this?
Have you tried using some cork grease or vaseline on the slide? Some makers design their slides this way…
Eric
I will try that Eric,thank’s.
melt 50% vasalline with 50% candle wax, try that on the slide. You can vary the amounts to make the slide tighter. ( Dave Copely’s idea…)
Cheers Jon.
Stearine does become awfully hard when cooled down.
I would recommend using a beewax candle.
Just squeeze the inner slide between finger and thumb to render it slightly oval. When the inner slide is put back inside the outer slide, it will be forced round again, but the spring pressure will keep it from moving.
(This might all seem a bit cavalier, but consider this. The difference between a loose slide-through fit and a totally jammed slide is less than 1000 of an inch. Even if makers could reliably work to such precision, it wouldn’t be a good idea - the slightest bit of gunge could bring your nicely operating slide to a grinding halt.)
Regularly clean the outer and inner surfaces with alcohol on a rag, and lubricate them with cork grease or anything else that is greasy but not yukky. Metal surfaces should never be left in contact without a lubricant, especially in the presence of moisture.
Terry
Interesting how different makers/repairers have differing approaches.
Personally, I’d first check with the maker to see if the slide was intended to be “Dry fit” slide as opposed to a lubed slide. Some makers design and fit their slides to be used without lubrication, while others are intended to be lubed. I’d also make certain I knew what material the slide was made from, for reasons that will become obvious in a moment.
Knowing this, my approach would then be:
A) If the slide was intended as a dry fit slide, proceed with a VERY slight ovaling of the male side of the slide, as per Terry’s recommendation. Note that this should be done by hand, NOT by whacking the slide tubing with a hammer or anything else. Also be aware that silver slide tubing will oval much more easily, than nickel, and brass even easier than silver. A number of slides will be of sufficient thickness, or material that ovaling by simply sqeezing with the fingers won’t do it - Try ovaling an Seery Nickel slide and you’ll see what I mean. In this case, lay the male portion of the slide on a flat surface and press with the palm of your hand, lightly at first. Check the fit and repeat with slighly more force, check again and repeat until the desired fit is achieved.
B.) If the slide is meant to be a lubed fit slide, then I’d clean off all the old lube and try the making up a batch of new lube as per Jon/Dave C.s recommendation. If that doesn’t provide sufficient friction for a good fit, then proceed with slight ovaling of the inner/male portion of the slide.
There you have it, another approach by another flutemaker, take it FWIW.
Loren
P.S. Contrary to Terry’s comment, I’ve had a number of “dry fit” slide flutes, over the years, and find them to be more trouble free than lubed slides, which can tend to get stuck when the are left to sit for long periods of time.
The reason lubed slides tend to stick is that many of the commercially made slide greases that people often use build up and harden over time, which can cause the slide to completely lock - happens all the time on brass/woodwind instruments - trumpets, trombones, etc., as whistles and flutes - particularly when one leaves the slide in one position. This is not a design flaw by any stretch, more a matter of user error with regards to lube, and poor lube products on the commercial market but people make the wrong lubrication choices so often, that it can be a problem.
The musical instrument store that I managed for 5 years had a band instrument rental program plus an in-house woodwind repairman - If I had a dime for every frozen slide he had to break loose, I’d have been a rich man 
Seriously, slides primarily get frozen for 1 of 3 reasons: Hardened slide greese, damage to the slide, or corrosion. However I’ve rarely seen corrosion frozen slides, and those I have seen were cause be severe or extremely prolonged neglect, not the sort of things any of us would allow to happen to our instruments 
Loren
Thank’s for all the replys guys,I think I will try to oval the male part to see if it works,I’ll let you all know how I get on.
Terry raises a good point about moisture and slides. At the end of a playing session, it’s not a bad idea to pull your slide apart and wipe it if there’s condensation on it. It’s not something you might think of right offhand, but I’ve been amazed by the moisture that collects there sometimes!
P.S. And thanks for the “oval” tip, y’all. I’ll remember that!
If there’s a bunch of moisture in there (between the male/female slide surfaces), then your slide doesn’t fit properly Cat! 
Loren
A dime!? 
Darn, I just took my daughter’s tuba to the wrong repairman! He ended up twisting the lead pipe while trying to unjam the mouthpiece. More like two thousand dimes! 
I love dipping in for free advice here. Especially when it comes from Loren. I think that what I’ve learned is caution more than anything… I doubt I’ll try many home repairs. And I think I’ll be less likely to need them, if I can maintain my instruments as he recommends. Thanks, Loren.
Jennie
You’re too kind Jennie, and more than welcome, particularly as an Alaskan! My father used to live in Girdwood, and I had the pleasure of visiting a few years ago (due to his passing, sadly), what an amazing state, the little I saw of it anyway. I’ve made some friends there and certainly hope to return many times, in the future.
I really can’t understand your repairman bending the lead pipe on the tuba while trying to breakloose the mouthpiece, because there is a simple and not particularly expensive tool, called a mouthpiece puller, that is one of the most standard pieces of brass repair tooling in virtually any shop I’ve never seen these tools fail to unfreeze a stuck mouthpiece, so I can only assume he didn’t have one? 
Odd… At any rate, geeze, very sorry to hear about that 
Loren
I’ll have to invest in one of those for our school band. Actually, we passed through the local amateur before driving the 300 miles to the Horn Doctor, so it wasn’t the professional repairman’s fault. I was condensing the story.
I just checked my tuning slide and it’s snug and happy. Too bad I never get a chance to use it, because I always blow so flat I just push it all the way in. 
Someday I’ll have developed some chops and can attest to all the complications of tuning slides that get some real use.
Girdwood is a great community. Hope you have a chance to visit there again. And for the official welcome to Loren and others… please, if any of you come this way, don’t fail to look for me! I would love someone else to play with and learn from!
Jennie
Well, of course it doesn’t! What does work properly on that poor flute?