You know Lesl, I’ve never tried on any flute to put the cork in from the slide side - I always use the crown side. Now you’ve made me curious…not curious enough to remove the corks on my flutes which are just where I want them, but I’ll have to try this the next time I change the cork!
Eric
On a simple-system flute, the headjoint is cylindrical and the flute body is conical, so I would remove / replace the stopper cork through the crown end, simply because the distance is shorter.
On a Boehm-system flute, the body is cylindrical and the headjoint is conical (actually, parabolic), with the crown end being the smallest, so on a Boehm-system flute you should remove / replace the cork from the tuning slide end, as it is quite easy to do from this end but extremely tight (and easy to get stuck) the other way.
Eric, the differences between the M&E R&R and his original model are subtle. The R&R projects a bit more, while the original can take a bit harder punch on the lowest notes. The R&R has an “older” scale, more like my antique 8-key, flat F-sharp, flat low D, sharp A and B. His original model has only a slightly flat low D and F-sharp, and the scale is much closer to a modern equally-tempered flute. Also the R&R has a bit more “ring” to the sound, especially in the 2nd octave, which some players find a bit hard to control on the original model, which is uber-optimised for the strongest possible low register.
–James
Never. There’s rarely a reason to even remove the barrel - keep the barrel & headjoint assembled, just use the slide now & then to prevent lockups.
Kevin Krell
Ah yes, the highly specialized “Two Hands and a Bench Top” tool! 
Lesl, ovalized tuning slides can often be coaxed back into round quite easily by simply applying pressure (using your hands and a counter top) along the long axis of the oval. If you’re feeling brave (it’s really pretty safe), send me a pm for details.
Loren
Thanks Loren,
I’d like to know how to do that. I’d thought of a hammer and decided
against it. Please do pm me (unless its of interest to the board?).
However, if its loose while oval can you imagine what it would be like
when round.
Maybe next weekend I can get it looked at it in person.
Corks - it was in my M&E days I learned to put the cork in from the
bottom. Not sure who told me. I only once recorked a Boehm but that
was by accident when it fell out after disuse.
Lesl
I alway’s take the barrel and head apart when cleaning but this is because (and I don’t know if this is normal, probably not) I get condensation in the slide, between the head and barrel sections of the slide, sort of in between. This might suggest a leaky slide, but strangely, it feels tight and doesn’t seem to leak at all.
Has anyone got ideas about this?
Does the condensation actually leak out where you can see it, or do you only find it when you pull the two apart? I think it’s probably natural for some moisture up near the end of the slide to slip in (water is great at finding any space to slip into), but there shouldn’t be moisture coming out where you can see it.
Is your slide waxed/greased? If so, it might be time to add some more.
Eric
Eric. I doesn’t notice the moisture when I’m playing, and it doesn’t leak all the way up. If it did, I’d be really worried. But when I take the slide apart, or mabey just pull it out more than half way I can usually see condensation. I haven’t greased the slide for quite some time now, perhaps it’s time.
Hmm, if the recieving end of the slide is oval and the male side goes in but the fit is too loose, then something is way out of wack, and it may be best not to mess with the whole thing until you can get a competant local repair professional to look at it.
One fix for a too tight slide is to expand the female side, and it almost sounds like the slide got too tight at some point, and then someone overexpanded the recieving side to the point where the fit was way loose, at which point they may have tried to gain fit again by ovalizing the the now too big slide sectionv 
Sounds far fetched, but I’ve seen stranger stuff come into our shop for repairs…
I’ll be interested to hear how this turns out.
Loren
Aha - so we’re supposed to change the cork once in a while, too?
When is that, then?
When it gets old and loose so that it doesn’t seal.
–James
James hit it right on the head. I apologize if I gave the impression the cork needed to be changed with any frequency or anything! I also like to glue a dime on the cork of my flutes (provided the flute doesn’t have some hard covering on the outside of the cork), so I’ve removed the cork on every flute I’ve ever had or made at least once.
Eric
And I’d suggest that when it is time to replace the cork, you consider having someone make you a Delrin plug with O-rings instead: It should last longer and is easier to adjust/remove/re-install as necessary. Since the Delrin is fairly hard you won’t have to bother with gluing dimes to your corks either…
Loren
Delrin plugs, O-rings, oh how hi-tech you are! I like wine, it comes with a free cork, and I can sell my flute for at least 10 cents more…
Eric
Eric - there a theory that Delrina plug with O-ring, and cap with O-ring increases the volume of the flute, but it’s hush-hush don’t tell !!!
Eilam - Please don’t tell me you become converted by one called by the name of - Robert!
If I have to, I’ll denounce you for Bigio-olitry…
Seriously - do you think they make a difference. I’d swear my old german flute sounds better with a crown on it than without…which is going to lead to a new thread!
Eric
Only 10 cents more?! Dude, you need to start drinking better wine!
Loren
Loren - I just thought of the wine as a personal finge benefit…but this is America, so perhaps I should charge appropriately.
That would be $3.09 more - nothin’s finer than a bottle of Boone County Farms Wine!
Eric
Fred Sanford Lives!
Loren
I just got an M&E flute in Eb. It is sort of like an R&R, but I don’t think it is M&E’s true Rudal model. I have been playing a Seery in D, fairly o.k for a while and can make it work well. The first thing I notice on this Eb flute is that the bottom D (actually Eb) is quite a bit flat from the rest of the notes. I know that some flatness of the bottom note is normal on a lot of flutes. Do I have to develop quite a different embochure in order to play this flute and have the bottom note sound more in-tune? Also the cross fingered Cnat is different than the Seery. (this does not suprize me).