I recently bought a bargain price old flute on eBay.
The ad is here with pictures;
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/201550712304
I’ve done a bit of work on it and got it playing beautifully. However, the foot joint is stuck on to the lower middle joint so that I can’t remove it, or rotate it to get the ‘C’ keys into the correct position.
Would anyone have any advice for me?
I have never heard of a flute with thread-wrapped tenons get stuck like that and so I assume that your flute has cork-wrapped tenons. The thing to do is to try to get the joint to rotate and then it could be pulled apart fairly easily. HOWEVER, cork can absorb any sort of a penetrating oil, then causing the cork to swell, to then either make the problem worse or, much worse, possibly crack the wood mortise that the tenon fits into. The safe thing to do is to simply warm the wood by wrapping your hand(s) around it for long enough to get the mortise nicely warmed up and then give the joint a quick twist. A quick twist could help to “shock” the cork loose.
It will be cork wrapped. I’ve just replaced the other two bits of knackered cork with waxed thread.
I’ll try warming it up with my hands, but it is really stuck. I’m worried about damaging the keys when I twist it.
Keys, mechanism and supporting posts (or blocks) can get in the way and the effort required to twist the joint loose could easily damage them, so grab onto something other than the keys. But do give the warm-up method a try. Cork, after all, is a fairly weak material, can have only a tenuous hold on whatever is jamming it and so can “lock up” only so much. When holding one joint with one hand while holding another joint with the other hand, be sure to keep the joints aligned straight with each other. Keep trying. Twist the joint in both directions, which just might “rock” the jamming apart. Eventually the joint will break loose. Think of it this way, that it took a long time for the joint to get jammed and so it might take repeated efforts over a period of time in order to break it loose.
Take the keys off maybe ? So you only have the posts to worry about.
Thanks o’muirgheasain by the way.
Definitely take off the keys. You’ll want to do that to give it a good cleaning and oil it anyway.
Was the foot joint removeable before you started playing the flute?
If so then it’s moisture caused by you blowing down it that has swollen the joint - you could try leaving it in a dry-ish environment (living room temperature) for a few days but not near a fire or source of heat.
C keys? You now have an 8-key rosewood flute? And for the price you paid for it you virtually stole it! You mentioned replacing two bits of knackered cork. But on a five-section flute there could be three bits of knackered cork to replace + the foot = four? Alright, you know about thread-wrapped tenons, but please do consider the rule about wrapping tenons with thread, that along with whatever sealing grease and/or wax that you use, the thread wrapping should be only snug enough to seal the joint and no more than that. Yes, that might leave a joint somewhat wobbly and so a bit more thread could then be justified, but be cautious.
A five-section flute has three corked (or threaded tenons). Take the flute to an instrument repair person and have all the cork properly replaced. Any repair person who works on clarinets will be competent to do this and should only charge about ten dollars per tenon to do it. Let separating the foot joint be the repair person’s problem. If you do any work on a flute yourself, you deserve whatever results you get. Having the flute seen to by a professional is not expensive and will be done properly.
When you get the flute back, grease the cork whenever it takes any effort at all to put it together or take it apart. Follow this advice and this situation will never happen again. Properly maintained, the cork will last longer than you will. Get going.
Gentlemen, if you look at the photos on this recently completed auction,THERE IS NO FOOT JOINT. What you have is garden variety Nach Meyer style flute. What led you to believe there was a separate foot with no reinforcing ring?
If you closely examine the photos you will find there are two different flutes shown. Were I the winning bidder I would report this as an abuse.
I don’t know what you are looking at. When I go to the link, I see one small picture of a flute that shows precious little detail. I am relying on the OP’s description.
Simple, click on the thumbnail. This takes you to the full listing. There are four pictures with the ‘flyover’
zoom, one picture shows a footjoint. The other appears to be the usual Nach Meyer combined middle section and foot keys. I can’t make out a tenon ring.
Combined middle section?? The ring is there on both photos.
I have a 10 key Nacht Meyer flute, but not having the top register 11th key. And it plays quite nicely although a couple of the key finger touches are somewhat awkwardly placed. But it is a good flute.
The eBay photo that I am looking at is not of a Meyer or of a Nacht Meyer flute.
Actually, it looks like the OP got a great deal at a bargain price.
I see the ring in two of the photos.
Good luck!
I’m glad it plays well. I’ve tried quite a few of those old German flutes and I’ve never got much out of them.
I see the photos now. In the last picture, it is quite easy to see the ring immediately under the C, C# and D# keys. In the second picture, it is harder to spot, but it’s definitely there.