The flute looked like it had been dug up in the cellar of some old home in London. It did still have dirt in the foot bore!
What got my attention, the crown is the same design as my Rudall Rose and Carte, which is on the right.
The Beckett is on the right in this photo. The flutes are almost identical, looked like they were made from the same batch. The repairs have altered the flute some, the barrel is new, along with the Cnat and block and the RRC has a new Cnat and short F. I guess the keys on both flutes were in bad shape.
The embouchures are the same cut also…
So either Benett made RRC’s or the maker that made the RRC also made the Beckett. They are both great players, too! Nice to see the flute restored, after it’s long sleep!
Not bad for $100…
No the keys are both nickel silver. Both flutes had extensive damage to the key work, the nickel can get very brittle. The original keys that were still there, looked the same. The long F on the Beckett has a new touch, the Cnat key on both flutes are new, I still have to shorten the Beckett Cnat a little. The short F on the RRC is new. The Eb key on the Benett is a replacement also. The key disintegrated when I removed it.
Beautiful Jon. You do such amazing work. How is it to play? Sometimes those flutes look intimidating to me. Are they as easy to play (after your magic) as a modern 8 key wood be?
Best wishes from London (I’m back to LA in about 3 weeks),
Jay
Jon recently rebuild a William Blackman flute for me that looks very similar to the flutes in the photos. The flute needed a lot of work:
“Head Joint 2 cracks
Barrel 1 crack, 1- socket replacement
lower section 1 crack, 1-socket replacement
Foot section 1 crack 1-socket replacement
But the good news; no cracks in the upper section… ;o)”
Jon did a very good job. One has to hunt to find the cracks. The flute now plays beautifully. I don’t have an eight key to compare it to, but, it plays as easy as my six key. I do have trouble with the C# and C keys, but I’m sure the problem lies with me and not the flute. I tend rotate the flute before I play those keys, and really have to concentrate not to. When I do concentrate they do sound, but a little subdued.
The Blackman flute has smaller tone holes and bore then my modern version of a Rudal and Carte flute, and it is not as loud or clear, but it’s voice is very sweat. I find it’s a lot fun to play.
My friend Josh plays a Beckett flute that was restored by Patrick Olwell. It’s the only Beckett I’ve ever seen until this post. It is a fantastic flute with a beautiful focused tone and great response. Very much like a Rudall. His also has some beautiful rings that I assume are original.
Great work and good find! Thanks for sharing the photos.
I suggest you use the Search function - there are loads of old detailed threads on this and other repair topics. You might also find it helpful to view both Jon Cornia’s and my own Facebook photo albums where we have sequences of shots of repairs in progress.
To save you a lot of searching for the short answer to your Q, no. Filling cracks is generally inadvisable. As a temporary measure beeswax can serve well enough (so can a piece of sticky tape!), but is not a long term or reliable measure. Cracks in unlined sections of wooden tube are relatively unlikely to be standing open and so don’t as such need filling, though they do need fixing. Open cracks are more likely to occur in metal-lined or part lined sections and those need to have the metal liners removed and the cracks reduced, stabilised and fixed before enlarging the bore to readmit the liner tube without stress. Self wood dust and superglue are often used to top dress repaired cracks, but only once the crack has been glued shut (or as near as possible). I would strongly advise against simply filling an unreduced crack with anything permanent.
can you show us a picture of your crack? I personally don’t like dealing with a crack filled with wax, you have to clean all that stuff out to get the glue to stick. A clean crack will seal and hold better.
