Week 7- Gemeinhardt Flutes

This week we started in on our complete flute repads.  I am completely fascinated by the flute.  There are quite a few intricate regulations to make the mechanics run smoothly on the instrument.  This allows a flute to be adjusted to have zero lost motion! The mechanics are so sound, and the addition of stop plates and regulation screws is so smart!  I'm really impressed with the mechanics overall.

After completing an initial inspection, I began removing keys from the flute.  Above, with the keys removed I was able to move on to taking apart the keys that are attached by knock pins.  This was a tricky procedure, and I would love to have more practice at it on other flutes.  Getting a needle-shaped, tapered object out of a conical hole is not easy!  I did manage to remove the six knock pins necessary for cleaning my keys.  Although my flute had been poorly taken care of, I saw improvement after cleaning the body and keys.

I am very interested in the foolproof method of padding for flutes.  With the pad and washer system, adding shims underneath the pad can create the exact coverage needed over the tone hole.  Ironing the pad removes any wrinkles on the pad skin, and a nearly perfect result can be produced on every pad.  I wish this existed on other woodwinds!

I started my key fitting and pad replacement on the foot joint.  Once I had a quality seal, I clamped the keys and baked them in our oven for 15 minutes.  The impression made on the pads was not severe, but was visibly indented.

When I moved on the the body, I was met with a most unwelcome surprise.  One of the posts on the double G Key was broken!  Lucas and I took immediate steps to fix the post, however the process of soldering and cleaning the work was time consuming.  If this was an instrument I was working on in a shop, it would have added a fair amount of time to the complete job.

I placed the flute on a wooden dowel so I could tighten it into a vice.  I angled the flute so that the broken post was within easy reach for holding a torch and soft solder up to it.

With Lucas' help, we applied flux to the intended area.  The next step was to heat the flute body up so that when the soft solder touched the post, it would melt into the opening.  This would ensure the most cosmetically friendly repair job.

The soldering procedure only took about one minute.  However, the process of cleaning the dirty metal was another story.

I first wiped off the body with alcohol.  Getting rid of a reasonable amount of the discoloration, I then switched to a green rouge compound to buff away some of the minor imperfections around the site.  I was able the remove most of the excess solder.  Using silver polish, I buffed the surrounding rib, tone holes, and posts to ensure the the repair job would be nearly invisible.

Next week's post will include the completed flute repad pictures as well as the final product of the post repair.