Lesson Learned - 1/31/13

Today's lesson comes to me from my coworker, and particularly...er...particular customer he had. No matter how upset someone gets with you, you must keep your cool and let them speak their peace. Then figure out what it is they're asking you to do, and allow your skills and the quality of your work to carry you from there. If you understand what they want and just do it with attention and integrity, your work will speak for itself to help resolve the situation. And if even that won't satisfy the other person, then there's nothing you could have done in the first place to make them happy. Quality work can take criticism. That's a very difficult lesson to remember, especially when hearing a customer's complaints, but if you do the work well (even if it takes 2 tries), you'll know it's good, and resulting boon to your own confidence will allow you to accept that criticism without internalizing it.
Fortunately in this case he was able to make that customer happy, and in the end all parties involved seemed satisfied. It's a win-win. It's a win-win-win, since I also win because I won't have to deal with any grumpy coworkers!

Lesson Learned - 1/30/13

While continuing my work on yesterday's flute, I encountered a high-pitched buzz while test playing the instrument. It was most pronounced on high C, Bb, and A, but could also be heard to a lesser extent on pretty much every note. I checked the whole mechanism for places where keys might be rubbing against each other or springs might be sitting out of their cradles or touching key arms, but to no avail. All the screws and rods were freshly oiled and greased, and all the pivot screws were secured, so I knew it couldn't be a matter of a part needing oil. At least, that's what I thought until I remembered that the foot joint hadn't been oiled. Even though those keys are far from being involved in the high C and the notes near it, I figure the body of the instrument resonating could be causing the foot joint keys to vibrate. I've also found that keys that play the same note in two different octaves can cause weird problems, although my rudimentary understanding of acoustics prevents me from fully understanding this. So it's possible that playhing high C could have been making the low C key on the foot joint vibrate severely. I oiled the foot joint hinge screw, but before test playing, I also looked at the top 3 pads (High C and both trill keys) and realized the skins on them were a little loose. I occurred to me that during a repad I iron all the other pads - because they're traditional flute pads held in with washers or grommets - but I never iron those top pads. So I ironed those as well, then I played the instrument again and the buzz was gone. Unfortunately, I don't know whether it was the ironing or oiling the foot joint screw that fixed the problem. I strongly suspect the loose pad skins were the primary culprit, though I guess it could have been both.

Lesson Learned - 1/29/13

When removing a pinned key that may also be splined, like the F# key on a flute, it's critical that you be aware of the information the key is giving you. If you remove the pin, and the key will not spin off of the hinge rod, that means it's probably splined, and can't be twisted off. Splined parts need to be driven apart, not twisted. Twisting harder will only yield one result - a broken hinge rod, and at least an hour of lost time spent making a new rod. Driving off the key simply involves securing the exposed part of the hinge rod in a machinist's vise (with all the other keys removed), and tapping the key toward the far end of the hinge rod (toward the D key, if the D key were still mounted on the rod). A few taps will get it off the spline and it can be slipped off the rest of they way by hand. To reaffix the key, I've found the best method is to chuck a piece of 2x4 in a large vise, find a spot close to the edge, and drill a hole all the way through that it slightly larger than the diameter of the hinge rod. Place the key on the rod, put the rod through the piece of wood so that the key is resting on top of it, then line things up and tap on the end of the rod until it's driven back into the key and everything is tight. In order to avoid bending the rod, the hollow-tube part of the key should be resting directly on the wood. The key cup be hanging over the edge and not touching any wood - that's why it's important to drill a hole close to the edge.
But if it resists when you try to twist it off, just don't twist it off!

Lesson Learned - 1/21/13

It seems a simple lesson, and I guess that's because it is. But when something goes wrong with a project that will cause a delay in completing it, the customer needs to be informed, even if they weren't given a projected completion date in the first place. Even if they won't be charged any more for the additional work it may take to fix the problem. That rule may not apply to every job, as it seems you could lose a lot of face admitting a screw-up when there's no need to. On the other hand, it gives the impression of unfettered honesty.
Whatever the case, it applies in my job, especially when the customer is loyal. Fortunately for me, the customer in this case is also very kind and forgiving, so when he showed up today expecting his instrument to be done (which he had every right to expect), he was understanding of the delay.
Next time, though, I will call.

Lesson Learned - 1/2/13

Aside from the lesson I am reminded of daily - that's it is surprisingly hard to keep up a daily journal - I learned today that Getzen trumpets have very soft bell bows. At least, the instrument I was working on did. I got a dent ball on the Roth tool stuck right in the very middle of the bow (90 degrees from the stem or tail), and blew out the tubing in the process of trying to remove it. I think part of the problem was the position. It seems to me that at that 90 degree spot, the Roth tool will be pulling the ball in a direction perpendicular to the direction it needs to go to exit the bore. Or it will be pretty close to perpendicular, closer than it would be if you were trying to pull the ball out from any other point in the bow. Whatever the reason, the ball got cocked in the bore and it was only through some very patient tapping that I was able to extract it. After that, I managed to blow out the bow in two other places closer to the stem, which is what lead me to believe that part of the problem is in the softness of the bell. I haven't blown out tubing that badly in a couple of years. Part of the problem may have also been that I was jumping dent ball sizes, and in retrospect I guess I was doing it pretty haphazardly, so it would have been easy to grab a ball, not realize how large it was, and push on it with a little more oomph than was safe.

In my defense, though, the owner of the trumpet had already wanged it up pretty good by trying to pull out a stuck mouthpiece, the result being that they scratched the hell out of the mouthpiece, ripped the leadpipe off the instrument, and dented and bent the bell. My guess is that they were pulling pretty hard with a pair of pliers in one hand while holding the trumpet in the other, and when the leadpipe broke off, the force with which they were pulling on the trumpet caused them to slam it into the corner of a table. Like when you're trying to pull the cork out of a wine bottle and it finally lets go, and you end up dumping wine all over the floor and smashing myself in the face with the corkscrew.