Hi! I'm new here and came across this message board while trying to find out what was happening with my flute. I've been playing flute for about 13 years now and I can say I'm not that great at playing, but I enjoy it. I've been using a Blessings B101 flute since learning and it has survived a lot of rough musical tantrums and music camps. I send it for servicing, but this one problem has never been solved! It's hard to explain in words so I'm going to just show it two photos (click on links).
As you can see the neck joint of my flute's body seems to be moving on it's own! This has been happening over a span of a year and I have no clue why it's happening. If anybody could explain this to me I'd be very grateful.
In the meantime while I use this flute I'm saving up for a Pearl
If you look down the opening where the head goes in, there is a lip a
couple inches in, that I think acts as a stop so the headjoint only can
go that far. I am guessing what you are referring to as the neck, is the
section from the point of that lip, to the end of the body on the head side.
There are little raised areas on either end of the neck section that look like
collars. If you use a caliper and measure the diameters, you will find that
the center of the neck is thicker than the main body tube.
This setup ends up being a tube extension that creates a joining surface
for holding the head. There are different ways of securing this extension
to the main tube. One way is staking, which would be taking a punch and
deforming the tube material at a certain spot to get pushed into a small
detent in the other tube. If there are forces applied over time that would
twist between the two parts, that would wear down the deformed section
so that the alignment is lost. The remaining material would still offer
resistance to the two pieces, from just suddenly separating, but you
would have a "walking" phenomenon.
Fixing that in my opinion would involve putting the flute into the same rig
that was used in the original manufacture, since the staking was done
from a point inside which can't be gotten to using normal methods.
A fix from a veteran Diesel truck mechanic would be to pound the neck
back in place, and drilling a small hole and pinning it.
Last edited by jmdewey60 on Thu Nov 04, 2010 10:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
michecake wrote:
As you can see the neck joint of my flute's body seems to be moving on it's own! This has been happening over a span of a year and I have no clue why it's happening. If anybody could explain this to me I'd be very grateful.
If the barrel is loose then the solder has failed and needs to be resoldered. Pretty simple job. (and your flute will play much better since it's leaking right there.)
In the meantime while I use this flute I'm saving up for a Pearl
jmdewey60 wrote:
Fixing that in my opinion would involve putting the flute into the same rig
that was used in the original manufacture, since the staking was done
from a point inside which can't be gotten to using normal methods.
A fix from a veteran Diesel truck mechanic would be to pound the neck
back in place, and drilling a small hole and pinning it.
Please don't do that.. Barrels simply are soldered in place...
thank you all for your quick responses and detailed suggestions! I'll have to find someone in this tiny city of Perth (Western Australia) who might be able to fix it, if not I might have to send it over to the eastern states of Australia
If there are no instrument repair person in town,
you might want to check with art galleries to find
out about local jewelry makers. I have a friend who
makes silver jewelry and is good at soldering things.
That may be preferable to someone like a plumber
where they use acid core solder which may not be
the best.
Another guy I know is into reenactment and makes
old style weaponry, who does stuff like would be
helpful in doing a repair such as yours.
If you can't find a local instrument repair shop, send it out to one. Jewelers and plumbers can solder, but even if they use the correct solder and flux, they could inadvertently cause other damage in the process. In the process of soldering the barrel, some of the upper pads (like the trill key pads) could be damaged by the heat unless they are removed or protected. Also, if too much heat is applied, the trill key post and rib assemblies which are also soldered to the body could slip out of place or fall off.
For similar reasons, most instrument techs don't work on jewelry. Some things are best left to specialists in their respective areas.
"Never give a flute player a screwdriver."
--anonymous--
pied_piper wrote:If you can't find a local instrument repair shop, send it out to one. Jewelers and plumbers can solder, but even if they use the correct solder and flux, they could inadvertently cause other damage in the process. In the process of soldering the barrel, some of the upper pads (like the trill key pads) could be damaged by the heat unless they are removed or protected. Also, if too much heat is applied, the trill key post and rib assemblies which are also soldered to the body could slip out of place or fall off.
For similar reasons, most instrument techs don't work on jewelry. Some things are best left to specialists in their respective areas.
My suggestions are not meant to be taken in a general sense.
It would only be applicable for a case where the flute has about
a zero retail value and is only going to be used temporarily,
until an opportunity for acquiring a replacement comes around.
I have a flute sitting here that I bought at a pawn shop 25 years ago.
It was in poor but usable condition back then. I used it anyway and
my niece actually used it for a couple years for music class. So I got
my money's worth out of it probably a couple times over. Now if I was
to spend $500 or more to have it completely rebuilt, it would be playable
again, but it would still be an outdated lower end student model.
I am probably going to use it to try a do-it-yourself job to be a way of
learning how to repair a flute but not on one where it would be so sad
if it does not turn out great on my first attempts.
(I should also add a note that cosmetically, my flute, which I am
discussing, has serious problems from a large amount of the plating
having managed to separate itself over the last 40 years)
