The Why and When of Fixing your Flute

Why Fix Your Flute

Every flute player's sound is a consequence of their skills and talents as those skills and talents are employed to affect the phenomenon that is their instrument, their flute. For one example, a trained flutist has a dexterity that can cause their flute to spell out amazing vaults and arches of arpeggios and rising and falling runs. For a second example, a child may puff on their beginner flute and produce raw tones. In both examples, sounds result from the action of the player on the instrument.

But consider the case where the trained flutist's instrument has a mechanical problem - say, friction in the mechanism is preventing one or more keys from moving smoothly and quickly. Those runs and arpeggios are going to have a sort of hiccup that isn't pleasing. In the case where the child is puffing on a flute that has pads destroyed by mites, no tones may result, regardless of the child's efforts or their teacher's instructions - the child could be doing everything right, but still no tone.

So for both the flutist and the child, the instrument needs to be fully functional to maximize the musical success of the player. And in the case of the student, instruction and practice is wasted on a flute that isn't playing as best it can. These are the reasons for fixing a flute - maximizing musical success, and helping the student learn.

When to Fix Your Flute

A well-maintained flute is only playing at its potential for some hours of playing time, at a stretch. The rest of the time, pads have degraded, mechanism has worn or rusted or corroded, solder around tone holes has eroded, or corks have moistened and/or compressed, as have felts. The degradation and wear takes place, generally, in infinitesimal increments. The degradation, by itself, does not generally prevent us from playing. So as flute players and students of flute playing, we constantly compensate for our degrading instruments, for the small changes in the instrument - it is a reflex.

This compensation starts off as very slight, at first; we roll the head joint a tiny bit in or out, we anticipate with the tongue or the fingers, we grip the flute more tightly, whatever. Then as the well-maintained flute degrades infinitesimally, degree by degree, the compensation becomes more exaggerated, degree by degree. Even an experienced player will not notice the compensation at first, and may not notice after time has passed and the compensation required to play has become more exaggerated. And a student playing on a degraded instrument does not know better, does not know that there is a problem and what the effects are. Regardless, when the compensation is exaggerated enough, we are playing differently; and we may not succeed in producing sounds we want or expect, even when we compensate.

To counter this state of affairs, this repairer recommends regular maintenance by a specialist, a flute repairer (not a band instrument repairer). Experience seems to indicate that an annual service, such as Complete Adjustment and Regulation, is optimal. This will catch the problems, generally before they become too dire.

However, some problems don't occur on a schedule. So the flutist and the student of the flute should both be ready to diagnose the condition of their instrument. Thus, the flute players will know when to maintain their flute, based on certain indicators.

For flutes, the indicators are playability together with characteristics of the head joint stopper, observed positions of keys and pads, observed motion of keys, observed condition of the pads, and the fit-up of the pieces of the flute. Some simple rules for when to take your flute to the flute repairer are in the following tables.

A. Sudden Changes 1. When a flute that has played well suddenly will not make a tone - Check for obstructions in the tube. If there are no obvious obstructions, get to a repairer for diagnosis and/or repair. 2. When a flute that has played well suddenly will not play certain notes, perhaps at expected pitches - Go straight to the flute repairer for diagnosis and remedy.

It is important to understand the mechanical connections in the modern flute mechanism. Some keys on the flute move together, and some don't. That is, some keys push other keys, but no keys pull any keys.

Table of Key Motions in the Modern Flute
Key	Motion
upper C	moves independently
thumb B	moves independently
thumb Bb lever	pushes B and Bb keys
Bb	moves independently, see exception for thumb Bb lever, A, F
A	pushes Bb
upper G	pushes lower G
G#	moves independently
lower G	pushes upper G
F#	moves independently, see exceptions for F, E, D
F	pushes F# and Bb
upper trill key	moves independently
E	pushes F# (and on some flutes, lower G)
lower trill key	moves independently
D	pushes F#
D#	moves independently
low C#	moves independently, see exception for low C
low C	pushes low C#
low B, where found	moves independently

B. Mechanical Issues 1. Finger each key in turn. - When any key cannot be depressed easily, or when any key fails to return to its sprung position, it's time for a trip to the flute repairer. 2. Finger each key in turn, noticing which keys move together, even slightly. - Relative to the table above, when keys move together that shouldn't move together, or when keys that should move together do not, it's time to see your flute repairer. 3. Check that connections are adjusted, by fingering the 'pusher' keys (see table above). - When the 'pusher' and the 'pushed' keys don't go down together perfectly, both all the way without forcing, a flute repairer should make adjustments.

C. Pads 1. Check that pad skins are intact. - When flaps of material are hanging off any pad, or there is a cut in the surface of any pad, take your flute to the flute repairer. 2. Check that pads contact the tone hole, using a light touch. - When a pad seats only partially, leaving an opening someplace, however small, go to a flute repairer for adjustment. 3. When a pad doesn't stay in its cup - Go to a flute repairer to have it fixed.

D. General issues 1. When the head joint stopper doesn't keep its place - Go to a flute repairer. 2. Check that tenons fit smoothly, and not too loosely. - When tenons don't go together smoothly, even when they are clean, it is time for the flute repairer to make an adjustment. When tenons are loose enough that a joint of the flute falls off, or the pieces rattle in the joint, it is time to see your flute repairer

E. Major Damage 1. When accidents like sitting on a flute, accidents where the tubing is bent, accidents where keys catch on clothing and such and are bent, and such like occur - a trip to a flute repairer should result (and probably a flute repairer with access to flute making).

Rules for piccolo are very similar to those for flute. The additional rules should be observed by experienced players having trouble with either the highest notes or the lowest notes. When an experienced player cannot access the extremes of the range, it is time for a trip to the flute repairer.

Rules for alto and bass flutes are also very similar to flute. But special rules should also be observed by experienced players. For example, when the tone color or relative pitch of certain notes is observed to change without changed technique, it is time for a visit to the flute repairer.

Conclusion

Hopefully, after reading this essay, the flute player will carefully observe the playing condition of their flute from now on - noticing the behaviour of the joints at assembly time, noticing the behaviour of individual keys, and noticing characteristics of pads. This essay should have provided some general guidelines for when an observation leads to a visit to the flute repairer. Experience and the philosophy explained at the beginning of the essay should justify reasons for a visit to the flute repairer