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.