Rudall Carte & Co. Radcliff Model - buy it now?

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dubrosa22
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Tell us something.: I'm interested in 19th and early 20th century wooden flutes. And Renaissance flutes. And also techniques for whistles.
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Re: Rudall Carte & Co. Radcliff Model - buy it now?

Post by dubrosa22 »

Here's my Radcliff's endstopper. Cork lapped around grooved cocuswood with a silver faceplate:
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Old cork and shellac removed:
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New cork lapping shellacked on:
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I tried applying heat (butane torch) to the silver face-plate and it was still stuck tight - even after smoke emmiting - it still wouldn't budge, so I suspect that the Rudall maker either soldered a screw as you suggest Jem, or a woodwind technician since him. I did try unscrewing the face-plate after heating the shellac behind it, but still it was resolutely immovable! So, I guess it won't fall out anytime soon hopefully.

The length fully screwed in is around 15.5mm so it can comfortably be unscrewed out to the correct distance from the embouchure, thankfully.

Thanks again for your help Jem.
Vaughan
Last edited by dubrosa22 on Sun May 01, 2016 3:20 pm, edited 4 times in total.
'...I want to warn you that playing the flute is impossible for those who have no tongue, for all notes must be led by the tongue; therefore, those of you who take pleasure in playing the flute should guard your tongue against mould, which is to say, drink often.'
- Philibert Jambe der Fer (1556)
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dubrosa22
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Tell us something.: I'm interested in 19th and early 20th century wooden flutes. And Renaissance flutes. And also techniques for whistles.
Location: Sydney, Australia

Re: Rudall Carte & Co. Radcliff Model - buy it now?

Post by dubrosa22 »

A before and after (the lighting is not very consistent):
Image

V
'...I want to warn you that playing the flute is impossible for those who have no tongue, for all notes must be led by the tongue; therefore, those of you who take pleasure in playing the flute should guard your tongue against mould, which is to say, drink often.'
- Philibert Jambe der Fer (1556)
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dubrosa22
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Tell us something.: I'm interested in 19th and early 20th century wooden flutes. And Renaissance flutes. And also techniques for whistles.
Location: Sydney, Australia

Re: Rudall Carte & Co. Radcliff Model - buy it now?

Post by dubrosa22 »

Some glory shots :D
Image
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I'll put up some in-progress snaps soon too.

V
'...I want to warn you that playing the flute is impossible for those who have no tongue, for all notes must be led by the tongue; therefore, those of you who take pleasure in playing the flute should guard your tongue against mould, which is to say, drink often.'
- Philibert Jambe der Fer (1556)
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dubrosa22
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Tell us something.: I'm interested in 19th and early 20th century wooden flutes. And Renaissance flutes. And also techniques for whistles.
Location: Sydney, Australia

Re: Rudall Carte & Co. Radcliff Model - buy it now?

Post by dubrosa22 »

Some photos of the restoration stages:
Image

Case restoration - gaffer tape was used on multiple occasions in its previous life to secure the broken hinge and so the outer polished leather layer was partially ripped off by some heavy handed and inconsiderate removal. Limonene solvent helped removed the gunky adhesive residue still remaining. Followed by Pellé leather restoration and conditioning liquids and finally some buffing with black boot polish. Not a bad result considering.
Brasso on the lock and press-tabs. New hinges to replace the torn leather hinge.
Inside the case was simply cleaned with a damp soapy cloth and a vacuum. Not much you can do about 100 year old cork grease stains!

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Tenon cork replacement.

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My disassembly process - keywork and screw & rod diagrams

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Nude and dirty flute sticks

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Foot joint keys and strap removal - I attempted to remove the tenon sleeve grub screw under the keystrap (the shiny metal circle in between the first screwholes) but it was unslotted so I abandoned my plan to properly remove the dents in the tenon sleeve. So, left with less room to move I simply burnished and buffed out the dents best I could. (Need a photo of the final result.) Surprisingly the silver strap was very flexible not nearly as hardened at the keywork. I decided against removing all of the keywork straps on the body because of the tenuous condition of some of the screw heads - if it ain't broke...

Image
All of the pads were removed, cleaned with naphtha fluid and then soapy water and then ironed with a warm padslick tool. The keycups were cleaned and polished and like the silver washers. This D-sharp pad is a good illustration of most of the pads on the flute - unshellacked/glued and with deep-set impressions.

