Hello post by accidental piccolo buyer

[jemtheflute]

I have been following this thread. All I can say is kudos to Jemtheflute. Wow, nice of you to help with this.

Gotta live up to my rep as introduced on page 1!

[benhall.1]

I have been following this thread. All I can say is kudos to Jemtheflute. Wow, nice of you to help with this.

Gotta live up to my rep as introduced on page 1!

You have a rep? I didn't know you'd got that busy. Does s/he drive a Mondeo? A golf, maybe? Not a beamer, surely?

[jemtheflute]

You have a rep? I didn't know you'd got that busy. Does s/he drive a Mondeo? A golf, maybe? Not a beamer, surely?

My rep (me) drives a Skoda estate! Strictly DIY. Or would be if I wasn't too busy....

But Bob/an seanduine stood in above.....

[anoia]

I have been following this thread. All I can say is kudos to Jemtheflute. Wow, nice of you to help with this.

I second this! I'd hoped for a few pointers, but this is amazing!

Lapping doc on its way by e-mail.

Arrived, thank you. I have lots of suitable thread, but I'll need to get hold of some grease. The crown stalk is also grooved but wasn't threaded - I assume I should put it back the same as I found it? I suppose the paper could have been there to adjust the fit.

Sounds like you've engaged his interest. I hope he'll want to share playing it in due course!

Could be, but he reminds me of my Grandad - much more interested in making the tools to solve a problem than in the end product.

good quality wine cork

I'm sure I can find one of those, even if I have to force myself to drink some good quality wine. Purely in the interests of music, you understand.

I'll think about the pads - it will probably be easier to mail order, as there are only two different sizes of cup involved, and we are already trying to fit a lot of visits in.

[LorenzoFlute]

There should be a portable Jem, that you take out of your poket every time you need this kind of advice, that would be invaluable. I'm happy enough with the original one though

[jemtheflute]

I have lots of suitable thread,

Thought you might.....

but I'll need to get hold of some grease.

Order it from Windcraft with your pads and it will let you off their handling/postage charges! So would bore-oil, though even with their smallest bottle you'd be getting more than a lifetime's worth for that little flute! Go to Windcraft-Accessories-Clarinet, click Lubrication and the top two items listed are what you want; ALU001 Superslick Bore Oil & ALU002 Windcraft Cork Grease Lipstick.

I'll think about the pads - it will probably be easier to mail order, as there are only two different sizes of cup involved, and we are already trying to fit a lot of visits in.

Maybe worth checking in your local music store and in yellow pages etc, for a repair person locally, then talking to them (store may have one) - you'd likely be able to trial fit pads and avoid buying unnecessary extras - they're not cheap! They'd probably give you a little bit of shellac too - save buying ridiculous quantities.

The crown stalk is also grooved but wasn't threaded - I assume I should put it back the same as I found it? I suppose the paper could have been there to adjust the fit.

Thread lap the grooved bed on the crown "stalk" too - it is meant to be. It probably will only take a very little thread and you may need to whip it in to stop it coming adrift. The paper may have been a substitute - one that risks cracking the head!

good quality wine cork

I'm sure I can find one of those, even if I have to force myself to drink some good quality wine. Purely in the interests of music, you understand.

Thought you might.......

Note: I've edited the Windcraft links in this and a previous post because the ones I posted initially didn't work.

[jemtheflute]

There should be a portable Jem, that you take out of your pocket every time you need this kind of advice, that would be invaluable. I'm happy enough with the original one though

Why, thanks, Lorenzo.

You'd need deep pockets, though!

[anoia]

local music store

I hadn't realised that the the shop in Ware did repairs until just now. I'll phone them in the morning. But I've got plenty of sealing wax, if I can find it, so I won't need the shellac!

The metal bits are starting to look beautiful, even if I have just stuck a spring into my finger. Next, the inside. I've found a long cooking chopstick which looks just the job, and an old T-shirt.

