Help - F# fail - RH1 key not open up

[jbei]

hello guys at Fluteland... this is my first post although I have reading this forum since a while.
I have really puzzling and emergency situation here:

I can't make F# notes right now, it's very strange and only happening this morning (I'm pretty sure about that, since last night I still exercising). When I fingered F# , it's just sound exactly F. I figured out the problem, it is that my RH1 (right index finger) key not open up. I try to open the RH1 key and it's in F#. I'm not sure if the RH1 open in default F# situation (because I can't remember all the key open or close beforehand). So maybe some spring or screw are not in right condition. I didn't do anything to my flute beforehand.

So, yeah, please help on advice how to solve this situation. I stay in Indonesia city that hardly can find any flute technician to take a lot, so I am on my own right now. many thanks.

[pied_piper]

If the F key (RH1) is not opening on its own, as you indicated, there are few possibilities:
1 - The spring on the F key has become unhooked or broken
2 - The key hinge is binding (could be bent, dried oil, a rusty hinge rod, or a combination of any of these)

Let's see if you can troubleshoot the problem a bit more. You said you opened the F key and you could play an F#. While holding the flute with the keys facing up toward the ceiling, If you lift the F key, does it stay up or does it fall back to the down/closed position?

If it falls back and does not stay up, most likely the spring is the issue. Look under the F key

Flute F Spring .jpg (119 KiB) Viewed 11578 times

Flute F Spring Unhooked.jpg (142.64 KiB) Viewed 11578 times

If it stays up, the problem is most likely that the key hinge is binding and it could be any of the issues I mentioned.

[jbei]

hi pied_piper...
It's happened that the spring to that F key is not connected, exactly as your photo. I just simply put back the spring and the world back to normal. I suppose I have see this earlier but not confident enough to try it. It was also because the position when the spring unconnected look "normal", so I missed the clue.

many thanks on that help. I wonder why the spring can accidentally went that way, maybe I knock them when I clean them the night before.

[mirwa]

A very nce reply.

Steve

[pied_piper]

Jbei - I'm glad that I was able to help you solve your problem! And, yes, if you were cleaning under the keywork, it is very possible that you accidentally snagged the spring and unhooked it. Be very careful next time!

Mirwa - Thanks for your compliment!