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When you are filling out a Flute
Service Order or a Piccolo
Service Order, you can use this page to help discern, and then
describe, the concerns you have about your instrument.
Instrument is noisy/clacky
- pads are noisy
- mechanism is noisy
Keys do not move freely
- keys stick to the tone holes
- keys release from the tone holes, but move very slowly as they
rise
Sound is not focussed
- the entire range of the instrument sounds “off,”
out of focus
- there is a leak in the upper end of the flute
- the whole flute is leaking
- the tone holes are coming unsoldered
- there is a crack in the body
- the low register in particular is weak
- the pads in the right hand are leaking
- the adjustments to the f# are incorrect
- the g’s are leaking
- the g# is leaking (this may also cause a general haze to
all of the notes)
- the high register is difficult to get or to make as pretty
as before
- the a-a# adjustment is off
- the keys come up too high
- flute is out of tune
- the cork is significantly off-center
- the key ventings are all incorrect
Things to check
- turn the instrument upside-down, and look at the pad surfaces.
Do they look ripped or frayed? is the problem at the edge of the
pad, or the seat of the pad?
- slide the keys up and down the instrument. There should be
very little “wiggle-room” for the keys to move. this
is a check for excess end play in the mechanism, a source of noise
and instability.
- Gently and slowly close the french cups. All of the keys should
move the f# or a# at the same time. This is a check for lost motion,
and also could indicate an adjustment problem.
- Is your head joint cork centered and firmly in place? Use the
line on your cleaning rod to check for centering. screw in the
crown, clockwise; if it screws in easily, the cork is dried up
and will need to be replaced.
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