I have a vintage Wylde 8-key flute.
Took me awhile to get used to the embouchure, but after a few months I was finally able to get a sizzling low D… that is, in my first 10 minutes of playing. Then the low D just starts to fade into the upper octave entirely. Haven’t had this issue with any other flutes.
Has anyone experienced this? Is there any sort of mechanical reason that a flute would start leaking after being warmed up? Or is my tiring embouchure for sure to blame here?
Cracks normally seal a bit after warming up the flute. Have you tried the “suck” test on each section? That’s the first thing to try. You may just be wearing out a bit, but there could be a leak somewhere or your fingers are partially opening a key by mistake.
Eric
It could be a crack in a socket that starts to open as the tenon expands.
It could also be an issue with keys that have a bit of play in them. Sometimes you can have a key like this that seals fine, but if you bump the key touch with your finger accidentally, it can move the key pad sideways a bit and allow the key to settle in a position that now allows it to leak air. One way to test for this kind of thing is to take off all the keys, seal their holes with blu tack and see if the problem continues to occur.
Sometimes this happens on my every day very good 30 year old flute by a modern maker. I will flick the keys one by one so they reseat themselves. It takes just a few seconds. This may or may not be your issue. But you could try it. Even when I don’t think I have done anything to knock the keys to a slightly open state, this seems to work. I have no idea if it is that or some condensation building. I think it is alchemy involved. I do know for a fact that when I set down my keyed flute either face up or down I need to do the same thing to get it sounding its best. It seems to have always been this way.