Routine Disassembly of a Flute Body

The body of a flute has the most separate parts.


Most of what we will see in this sequence addresses disassembly of the mechanism. While it is possible to unsolder the tenon ring, the barrel, the ribs, and other parts, we wont address those here.

It should also be noted that not all flutes disassemble in the illustrated order. For example, not all flutes have the conventional Boehm mechanism; also, a few flutes' keys are arranged in a way that requires a different sequence than that illustrated here (such as flutes that require all sections to be disconnected before any are removed).

That said, we normally begin by removing the thumb keys.


Next, we remove the C# steel to free the C key and the Left Hand Section, after unhooking springs.


This flute is an offset G model, and so we follow with the offset steel.


Next the Right Hand Section comes loose after springs are unhooked and the pivot screw is undone.




With the RHS out of the way, we can separate the Trill Section after unhooking springs and undoing a pivot screw.


Finally, the way is clear to remove the G# steel and related key.


Further disassembly is possible, even ordinary: the pads come undone from the key cups, for example. However, we stop here to display the major parts.