Wooden Recorder HELP!!!!!!!

[Corgicrazed]

Okay, I own a pretty nice wooden soprano recorder. I took it out this morning to do some Baroque stuff and the labium is splintering into pieces!!
I am about ready to tear my hair out! Is there any way I can fix it or at least stop it from getting worse? Please Help!

[JackCampin]

Too many humidity cycles.

I'd guess it's had it, but you could try oiling the labium.

[James_Alto]

Sorry to hear that. Thank goodness it was only a soprano recorder though!

I know Mollenhauer state that the labium should not be oiled, but I've always oiled them, for fear of this happening.

I'm afraid there isn't much you can do to restore it, as it is the integral part of the head joint. It might make nice parts for another recorder?

[killthemessenger]

If it's already splintered there's not much you can do, it's probably a write off. But you could try sealing it with a superglue or varnish, then filing it flat with a very fine file - like a diamond fingernail file. Best to knock the block out before doing any filing.

BTW - the labium should be oiled for this very reason, since the endgrain of a very shallow piece of wood is taking a lot of humidity when you're playing the instrument.

[Tim2723]

Sorry to hear about your loss, but at least you have a good reason to buy a nice new one.

I've never understood, and therefore have never followed, the advice to not oil the labium. I can see being very cautious not to over-oil, but it seems to me to be the most vulnerable part.

[JackCampin]

I tried oiling a couple of recorder labiums recently, on the thinking that even if it made them sound worse, the oil would eventually go away (I don't use drying oils).

No difference to one, the other did sound worse - it has a tendency to splutter, presumably because of water droplets.

Now I just have to wait.

[killthemessenger]

That sounds like a lot of condensation - maybe you're not warming the instrument up enough before playing it? I've never experienced such a thing, even when playing my recorders cold.

[Corgicrazed]

AH ME!!!!

I am now stuck with a plastic LMI recorder!

It's okay I guess....sturdy and withstandable against sitting....can't say much for the sound quality though....

Mabye I'll have a funeral for that nice wooden soprano.

I guess I better start shopping.Lol.

[James_Alto]

How is it possible that you only have ONE wooden recorder?!

That's some discipline.

I like plastic for practice. Btw - Mollenhauer recommend you don't lubricate the labium with recorder oil - precisely for that reason: condensation on the labium is more likely to develop. Catch 22 huh? Don't oil it ... it disintegrates. Oil it ... condensation ... which reduces playing time on the recorder. This is one great reason to have a whole battery of recorders

[Corgicrazed]

Only one wooden soprano recorder.

I'm certainly going to lubricate the labium on my next soprano. And on my other wooden instruments.

*sniff* I will miss that recorder terribly. It was a present from my dad.

I think I also have R.O.A.D. Recorder Obsesive Aquisition Disorder. LOL.
Must have an army recorders, my new law of life.lol.

I will replace tenfold the one I have lost.

[James_Alto]

You're not going for a tenor recorder then?

I can't say anything floats my boat ... other than bass recorders. I'd like to try a great bass this time - or next time when i go to the Early Music Festival.

With bass recorders ... you just can't develop ROAD - they're too expensive!

But they're absolutely worth it. They do everything! They play bass clef and treble clef (i.e. confusing to read music for)....the new ones have an ultra-modern sophistimeducamated F sharp key! Crikes - think of the innovation that went into that lol. They're majestic (i.e. slow to sound), they boost your arm muscles (heavy behemoths without the strap) and make you incredibly sexy. My girlfriend says she just loves it when she sees me play it. She says: 'My goodness! What a gorgeous hunk!'































(of wood)

[Corgicrazed]

You're not going for a tenor recorder then?


With bass recorders ... you just can't develop ROAD - they're too expensive!

:

Think I'll go for a nice set, with a soprano and a tenor.... Mabye with a treble too! heheehehhehe
I think I've just been suppressing my ROAD all these years..

Perhaps I've gone mad with the death of my recorder! That would explain my new ROAD frenzy!!!
muahahahahahaha! JK! LOL!

I must be mad......

[killthemessenger]

Mollenhauer recommend you don't lubricate the labium with recorder oil - precisely for that reason: condensation on the labium is more likely to develop.

I was curious about this advice because it is contrary to my experience, so I went to the Mollenhauer website. They have the following page:

http://www.mollenhauer.com/index.php?op ... 14&lang=en

which does recommend oiling the labium. I think you may be confusing the labium with the block/windway roof.

[James_Alto]

Yes you're right.

My German isn't as good as it used to be - just as well you've corrected me before I leave mine to crack (thanks!). And they now have an English version website with a full explanation!

Think I'll go for a nice set, with a soprano and a tenor.... Mabye with a treble too! heheehehhehe
I think I've just been suppressing my ROAD all these years..

Errr...all at once?!

I've only ever been a one type of recorder repertoire person. It drives me nuts having to collect different repertoire for different instruments. The one instrument I really dislike, is the piano, yet most of the music for flute I have, always gives me the piano parts at an inflated price

If you went for a treble, you'll have to learn F fingerings [inline fingerings run from E D C- B A G F instead of B A G - F E D C. Some recorder players hate this. I prefer the E D C - B A G F fingering - partly because the repertoire I play never really requires that useless little hard to get at C note at the bottom of the baby recorders like the soprano and tenor

It's possible to get quite confused - if you have a bigger and smaller recorder size to handle around the alto/treble.

[JackCampin]

Any recorder player who's serious about it will have a few different sizes; soprano, alto and tenor is a reasonable start.

I've put myself in an unusual position by playing Scottish traditional music on recorders. For that, the keys are widely variable and not usually negotiable - you play it with other people, and there are set keys for almost every tune, determined by the peculiarities of their instruments. You can't grow new notes off the ends of the range of the smallpipes or expect folk-style fiddlers to play much beyond first position, and you can't usually persuade singers to change their favourite key up or down by even a semitone.

I often play with a diatonic harmonica player and we have complementary limitations - he has to switch instruments when the key changes, I have to switch when the range changes. He says he doesn't actually play the harmonica - his instrument is the whole set of them in different keys and tunings that he has on the table. The same could be said about recorders (or whistles, the same applies there). To play the music I want to play, I have to have a whole bunch of recorders in different keys and pitches. (In particular, I find a G alto or sopranino indispensable and have six of them - most recorder players have never seen one).

By now I can tell what instrument I need within the first two bars of any new tune somebody starts up in a session. It doesn't take long at all to get the hang of a new pitch or fingering system. My latest toy is a C clarinet, which fingers basically like an F bass recorder in the low register and a C descant in the high one.