Hi… I’m new to this forum but it looks helpful so far so I will pose my question. First let me fill you in… I have a wooden piccolo which i take super good care of because it is my schools. I noticed a small (well i didnt know it was then) in the headjoint… I think its gotten worse. How can I prevent it from getting any bigger? I always swab it out when I’m done playing and I was told by my teacher to use bore oil (dont know how its spelt) It ends up im suposed to use almond oil. Could that be a contributing factor? I’m positive that it is not from my carelessness that this is formed. I AM SOOO CAREFUL! another thing… how to break it to my teacher… oi! i realize this is long… any help is welcome ty for your time.
ok the computer doesn’t like the word and decided not to add it… i’ll spell it backwards just in case it does it again… kcarc…
The oil is unlikely to be the problem. If you are in a very
dry place you may wish to humidify your flute.
See David Levine’s thread below about Caring For
Flutes in Winter. As to the crack, better tell your
teacher right away. Tell him/her you’ve taken good
care of the flute, but it’s cracked. This can happen
under the best of circumstances, in fact. It needs
to be repaired by a competent person; sooner is
better than later.
Yes, almond oil is what we use for wood flutes around here - bore oil is also fine, but do a search on the forum to get the full story.
I am by no means an expert, but here is what I would do. If it was my flute, I would take it straight to the maker or a local trusted repairer of wooden flutes, and ask for an opinion. If it was not mine, like in your case, I would take it to the owner and recommend that they take it to the maker or a well-known repairer, and perhaps offer to do the running round for them.
It can happen, my Flute which I keep in a humidifyed room and oil about once a week has a small crack in the female end of the bottom tennon joint which just got through to the other end I think it had to do with the cork being a bit thick so I did a bit of sanding and hopefully that should do it. Moral of the story is that craks can happen with no explanation.
ty for your imput… i’ll tell my teacher right away.. i hope he doesnt eat me lol
That definantley reminds me of band last year. I play Bassoon in school and the Bass Clarinetist who I sat next to last year would say that the teacher was going to eat someone some times when she got mad at people.
Well the worst is over with now. Even the best part is that it wasn’t your own piccolo. It happens. It may have been the person before you that set up the environmental conditions that caused the crack..