I just bid on (and won… ouch ) what I think is a mid 19th C. flute.
Rather nasty crack in the ivory head but it looked lined and could probably be repaired.
With some heat/humidity applied can one evenly press close a crack and “crazy glue” it?
A. Lecomte et Cie, Paris, Blackwood w/ ivory head, 9 key (post mounted). Holes look smallish but not as small as some French I have seen crawling the web.
Other than laugh at me… and you can if you must anyone know much about the maker and this kind of flute?
In fact… I have no idea what kind of keys it has. I assume it will play somehere in the range of D. In what range I have no idea.
Maybe not good for ITM but a little Telemann, eh?
If it plays at all… I’ll be happy. Should clean up good at any rate.
Hi,
Nothing wrong with a french flute, hopefully…
I think that the best be would be to pull the liner on the head and close the crack and then glue it. Then you need to ream the head so the liner will go in without pressure, then re-glue it.
It shouldn’t be leaking now, as it has a liner. But the Emb. hole is slightly destorted with the crack. You could always have a local flute maker make a new head joint for it.
Good luck!
Jon
I’d check the pads and make sure they’re airtight. If you can get that crack closed (and several of our revered Irish makers might just be able to do that for a fee) and it plays… hey, you’re in business! I found a similar fully keyed one with an intact ivory head which plays wonderfully, but they want $795…however, as well as it plays, it’s almost worth it. Remember, value is what it’s worth to you.
Dave
Glued Ivory cracks do not like to stay closed. Not impossible to get a lasting repair mind you, but the likelihood of the crack reopening is much higher than that of a similar repair done on a wood piece.
If money is no object, go ahead and try for the repair (as Jon suggested), but be prepared for the possibility that the Ivory headjoint will shatter during the process of removing the liner or during reaming. Ivory is more brittle than wood.
If you want a flute that simply plays well, and you aren’t emotionally attached to the Ivory headjoint, I’d suggest simply having a new headjoint made.
If you have a ton of money, you could have an entire new Ivory headjoint made, but it’s really not worth it, IMO.
There are other repair options, for the crack in the original head, but again, a new headjoint would be my suggestion, on that flute.
I love making new heads for old flutes, because it gives them such a new lease of life and makes you feel real good. I’m probably not a good one to ask at the moment though - I’ve got too much on my plate, especially with a move to the coast planned for Christmas, and lots of trips down there in the mean time to monitor construction of our new house and workshop. (Clearing of the block happened last week, and footings dug this week, yay, we’re under way at last!)
Lecomte trained with Gautrot senior, established himself in brass instruments in 1859, was running a large steam-powered factory with 100 workers by 1862, 150 by 1867, added strings and later woodwinds, died in 1892.
Now your flute is a form of Tulou’s flute perfectionee, see one in my collection at:
The unusual key with its touch near R3 is an F# sharpening lever. It enabled Tulou to maintain the small holes, but overcome the fact that this gives you a very flat F#. In England, Nicholson got around this by making R2 as large as he could.
I always thought that a dentist interested in flutes would be a great source for material that could be used to fill a crack in ivory. Dentists can match the color and they certainly know about substances that are water-proof and won’t shrink. On this flute it would better, IMHO, to fill the crack and finish it off rather than to pull the tube and ream 100+ year old ivory.
Andrew is always bugging his dentist to fix the crack in his Ivory Monzani…
You know I asked my dentist that, the last time I was in for a cleaning… He wasn’t very receptive! Maybe if someone has a dentist in the family…
Maybe your right, if it was mine I would try it though. It would be a little dicey… But to close the crack, makes a more lasting repair. The glue I use, is flexable yet will keep the crack closed. With the crack going through the Emb. hole, this especially makes it important to close the crack. On my Fentum, the Emb. hole looked round until I closed the crack back up, now the emb hole is restored to it’s original shape.
The other alternative is to make another head joint and keep the original around as a paper weight…
We are hoping to see some Blackwood fittings on the new abode, Terry.
At least turn some Blackwood doorknobs!
Looks like a nice area, kind of like Southern California without the cars and people!
shocked
Good luck to you!
Jon
If you want to try and keep the look of Ivory and wood, I wonder how a PVC or white delrin head would look on this flute…it might make it look more like it did when it was new.
Yes, it’s a bit of a worry, isn’t it. I certainly remember being nibbled by mosquitos when I was down there in the 60’s, but I haven’t seen them there in recent times, whereas we were absolutely set upon and ravaged at a place about 15 minutes up the coast. Microclimates, I guess.
We’d stopped on the way down th ecoast at a friend’s holiday house to avail ourselves of a tree laden with rich, ripe mulberries. Anyone watching must have thought it very amusing. We arrive, two adults, two children and a toddler, saunter up to the tree, start picking, eat a mulberry or two, and then suddenly the shrieks and shouts, the frantic threshing of limbs, the gathering up of kids and toddler, the run to the car, the continued waving of limbs, the jumping into the car, the slamming of doors, the realisation that this stupid modern car can’t wind its windows up without the key being in the lock, the frantic swapping of toddler to other adult while pockets are searched for the key, the accidental pressing of the button on the key as it’s going into the lock, the tripping of the car alarm, the threshing, the beeping, the getting out of the car to find out which door hadn’t been properly closed, the renewed attack by frustrated predators, the consequent threshing, back into the car, the splatting of invaders, and the subsequent Hunt for Red October (a particulalry sneaky mosquito that eluded capture by maintaining radio silence except when the engine was running), finally the getaway, and the high speed drive down the highway with the windows open, hoping Red October would succumb to the cross-flow ventilation.
And on to our new block, to find out if we too were riddled by mosquitos. Ahhh, not a thing!
) what I think is a mid 19th C. flute.
anyone know much about the maker and this kind of flute?
?
Maybe if someone has a dentist in the family…
