Please help me! Especially flute experts!!! I have a Pearl 761 model, and I need to know how to fix some things. My alternate F sharp key (left hand all but pinky, right hand middle finger) will not close down the button under the B flat lever all the way. How do I fix it, Pearls don`t have maintenance screws!!! Also, my regular F (left hand all but pinky, right hand index finger) will not close the key between the left hand index and middle finger keys. I can fix this problem by using the gizmo key (alternate B flat), but I run into problems if I`m in the key of anything not flat. What do I do, honor band is coming up fast, and one of my pieces has runs I HAVE to use the alternate F sharp in!!!!!!!

Maybe Ed will be able to answer that one. I am not sure I quite understand completely. It is really hard not being able to see the flute. Are you for positive that your flute does not have adjustment screws? The 700 series that I have seen all do, that is only why I ask.
Get a really good look at it and see if anything is stuck under any of the levers that are not going down that are supposed to. Has the flute been knocked or dropped at all recently? Check to see if all your springs are under where they are supposed to be.

I have seen adjustment screws hidden on the underside of the keys. Perhaps if you look at your flute in various angles you will find your screws.

I wasn`t very clear on the maintenance screws. Yes, there are screws, but I`m saying there are no screws on the actual keys themselves. There are hidden screws, and bar screws, but no screws on the actual keys. There`s only one key that has a screw attached to it, and that is the F sharp key (right hand ring).

The screws don`t have to be on the keys themselves. Pearl uses bar screw like Yamaha flutes.

Like on the picture of this Pearl flute. Looking at the rightmost key there is a little bar just upper right of the key. That is the adjustment screw for that key.
http://www.brassnwoodwind.com.au/PearlCoda-6SS.jpg

Thank you so much for devoting your time to my question. I looked at that picture, and compared it to my flute, but there is no screw right there. I think the problem is in the joint underneath my B flat lever, but I can`t get to the screw under there. I would have to take my flute apart to get to that screw, and I have never been taught how to take my flute apart before.

That screw in the picture is for a split E, if you flute does not have one, then that is why you have no screw there. I highly suggest that you just take you flute into a repair tech. It might just be a minor problem. If you are not a trained in repairs you are liable to do more damage than good to your flute, costing you even more money for repairs.

Whoops. Kara`s right, but that is what an adjustment screw bar looks like.

Here`s an example of an underneath adjustment screw. You don`t see the screw, but it was built behind the mechanism.
http://www.flute.toucansurf.com/flute/notes/ophola.jpg

Looking at my Buffet flute with "hidden" screws I think you are in for an adjustment nightmare. I even have a screw bar like pictured which hidden under my Bb Trill which is in-accessible. One under my A key which would not be accesible with a regular straight screwdriver, unless you removed the thumb key completely. Only the F# adjustment screw is easily self accessible.

I guess if you want a flute that you can adjust yourself... make sure you can adjust it yourself. I don`t like these hidden screws one bit. I didn`t realize how off limits they were.

Piko, are you sure that is one with a hidden adjustment screw? It looks to me like one without the adjustment screw that uses corking instead like on handmade flutes.

The picture looks similar to my buffet. The screw would be on the other side of the plate and the screw end hits the key arm on the backside. You can`t see this except from under and sideview of the flute.

Now that particular flute could have paper shims rather than screws, but can you tell?

I really love screws now that I`ve discovered nail polish. Stuff is amazing. lol.

Ahh yes..nail polish! Back when I was in High School I had a Yamaha 481 where the screws kept backing out, so it would not hold it`s adjustments. That is when I discovered that nail polish trick.

I had a Muramatsu that had hidden adjustment screws just like that, and I have my Powell flute now that doesn`t have the adjustment screws that looks almost identical. So it is really hard to tell the difference by just looking at the picture.

Screws are nice to have. Why they make flutes without them? Still baffles me. Maybe the high society clan are against having screws on their flutes.

The screw thing is odd.

I think because the flute world is quite dominated by the fairer sexes (women and g@y men ), aesethics become more important than function.

In the oboe world the ability to self adjust is a must and so screws are a necessesity. In fact professional full conservatory oboes have more screws for adjustment than their modified siblings.

When looking through the IDRS` new journal with big full page ads of professional oboes you see BIG FULL SIZED screws... some flute brands are knocked for that.

Yes, as far as I know there are adjustment for F, E & D linkages to the F# key (i.e the key under the Bb aux lever) on the 700 series. Otherwise they would probably be called "hand made".

Unfortunately, on most Pearls, adjustment for F to F# is from awkward to downright difficult to access because the screw is positioned beneath the aux Bb lever. However it is possible, from an angle, if you have a blade-type (not "cross-head") screw driver which is only about 1.4 mm across the end of the blade.

Apart from this Pearl-specialty irritation, I would not say that there are any particular difficulties with adjusting the regulator screws of a Pearl.

Some thing to keep in mind though:

1. Adjustment may be difficult to get right, and precarious, because of the combination that Pearl often has, of rather non-level tone holes, rather sloppy pivot tubes, rather sloppy fit between pivot rods and any posts they go through, and rather firm (although good quality) pads that are not good at accommodating these issues. These problems are VERY common for the student range, and I don`t know how much further up the range - possibly all the ones made in Taiwan.

2. Sometimes the threads of regulating screws are a rather loose fit. If nail polish is used to secure these, it typically sits on the only the top end of the screw, & on the SURFACE of the plate (or key), rather than seeping right down between the threads as a prpper thread-locking fluid would do. Therefore although nail polish may successfully stop a screw from working out, it may still allow the screw to WOBBLE in the key or plate, whcih depending on the geometry of the linkage, may make adjustments unreliable. So it is far better to use a thread-locking fluid that will make the screw secure right along the area where the threads mesh, while still allowing it to be turned for adjustment purposes.. A suitable fluid is Loctite 222. But a caution here, that MOST thread-locking fluids are FAR too strong and would never allow future adjustment unless the area was heated to destroy the set locking fluid .

3. A regulating screw on a Pearl flute bears down on a surface that has a tiny rectangle (say 2 x 2.5 mm) of silencing material glued to it. When the linkage is well out of adjustment, it is usually because this material has become unglued, and lost. It is normal for all 4 (or 5 for a split E flute) of them to eventually dislodge... a problem that Pearl has been particularly tardy in addressing.

The regulaling screw can be turned further down to take up what was the thickness of this silencer, but the absence of his silencer will make the linkage a little more noisy than it was originally. One solution is to replace the screws with Yamaha ones, which have a tiny silencing tip built into the end of the screw. The Yamaha screws have the same thread. Another is to replace the silences with a better material (that does not delaminate!) and with a better adhesive.

May I add one more thing to EdGe`s wonderful post? Don`t try doing this yourself!

Well, if this were a saxophone forum, there would be quite a large number of people making adjustments themselves, and many doing this quite successfully and competently - better possibly than their local `technician` would.

So my assumption is that there must be at least SOME flute players out there who have similar capability, given a little guidance.

That would certainly have been the case for me before I became a technician. Unfortunately there was no such thing as willing internet helpers with expertise back then.