I have a beautiful older blackwood four-key Ormiston that doesn’t handle the low register well. I suspect a leak, but I don’t know for sure. I’m told Ormistons generally can be expected to have a strong low end, but mine does not and hasn’t since I bought it a year ago. Don’t get me wrong - it plays beautifully - but I can’t get it to bark out the low D. I can easily move across octaves and with strength on my keyless Sweetheart, but I want to be able to do this on a keyed instrument as well. Anyway, because other flutes don’t give me as much trouble as the Ormiston, I don’t think it’s my embouchure that’s the problem. I’ve been playing flute for 30 years, although Irish for only a year.
It might be the corks - one joint was a little loose when I got the flute, so I tightened it up by winding wax floss around it. This worked really well for a while and made the lower register easier to play, although never easily responsive. It also seems to respond better when I refresh the string. I think a cork replacement is in order, but I’ve only had this for a year and didn’t want to invest money in repairing it just yet, and to be honest, haven’t wanted to give it up long enough to send it away for repairs.
But now I am suspecting the G# key (also?). It doesn’t seem to be hitting straight on. Maybe it is, but the motion is not as direct as it seems like it should be. There is now a bit of an “airy” sound that wasn’t there before. No, I didn’t mistreat it in any way - unless playing hours a day is mistreatment.
It’s a lovely instrument, and I’m actually thinking of selling it to finance my move from four keys to six (thus I am considering several six key Cotter flutes in my price range). But I’d like to get the Ormiston playing properly before I hand it off to someone new.
Any thoughts (or any interest in taking it on as is), please let me know.
There’s an incredibly easy way to check for leaks - just do a search on “suck test”. Essentially, you cover the finger holes with your fingers, put one end against your palm, and suck into the other end. If air leaks, you lose.
The cork can compress over time, especially if you store the instrument assembled. To expand it again, heat the cork carefully and briefly over a kitchen hob - it only takes a couple of seconds to do this. Take care not to burn it - rotate it quickly while holding it high over the flame. This makes the cork expand and you’ll have a perfect seal again.
Yes, do the suck test, and you can try to close the holes under the key with blutack or tape, to see if it makes any difference to the low end. You are putting cork grease on the tenons before assembling, right?
Alas, I lose. There must be a small leak, either in the Bb or the G# key - probably the latter, as I suspected. It’s really not much of one, but it’s still there. Phooey.
AND I just tried to heat the corks. It didn’t work. Maybe I was just too skittish or maybe they are just not amenable to changing shape. At any rate, I added new string on top of them and cork grease, and she is nearly as good as new with sound now. I added tape over the G# hole, and it didn’t seem to matter - so the G# is probably tight enough. I think it’s the corks, and the string is a reasonable fix (it seems) so long as I keep it strung evenly.
Regarding pads: I showed this flute to Ralph and Walt Sweet a few weeks ago. Ralph put some oil on the pads for me - not sure what kind. It helped, but yes - I think you may be right about new pads soon.
I believe this is an early Ormiston. It’s numbered 241. Does anyone know what that says about it?
I’ve read that Ormiston’s were redesigned a few years ago to be more robust sounding.
This is hearsay but it may have something to do with the quieter low end.
You might contact the maker. Also if you do whatever is recommended
for leaks, etc, the Sweets surely know enough to evaluate the flute.
Are you suggesting I add felt pads on top of the saxophone pads that are already there? Or are you suggesting removing the saxophone pads? I don’t think I can or should do the latter. They are integral to the keys, it seems.
I normally remove all the old gunk and then put a new pad on with hot glue. You do need to remove the key first (obviously), but that should be easy. They are block-mounted, right?
No - they’re not block mounted. They’re pin mounted and there are no screw-heads on the pins. These saxophone pads appear to be leather, and look to be custom fitted into the keys. I think I may just try to find someone who can do it all - pads and corks. It’s playing better with new string, but it still needs a bit of an attitude adjustment.
Ok, what you are looking at are “tan,kidskin leather pads”. I rather doubt you have saxophone pads, even the ones without resonators will generally be too large, and you’ll have a lot of extra pieces if you get a re-pad set. In all probability you’ll get what you need from a re-pad set for a clarinet. You’'ll still have extras, but a full set of clarinet pads for about $20 US means you’ll maybe have eleven extra pads, with a few as doubles that are useable. There are several vendors that sell “sets” on E-bay. I got mine from TampaDave’s.
HOWEVER, for the easiest “setting” for seal, you want the tan kidskin ones, not the bladder skins. The bladder ones are useable but a little trickier to get a proper seal on something as finicky as a flute.
Sometimes the clinker is the Eflat key, which will be just a little different from some random clarinet key, you may need to measure and buy a single or get the vendor to sub one of the right size to a set. Fr’instance I needed a 15mm pad for the Eflat, and they aren’t anywhere near bogstandard for clarinets. . .so I got a swap out. Alto-clarinets (at least in the USA) seem to use the kidskin ones. I believe Victor’s sells individual pads in kidskin, and at a reasonabler price but with outrageous shipping.
Good Luck and ask as you go
On re-reading your post, I see you’ve got the pin-mounts. The ones with no obvious screw head are held in place with tapered pins. I’ve encountered these often on the less expensive mass produced German flutes. They should be easily removable. On close examination, one side will be ever so slightly larger than the other. What I do is, with my thumb, hold the key slight ly open, to take up the tension on the spring, and prevent the key from taking flight, use a jeweler’s drift, or small diameter drill to firmly press the pin a small way out of the pillars. A small, preferably padded-jaw. set of pliers at this point will allow you to grasp the pin and withdraw it the rest of the way. A flute of modern manufacture should be easy-peasy. . .some of the old, mistreated war horses I have encountered, not so much
Bob
