Okay, I own a pretty nice wooden soprano recorder. I took it out this morning to do some Baroque stuff and the labium is splintering into pieces!!
I am about ready to tear my hair out! Is there any way I can fix it or at least stop it from getting worse? Please Help! 
Too many humidity cycles.
Iād guess itās had it, but you could try oiling the labium.
Sorry to hear that. Thank goodness it was only a soprano recorder though! 
I know Mollenhauer state that the labium should not be oiled, but Iāve always oiled them, for fear of this happening.
Iām afraid there isnāt much you can do to restore it, as it is the integral part of the head joint. It might make nice parts for another recorder?
If itās already splintered thereās not much you can do, itās probably a write off. But you could try sealing it with a superglue or varnish, then filing it flat with a very fine file - like a diamond fingernail file. Best to knock the block out before doing any filing.
BTW - the labium should be oiled for this very reason, since the endgrain of a very shallow piece of wood is taking a lot of humidity when youāre playing the instrument.
Sorry to hear about your loss, but at least you have a good reason to buy a nice new one.
Iāve never understood, and therefore have never followed, the advice to not oil the labium. I can see being very cautious not to over-oil, but it seems to me to be the most vulnerable part.
I tried oiling a couple of recorder labiums recently, on the thinking that even if it made them sound worse, the oil would eventually go away (I donāt use drying oils).
No difference to one, the other did sound worse - it has a tendency to splutter, presumably because of water droplets.
Now I just have to wait.
That sounds like a lot of condensation - maybe youāre not warming the instrument up enough before playing it? Iāve never experienced such a thing, even when playing my recorders cold.
AH ME!!!
I am now stuck with a plastic LMI recorder!
Itās okay I guessā¦sturdy and withstandable against sittingā¦canāt say much for the sound quality thoughā¦
Mabye Iāll have a funeral for that nice wooden soprano. 
I guess I better start shopping.Lol.
How is it possible that you only have ONE wooden recorder?!
Thatās some discipline.
I like plastic for practice. Btw - Mollenhauer recommend you donāt lubricate the labium with recorder oil - precisely for that reason: condensation on the labium is more likely to develop. Catch 22 huh? Donāt oil it ā¦ it disintegrates. Oil it ā¦ condensation ā¦ which reduces playing time on the recorder. This is one great reason to have a whole battery of recorders 
Only one wooden soprano recorder.
Iām certainly going to lubricate the labium on my next soprano. And on my other wooden instruments.
sniff I will miss that recorder terribly. It was a present from my dad.
I think I also have R.O.A.D. Recorder Obsesive Aquisition Disorder. LOL.
Must have an army recorders, my new law of life.lol.
I will replace tenfold the one I have lost. 
Youāre not going for a tenor recorder then?
I canāt say anything floats my boat ā¦ other than bass recorders. Iād like to try a great bass this time - or next time when i go to the Early Music Festival.
With bass recorders ā¦ you just canāt develop ROAD - theyāre too expensive!
But theyāre absolutely worth it. They do everything! They play bass clef and treble clef (i.e. confusing to read music for)ā¦the new ones have an ultra-modern sophistimeducamated F sharp key! Crikes - think of the innovation that went into that lol. Theyāre majestic (i.e. slow to sound), they boost your arm muscles (heavy behemoths without the strap) and make you incredibly sexy. My girlfriend says she just loves it when she sees me play it. She says: āMy goodness! What a gorgeous hunk!ā
(of wood) 
Think Iāll go for a nice set, with a soprano and a tenorā¦ Mabye with a treble too! heheehehhehe
I think Iāve just been suppressing my ROAD all these years..
Perhaps Iāve gone mad with the death of my recorder! That would explain my new ROAD frenzy!!!
muahahahahahaha! JK! LOL!
I must be madā¦
I was curious about this advice because it is contrary to my experience, so I went to the Mollenhauer website. They have the following page:
http://www.mollenhauer.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=34&Itemid=114&lang=en
which does recommend oiling the labium. I think you may be confusing the labium with the block/windway roof.
Yes youāre right.
My German isnāt as good as it used to be - just as well youāve corrected me before I leave mine to crack (thanks!). And they now have an English version website with a full explanation!
Think Iāll go for a nice set, with a soprano and a tenorā¦ Mabye with a treble too! heheehehhehe
I think Iāve just been suppressing my ROAD all these years..
Errrā¦all at once?!
Iāve only ever been a one type of recorder repertoire person. It drives me nuts having to collect different repertoire for different instruments. The one instrument I really dislike, is the piano, yet most of the music for flute I have, always gives me the piano parts at an inflated price 
If you went for a treble, youāll have to learn F fingerings [inline fingerings run from E D C- B A G F instead of B A G - F E D C. Some recorder players hate this. I prefer the E D C - B A G F fingering - partly because the repertoire I play never really requires that useless little hard to get at C note at the bottom of the baby recorders like the soprano and tenor 
Itās possible to get quite confused - if you have a bigger and smaller recorder size to handle around the alto/treble.
Any recorder player whoās serious about it will have a few different sizes; soprano, alto and tenor is a reasonable start.