Image
I replaced the missing Cnat pad with a clarinet triple-bladder skin pad. I also replaced the trill keys, but then later swapped the old ones back in - reseating and sealing the new ones was very, very difficult. The original Rudall pads have the consistency of something between a marshmallow and an old sax pad, but require the fine grained bladder skin of clarinet pads. Keeping the originals in all but one case was definitely the way to go!

Now onto my next project... :boggle:
Vaughan

P.S. The whole photographic story can be viewed here:
http://s1088.photobucket.com/user/dubro ... 0510/story
'...I want to warn you that playing the flute is impossible for those who have no tongue, for all notes must be led by the tongue; therefore, those of you who take pleasure in playing the flute should guard your tongue against mould, which is to say, drink often.'
- Philibert Jambe der Fer (1556)
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Re: Rudall Carte & Co. Radcliff Model - buy it now?

Post by kmag »

I love seeing these instruments brought back to life!

Great job that you have done and it looks like it will be ready for another one hundred years.
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dubrosa22
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Re: Rudall Carte & Co. Radcliff Model - buy it now?

Post by dubrosa22 »

Thanks kmag :)
'...I want to warn you that playing the flute is impossible for those who have no tongue, for all notes must be led by the tongue; therefore, those of you who take pleasure in playing the flute should guard your tongue against mould, which is to say, drink often.'
- Philibert Jambe der Fer (1556)
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Re: Rudall Carte & Co. Radcliff Model - buy it now?

Post by jemtheflute »

Nice going, Vaughan. Congratulations.
I respect people's privilege to hold their beliefs, whatever those may be (within reason), but respect the beliefs themselves? You gotta be kidding!

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Re: Rudall Carte & Co. Radcliff Model - buy it now?

Post by Tonehole »

Incredible work. You're really patient detailing all of the positions of the keys before taking them off.

Now I know where I'm going wrong. I always end up with an Ikea dilemma with a spare grub screw, even attempting a repair on a one keyed flute ;)
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dubrosa22
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Tell us something.: I'm interested in 19th and early 20th century wooden flutes. And Renaissance flutes. And also techniques for whistles.
Location: Sydney, Australia

Re: Rudall Carte & Co. Radcliff Model - buy it now?

Post by dubrosa22 »

Thank you, Tonehole for your kind comments.

Patience and keeping a tab on every tiny detail is essential I feel.
Since I started my DIY woodwind repair on saxophones I think the few flutes (and clarinets) I've restored seem so uncomplicated and orderly by comparision!

With saxes there are a few dozen identical point screws, and because of metal on metal wear and the 'biting' design of pivot screws each has its unique worn-in place on the keywork. Mistakenly interchanging them can be disastrous - loose fitting or too tight leading to leaks and unreliable or sticky key action.

This Radcliff's Model and Boehm systems are almost as finicky in their numerous keycup and trills, etc. so I take the same dilligence. Most DIY restorers would I'm sure.

My latest project is a Rudall Carte & Co.Boehm system:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=103173
Admittedly it needs a little work I can't do myself (silver soldering the G# touchpiece to reverse an open G# conversion), but my first thought after counting and numbering its screws and rods was how simple and neatly arranged the Boehm system was compared with the Radcliff's Model, not mention a saxophone!
The Boehm flute is definitely a tidy arrangement.

Besides playing (the Radcliff here is now my main instrument), I get a lot of pleasure cleaning and restoring these instruments. It's almost relaxation.

Cheers,
Vaughan :thumbsup:
'...I want to warn you that playing the flute is impossible for those who have no tongue, for all notes must be led by the tongue; therefore, those of you who take pleasure in playing the flute should guard your tongue against mould, which is to say, drink often.'
- Philibert Jambe der Fer (1556)
Tonehole
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Re: Rudall Carte & Co. Radcliff Model - buy it now?

Post by Tonehole »

Hi -

you're welcome. With the number of keys on the Radcliff model, I didn't dare attempt to even dream of this kind of keyed flute and the learning curve for its fingering to become second nature.

There are a number of open G# strange early wooden Boehms which I've heard and quite liked. The effort to learn open G# keying on top of standard closed G# Boehm fingering and simple system fingering and baroque fingering and Schwedler fingering and 1867 Patent fingering is doing my head in lol.

But the special sound of some of these niche flutes like the Radcliff is worth it :thumbsup:
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