Indeed.Micah wrote:Aebi on your mind?
Climate and cracks
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kkrell
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Examples of weight, please? I have a 6-key Hammy (13 ounces with keys), and have encountered much heavier flutes in keyless and keyed versions. I am curious about Sam Murray's flutes, which I've heard but never handled.smoro wrote:Murray flutes are very light, in the other hand Hamilton ones are heavy and thick, I suposse this is important in cracking.
Serafin.
One of the reasons I selected Hammy to build my flute was his philosophy of construction. It involved a good stash of blackwood to begin with, and a process of allowing the flute to stabilize at various points during it's completion. My flute spent a great deal of time as a block of wood with a hole in it, and I was in no hurry.
Kevin Krell
International Traditional Music Society, Inc.
A non-profit 501c3 charity/educational public benefit corporation
Wooden Flute Obsession CDs (3 volumes, 6 discs, 7 hours, 120 players/tracks)
https://www.worldtrad.org
A non-profit 501c3 charity/educational public benefit corporation
Wooden Flute Obsession CDs (3 volumes, 6 discs, 7 hours, 120 players/tracks)
https://www.worldtrad.org
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whamlyn
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I'll second that Kevin. I have a cocus flute Hammy made that I waited 14 months for (instead of the estimated 6), the extra wait due to a blank that took the extra time to dry and a maker who recognized the necessity of waiting. Like I said earlier, I now live in a place where it only rains a half-dozen times a year and the humidity is negligible at best. Aside from my few loose rings there is no sign of anything splitting and the joints are all still as solid as the first week I had it.kkrell wrote:
One of the reasons I selected Hammy to build my flute was his philosophy of construction. It involved a good stash of blackwood to begin with, and a process of allowing the flute to stabilize at various points during it's completion. My flute spent a great deal of time as a block of wood with a hole in it, and I was in no hurry.
All the best,
Wes
Wood when it seasons undergoes a change in structure from hemicelluloses to cellulose ,as I understand it ,rather than drying .Perhaps flutes work better when they have had time to season as well as dry .I was interested recently in a Stradivari violin the front of which was of wood 5 or fewer years old when big S. carved it !
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ojvoj
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I have a Murray and I live in Sweden. Sweden is very dry in winter time and all houses have central heating. I got my Murray 1997 and there´s no cracks. I don´t do nothing with my flute, I never dry it out, no oil, no nothing. I just put it in the box after playing. I have no problem with the flute. I have a friend who do all kinds of stuff with his flute. He use oil, dry it out,etc and of course he got a crack in his flute. I don´t think there´s anything you can do to avoid cracks. I think lots of the makers force the wood to dry faster and ship the flute too early.
Sorry for my poor english...
Sorry for my poor english...
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Loren
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sturob
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I have a couple of thoughts and observations on this . . . if you'll allow me to share them.
The crack thing is tough, and I would be willing to bet (as an observer and not as a maker) that sometimes it's just in the timber. I've got a friend who makes instruments (not flutes) who has told me that sometimes a billet of (wood name here) that's been sitting around seasoning for years will crack once it's been made into an instrument part. He says he can't tell what timber's going to do it, but if one piece cracks, often other pieces from that log/billet/whatever will crack.
The other aspect, the seasoning time, is probably as crucial (and we have more control over it). I really think it's something to think about when folks are all excited about a flutemaker's short waitlist. Unless that maker's got turning squares lying around with holes drilled in them, that have been lying around for (literally) years in relatively stable conditions, the timber used is just going to shift and or crack, unless you're lucky. Our expectations on the amount of time it ought to take to make a flute are perhaps unreasonable.
This goes along with what a lot of you have said.
How many people ask about a maker's timber stock when ordering a flute?
Also, there's something else that also sticks in my craw when we talk about Ireland. It is just plain uncommon, even in North America, for houses to have much humidity in the winter, for one thing. Regardless of the ambient outdoor humidity on the Emerald Isle, inside, where people are actually making the instruments, it's DAMN dry. When I got my Cotter, which was my first real Irish flute, Eamonn told me he'd kept it in the kitchen next to a pot of boiling water to emulate the humid conditions the flute would experience in East Texas. The flute didn't crack. Just because it's humid outside doesn't mean it's going to be humid inside: in fact, it usually means the opposite will be true when heat is involved. Heck, I run the A/C in Houston to get the humidity indoors below 80%. In the winter, when I have to heat, it dries off to a parched 50% RH indoors. North America's a big place, some of it wet, some dry. Ireland's a big wet place, but indoors, in winter, it can be REALLY dry.
So . . . hmm. I think it sucks when flutes crack, but sometimes, it's in the cards. I think Andrew (et al.) are right on the money when he/they suggest that instruments be shipped in something like a Ziplock bag, or with something else as a moisture barrier. The RH on an airplane, in the hold or in the passenger cabin, will drop below 20% really quickly. Who knows about oiling. And, despite the salvos from both sides, I really don't think there's evidence to suggest that lining a barrel makes it crack. Unlined flutes crack all the time (lots of cracks aren't in the headjoint, too). I oil a lot because I don't think it hurts. And, here in the frozen North, I keep the flutes in a room with a humidifer, and keep the RH of the room up around 50%.
Stuart
The crack thing is tough, and I would be willing to bet (as an observer and not as a maker) that sometimes it's just in the timber. I've got a friend who makes instruments (not flutes) who has told me that sometimes a billet of (wood name here) that's been sitting around seasoning for years will crack once it's been made into an instrument part. He says he can't tell what timber's going to do it, but if one piece cracks, often other pieces from that log/billet/whatever will crack.
The other aspect, the seasoning time, is probably as crucial (and we have more control over it). I really think it's something to think about when folks are all excited about a flutemaker's short waitlist. Unless that maker's got turning squares lying around with holes drilled in them, that have been lying around for (literally) years in relatively stable conditions, the timber used is just going to shift and or crack, unless you're lucky. Our expectations on the amount of time it ought to take to make a flute are perhaps unreasonable.
This goes along with what a lot of you have said.
How many people ask about a maker's timber stock when ordering a flute?
Also, there's something else that also sticks in my craw when we talk about Ireland. It is just plain uncommon, even in North America, for houses to have much humidity in the winter, for one thing. Regardless of the ambient outdoor humidity on the Emerald Isle, inside, where people are actually making the instruments, it's DAMN dry. When I got my Cotter, which was my first real Irish flute, Eamonn told me he'd kept it in the kitchen next to a pot of boiling water to emulate the humid conditions the flute would experience in East Texas. The flute didn't crack. Just because it's humid outside doesn't mean it's going to be humid inside: in fact, it usually means the opposite will be true when heat is involved. Heck, I run the A/C in Houston to get the humidity indoors below 80%. In the winter, when I have to heat, it dries off to a parched 50% RH indoors. North America's a big place, some of it wet, some dry. Ireland's a big wet place, but indoors, in winter, it can be REALLY dry.
So . . . hmm. I think it sucks when flutes crack, but sometimes, it's in the cards. I think Andrew (et al.) are right on the money when he/they suggest that instruments be shipped in something like a Ziplock bag, or with something else as a moisture barrier. The RH on an airplane, in the hold or in the passenger cabin, will drop below 20% really quickly. Who knows about oiling. And, despite the salvos from both sides, I really don't think there's evidence to suggest that lining a barrel makes it crack. Unlined flutes crack all the time (lots of cracks aren't in the headjoint, too). I oil a lot because I don't think it hurts. And, here in the frozen North, I keep the flutes in a room with a humidifer, and keep the RH of the room up around 50%.
Stuart