How much does it cost to repair a hairline crack?

Irish Flute
1

How much does it cost to repair a hairline crack
in the headjoint of a unlined blackwood flute, not
through the embouchure hole? Also
is this something I can do myself?

Ballpark figures welcome. Nothing I have
is cracked, by the way, except my
noggin. Thanks.

2

It is apparently a simple enough procedure and you can do it yourself. It involves wicking a small amount of thin cyanoacrylate glue into the crack. The best source for the glue is probably a local hobby shop. I’ve done it for an English fife that I got off ebay and it worked well.

There is also a thread somewhere around C&F which discusses this at length.

Roger

3

thanks. I posted in haste and will check the thread
you mentioned. Jim

4

Hi Jim ,
I just did 3 cracks for the first time this evening & can confirm it was easy and successful. I used a bit of painter’s pigment in the glue to get a good colour match & that seemed to work too. The thread was about recommending a repairer as I remember

Julia C

5

Right. Read about your recent acquisitions in London.
Glad about your success.
What’s painter’s pigment, if I may?

6

Painters’ pigment is the pure powder colour you’d grind up with eg linseed oil to make oil paint. Sometimes it’s ground up earth or stone , sometimes a pure mineral, sometimes something synthetic from a chemical factory. You hardly need any at all to make a strong colour. Different from a dye, the particles are larger and they tend not to migrate once fixed, unlike dye.I just used Vine Black instead of ebony powder, it’s a warm black , my guess is it’s made from burnt vine! I’d not use cheap powder paints, these are different and usually contain an additive of watersoluble gum or glue - not something you’d mix with cyanoacrylate in a flute crack.

Take my technique FWIW - I’m an inexperienced repairperson to say the least, using materials from my sculpture studio because I am familiar with them in that context.

7

Here is the thread that addressed this matter.
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=23801&start=0

I bought and reconditioned a german Meyer type just this month.
I knew it was probably coming from long term storage so it was be dangerously dry, and had two minor cracks on the metal lined head and first barrel.
Before glueing I rehydrated by buying a hydrator tube and placing it in the wood case with the flute for a week. I didn’t even dare handle it or assemble it until I saw by the humidity indicator that I was in the safe zone.
It still popped and cracked a little more on first assembly, but I had neglected to clean the inner surface of the receiving tenon joint, (not the corked end), and it had some build-up I hadn’t noticed. I suppose I forced it too much, but it was still in a very fragile state humidity-wise, or it wouldn’t have happened.
Sooo..back in the humidity environment for another week, I then assembled the flute to spread the crack, (I left the build-up in the tenon joint as I noticed how nicely it spread the crack! Of course I sanded the crud out after glueing), I applied super glue and immediately dissassembled in case some leaked where it shouldn’t of and to close the crack, and let dry.
I sanded and filled twice. then a good oiling, (almond) with the key pads wrapped in celophane (with mink oil to give them a rehydration also). I repeated the oiling twice over two weeks.
Now I have a very playable and enjoyable flute, all the keys work and for a small investment, have quite the conversation piece. :wink:

I edited this to remark that I paid very little for this flute and my repair reflects this, I would send an expensive investment flute back to the manufacturer or an authorized repair person.

8

thanks to all