Silver rings falling off

[Andro]

Here in in Melbourne, Australia it is very dry. The silver rings on my Sam Murray African Blackwood flute keep dropping off. In the past I have mentioned this here and the suggestion is to store in a box and humidify. I use the excellent Stretto humidifier bags. But if I keep the flute outside the box the rings fall off rather quickly (we do have very low humidity).

Is it ever OK to use a very small amount of superglue to address this problem?

[Terry McGee]

I don't think it will do any harm, Andro. I'd give preference to a superglue with a resilient filler, such as Selley's Power Grip.

Or search C&F for "the old handkerchief trick".

But, consider this. The dry weather is shrinking the wood causing the rings to loosen and fall off. But the head and barrel sections of the flute are presumably metal lined with the tuning slide tubes. So the shrinking wood is constrained in those sections from shrinking, and this is what causes cracking in lined sections of flutes. As we know, these dense timbers can withstand an awful lot of compression (railway sleepers!), but not much in the way of ruptive forces.

So there is an argument that says regard the rings as an on-board hygrometer, so keep the wood sufficiently hydrated to keep them in place!

[Andro]

Thanks Terry, well said!