I’ve got a new flute that I was having trouble hitting the low E and D notes on. I had a friend play it who’s been playing flute for many years, and she agreed that the lowest couple of notes were weak.
She felt the inside of the bore and said, “Oh, you need to oil it. The bore should be shiny. Try that and see if it’s better.”
I did, and it is. The low E and D are now noticeably stronger.
Is this something others have noticed? Anyone know why oiling the bore would do this?
-Brett
it may have sealed a small leak.
Ditto!
Check the head cork, it may be leaking. Check this by doing a suck test on the head joint- close off the slide end with your palm and suck all the air out in the head and see if it will hold. I also depends on what kind of wood the flute is made from, and how rough the bore is. But mostly you will find that leaks cause the E and low D to be weak.
Good luck!
A new flute may have some wood dust inside. I still find my swab stained in my 6 months Murray. Regular swabbing and oliling (apart from other important benefits) cleans and polishes the flute slowly and turns the bore shiny and more even than just finished, allowing the air stream flowing more fluently across the flute.
An easy way to check any leaks is covering all holes even the bottom and the foot ones and blowing a puff of cigarette smoke into the embouchure tightly. If it leaks, the smoke will certainly show you where it comes from.
Easy, but a bit disgusting too if you aren’t a smoker. The flute will loose that smell in some days.
I agree–it’s possible the oil sealed a small leak.
Although I’ve noticed flutes do have a bit different tone and response after oiling, particularly on the lowest notes.
–James
Absolutely.
It’s said that our dear Matt Molloy likes to oil his flutes slightly just before a concert.
May be that´s Matt´s secret! 
So, what kind of oil would be best to use?
JUST KIDDING!
Thanks for the comments.
I will try a “suck test on the head joint” when I get home tonight.
The flute is new, blackwood, pretty smooth bore from what I can see.
-Brett
That reminds me of my high school band director. He was a flute player, and liked to try out our flutes. He was an avid coffee drinker, and smoked (plus had halitosis). You had to clean your headjoint with listerine before you could play it again.
Dana
Was he a good player, at least?
Sounds like a real suck head.
So so…
I would have quitted the band earlier…
I’d agree with the leak assesment.
Did you mention if this was a keyed or keyless flute? If it’s keyed, I’d suspect a keypad leak first and foremost, unless you’ve got an obviously loose socket or tenon. If it’s keyless, it’s likely either the headjoint cork, a socket tennon joint leak, or possibly even a tone hole leak - I’ve seen keyless flutes that had a tiny chip out of the tone hole edge, small enough that previous owners didn’t notice it, but large enough that it could (and did) cause at least occasional leaking between the finger pad and tone hole edge. We’re talking small here, about 1mm across, but deep enough into the tone hole edge that air could escape.
Loren
I always oil mine before a gig or some other major playing event (especially the boxwood flute). I mean, why wouldn’t you?
If it’s keyed, Bretton, I’m willing to bet money you’ve got a leak in your short F or Eb (or your C# or C if it’s an 8-key) key. If it’s unkeyed, I’d bet on your tenon.
Here’s my general diagnostics checklist …
Try wrapping some hair elastics on some of those lower key cups (not too tight as you don’t want to bend the key). If the tone improves there’s a good chance a pad’s not seating properly or a spring’s out of adjustment. Your local repairer can probably fix that; there’s also a good guy in Indianapolis
Teflon tape on the tenons; see if that improves things
Take the flute and a friend into a dark closet; stop up the ends, and shine a flashlight inside THE FLUTE to check for cracks (though this works most easily on headjoints because the toneholes diffuse things)
When you’re playing it for a while – long enough to let condensation build up – watch for drips or a little streak of moisture somewhere on the outside. That often suggests a crack, or perhaps a leak at the joint.
Check the tuning cork
If you’ve got a tuning slide, check to make sure that’s not leaky or doesn’t have stray oil wandering around on it. Wipe it with a clean cloth and see what happens; then try a few swipes with the beeswax/almond oil block which can sometimes tighten things up in a pinch.
Hope that helps!!! 
Loren’s tonehole-chip point is also a very good one. 
Anything that disrupts that seal …
(and of course there’s always the possibility you could have a chunk out of your footjoint’s socket rib thanks to a 
ing cranky waiter who yanked the table your flute was lying on away from the wall, knocking the flute off, and then giving it a good shove, thus jamming your flute between the table and the wall…)
(nooooo, I have no resentments about the incident)
hey Brett -
I’ve wondered the same about the all-wood Copley I’m now playing. I’ve had it about a month now, so have been diligently oiling it once a week. Prior to the Copley, I had a Burns folk flute that seemed to dry out more often than I expected (especially here in San Francisco’s foggy climate), so I ended up oiling it at least twice a month or so. It certainly seemed to play better after oiling. As for the Copley, I’m not sure I’ve become acquainted with it well enough to say for sure, though it seems to me that there’s a point after which the dryness in the bore affects the tone, responsivity, etc. to some extent. I’m still pretty much a beginner (less than two years playing, with a few months break along the way), so I’ve been following this thread to see what the more experienced players have had to say as well.
For what it’s worth, I too sometimes find it difficult to get as deep and rich a tone as I’d like, especially on the low D, which is probably as much due to my developing technique/tone production as the instrument itself, though I may send the Copley in to Dave C. in a few months for a checkup just to make sure there aren’t any structural issues.
Hope you’re enjoying the flute–what kind did you end up getting?
cheers
Stephen
Mine’s an all wood Copley too. Dave said I could send it to him and he’d check it out. With the improvement after oiling, and the fact that I don’t want to be without a flute, I don’t plan on sending it to him in the near future, but I might at some point. Maybe if I’m still finding the low E and D to be weak in 6 more months I’ll think about it, but I’m guessing it could just as easily be me as the flute at this point.
I also had a Burns flute prior to the Copley, and the Burns was very easy to get a loud strong low D out of, so I may be spoiled from that. I’m finding the 2nd octave much easier to play on the Copley, so maybe it’s a little more biased in that direction.
-Brett