Restoration of Rittershausen Grenadilla flute

[TasSam]

Hi Everyone!

A few months ago I bought a Grenadilla wood flute on eBay, an "E. Rittershausen Berlin, Carl Fischer New York" Boehm fingering flute. The flute hasn't been played in decades, but the wood body and foot joint are in beautiful condition - although the pads are in terrible shape. The head joint has a crack, but fortunately away from the sound hole. The flute feels beautiful in my hands, and produces a beautiful tone. (Although I can only play B,C, Csharp with the pads as they are...)

The flute is a genuine antique and I really want to have it restored well. I'm in Tasmania, Australia, and we don't have any specialist flute restorers in my home state. I'm not sure whether this is a job for a regular flute repairer - or should I approach clarinet/ oboe repairers over the crack in the head piece? I've made a few inquiries with repair people interstate, but none seem very keen to do the work. (I fully expect to pay $1000+)

Does anyone have advice on what experience/ qualifications a tech should have to do this kind of restoration? Does anyone know what kind of oil the wood should be treated with (it's very dry)?

Thanks a lot

Sam

[pied_piper]

You might try Musical Instrument Repairs WA (MIRWA). They are located in Perth. They participate in this forum so maybe he will reply to your post.

http://www.mirwa.com.au/index.html

[JButky]

You can also try Terry McGee

http://www.mcgee-flutes.com/repairs.html