Iāve put myself in an unusual position by playing Scottish traditional music on recorders. For that, the keys are widely variable and not usually negotiable - you play it with other people, and there are set keys for almost every tune, determined by the peculiarities of their instruments. You canāt grow new notes off the ends of the range of the smallpipes or expect folk-style fiddlers to play much beyond first position, and you canāt usually persuade singers to change their favourite key up or down by even a semitone.
I often play with a diatonic harmonica player and we have complementary limitations - he has to switch instruments when the key changes, I have to switch when the range changes. He says he doesnāt actually play the harmonica - his instrument is the whole set of them in different keys and tunings that he has on the table. The same could be said about recorders (or whistles, the same applies there). To play the music I want to play, I have to have a whole bunch of recorders in different keys and pitches. (In particular, I find a G alto or sopranino indispensable and have six of them - most recorder players have never seen one).
By now I can tell what instrument I need within the first two bars of any new tune somebody starts up in a session. It doesnāt take long at all to get the hang of a new pitch or fingering system. My latest toy is a C clarinet, which fingers basically like an F bass recorder in the low register and a C descant in the high one.
I already have a Plastic Alto Recorder, yuck. Iāve been wanting to upgrade to wood for a while. I also own a sopranino, which also has the same fingerings. The tenor Iāve been wanting awhile and with the death of my sopranoā¦
I think Mollenhauer has a few sets with all three in the same case. That grenadilla wood is so handsomeā¦
The one instrument I really dislike, is the piano, yet most of the music for flute I have, always gives me the piano parts at an inflated price >
Really? I love Pianoā¦ Sniff JK.
Music in general is terribly expensive. I always try to buy books with as much music stuffed in them as possible, you end up saving more in the long run.
I have several altos, in wood, plastic and āresinā - expensive plastic. And I have to say that while they all have different voices, the plastic Yamaha 300 (which cost 30 euro) is a fine instrument. Clear, reedy tone. It doesnāt have the expressive range of my Coolsma in terms of timbre and volume, but it really is an excellent instrument. Very reliable and well in tune. So I wouldnāt automatically knock plastic.
The resin alto is made by Vincent Bernolin, and itās an excellent instrument (a Stanesby copy). The major roughing out is done by NC machines, and the voicing, finish boring, undercutting of tone holes and so on are done by hand. The block is pencil cedar. I often use it - despite preferring the tone of the Coolsma - for recitals because itās the one instrument I have that never clogs. It has a rather buzzier voice than the Coolsma, which works very well with violin. And - like the Yamaha - you can play it as long as you like with no fear of damaging it. The Bernolin costs around 400 euros. Itās definitely an upgrade over the Yamaha, as well as over many mass produced wood recorders.
The Coolsma has a more intense, woody, richer voice and is my favourite instrument. But it cost a lot more than either of the other two. Iām currently saving up for a Prescott.
Just to say that wood is not necessarily an upgrade, unless youāre going to spend a lot of money on a handmade instrument by Von Huene or Prescott or Rohmer or any of the great modern recorder makers. Just getting a wood recorder may be disappointing once you get over the initial excitement about the material.
I already have a > Plastic > Alto Recorder, yuck. Iāve been wanting to upgrade to wood for a while. I also own a sopranino, which also has the same fingerings. The tenor Iāve been wanting awhile and with the death of my sopranoā¦
I think Mollenhauer has a few sets with all three in the same case. That grenadilla wood is so handsomeā¦
Me too. The Suzuki ones are very good actually, but itās not that ā¦ itās the pitch. Iām just not interested in high pitched instruments. So I only go out to buy repertoire I know I can play on the bass recorder. Most of the bass recorder players I know, have a plastic alto or descant lying around, but the bass recorder is (or was) our main instrument. I notice in the fabuolous John & Peterās Whistling Book virtuoso recordings of recorder music - John does not actually play a single piece of bass recorder music across the 44+ tunes of repertoire. This is no surprise - recorder players tend to play all three, but not the bass as solo.
Lol - youāve got some expensive taste - Mollenhauer grenadilla?! Crikes. I canāt imagine how much that would cost ā¦ There are some good music websites for free (expired copyright) - hope you have a few One website has the complete volume of Andriessenās Virtuoso studies for flute - around 50+ pages. When you look at the scalar complexity of the music, you realise why. It would take a genius to play all 50 pages without turning over his instrument to play the triangle
For me the Grenadilla is just a far dream..Someday Iāll get one.
Ah me, Why do instruments have to be sooooo expensive!?!?!?!
Iāve got one plastic alto that plays beautifully in the lower register, but for the life of me will not go any higher.
I think itās a plastic wood finish. Sayās Berkeley on it. Iāve tried cleaning it before, doesnāt seem to make a difference.
It looks quite pretty, itās just a shame it wonāt play well.
hmmmmā¦ Any suggestions to make the unplayable playable?
If your recorder is a Berkeleywind (a brand Iāve never heard of before) it may well be total crap.
Look at this video, which seems to be a promo by the maker:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_phThh1J_A
Apart from just sounding horrible and being incompetently played, the low B flat fingering is T123 4-6-.
Some advert.