(Anoia is Terry Pratchett's Goddess of Things That Get Stuck in Drawers. It isn't a coincidence!)

[kkrell]

(Anoia is Terry Pratchett's Goddess of Things That Get Stuck in Drawers. It isn't a coincidence!)

Thanks, I had been about to ask if you were the annoyer or the annoyee.

[anoia]

ask if you were the annoyer or the annoyee.

Oh, I have my moments in both directions. If I don't start getting ready to pack the car it will be entirely the former though.

Back on topic, the local shop sends repairs to Hitchin, so I've ordered various bits from Windcraft. Though the flute is pretty clean now, I don't think there will be time to rebuild before I go away, unfortunately.

Still working on the cork; all the wine I have seems to be screwcaps. I'm practising on a composite one with a facing of sheet cork, as it's not easy at all!

[I.D.10-t]

Still working on the cork; all the wine I have seems to be screwcaps. I'm practising on a composite one with a facing of sheet cork, as it's not easy at all!

Another way to find one is to ask the waiter/bartender at a restaurant.

[anoia]

Still sorting out to leave early tomorrow, so I haven't made much progress in the last day. I do have some grease, bore oil and pads now, though the 9mm pads were out of stock.
Having persuaded my family that we can manage with one car, I don't think I dare fill it up with bits of flute, let alone all the other things I might need, so I'm going to have to pause for a couple of weeks. It's probably sensible from the point of view of keeping track of the increasing number of flute bits as well.

I will be able to continue my research into the perfect cork though, even if it does embarrass the family when I ask waiters for their rubbish - an excellent idea, thanks!

Thank you all for your help so far, and I'll see you at the end of August.

[jemtheflute]

Have a good holiday, Fiona. We'll be around when you get back to it - you know where to find us! Enjoy the cork "research"!

FWIW, I have always kept wine corks, never thrown them away unless they break in the pulling, so, even in these days of plastic corks and screw caps on wine wine bottles, I have a residual bag-full in a kitchen drawer. Re: the plastic ones, I actually like those best for making new stoppers in flutes with metal-lined heads (old thread(s) detailing how I do it around somewhere...), but they are less suitable for unlined heads. That is not because they wouldn't do a good job but because without the protruding section of metal liner tube which forms the female part of a tuning slide, you have nothing with which to melt-cut the plastic cork to the right size - unless you can find a metal tube with exactly the same or just fractionally larger inside diameter than your flute's head bore.

There is another alternative for your stopper. If you can find a piece of hardwood dowel (don't use normal pine dowel or other softwood) or get someone with a lathe to turn you a piece of hardwood or hard plastic to fit loosely in your head-tube (say 1.2mm smaller outside diameter than the tube's ID), you could glue on 1mm thick sheet cork (thick enough to make it too big to fit) to its circumferential surface and then sand that to fit. If you do know someone with a lathe, another way would be to make a hardwood or plastic stopper which would be a fairly close but still free fit in the tube, then cut two or three grooves in it and use neoprene O-rings as seals. It would have to be done to fairly close tolerances, though.

[anoia]

You know, it seemed really surprising that I didn't have any corks lying around...Guess what I just found in an old box of winemaking kit?

(May still do the research though!)

someone with a lathe.... to fairly close tolerances

Really miss my Grandad - built a lathe to make lace bobbins for my Mum when he was 83, and could "turn to a thou".

[anoia]

Well, I'm back, and I've done some of my holiday homework (and not just the cork research)! I've also tried winding the joint - it doesn't look too bad:

and feels firm, but I can't really tell if it leaks until there are fewer holes in the flute.

I've also been whittling and filing a cork:

(The ratty bit is the old cork, or most of it.) It needs a little more taking off, and obviously slicing off the bit I've left as a handle. It's one of the unused corks from the wine making box, so should I make it a little loose to allow for swelling? Or will the cork grease seal it?

And the 9mm pads have arrived, which leads to a whole lot more questions, as I think I might have to reshape the back to fit the keys, but that can wait for another time.