Hi, everyone! I'm a long-time watcher and first-time writer. ("Oooh! An LTWFTW!")

I need help, and fast. So, if you'd be so kind, do read on! Be forewarned, my writing style is melodramatic.

My flute isn't that old, five years, and was just recently sent out and repaired due to the minor problems any flute may encounter over time. I got her back last week and, during the first few rehearsals, she was playing like a dream. Before the repair job, my dear Mary, Queen of Scots had been experiencing air leaks (most notably in the first Bb above the staff) and one would have to blow overly-hard to play. The tone was breathy, raw, and thin. But now such problems were absolved and my tone was near perfection! Oh, it was a miracle.

Yesterday, to my malcontent, troubles started to arise again. First, there would be no resistance at all, which is both good and bad -- good, because it was so easy to play with such a full tone and easy to adjust the volume; bad, because I was used to playing with heavy resistance and was overblowing. The kinks were eventually worked out and again my tone was brilliant, but later that evening, Mary decided to make my life difficult and flat-out refused to play anything higher than a third-octave C#. Ugh, she doesn't like me very much.

Today, while practicing again, she was being Miss Dreamy, I Have No Wind Resistance Flute and playing gorgeously (minus a few slipped notes from tremoring hands, but that was from a lack of caffeine). Of course, due to Murphy's Law, when I went to practice a festival piece (because my band is competing in Toronto this weekend, which is why this matter is so urgent), she started reacting exactly as she had before the repair job: thin, raw tone and far too much wind resistance.

My flute is highly tempermental.

Can someone please shed some light on what is wrong? I know that my own embouchure is part of the problem, and I adjust it accordingly, but the change is just too drastic to be me and me alone. Help?

(In case anybody is lost or needs information, necessary or irrelevant, I always refer to my flute as a "her" and her name is Mary, Queen of Scots, she is a standard Armstrong student model, and I am far too overanimated. My profuse apologies if this comes off as cocky, arrogant, or blahblahblahwhatever, I just like using big words.)

You may want to have it lookes at again. Without beign able to look at it myself, I can't tell you. Make sure to check all the springs. It could be as simple as one of the springs losing tention and being fickle. Take a good look at the action of your keys. Make sure that they are all responding properly when pushed down and that one isn't more slugish than some. Besides that, I am really not sure what to tell you, again wihout not being able to see it.

<Added>

PS. I think it is cute what you call your flute. I named mine too. Her name is Prism.
You will have to excuse me, I am not up with some of the abbreviations on the net, what does LTWFTW mean?

Eep, that's the trouble with forums. You can't see the subject with your own eyes. =/

Everything looks in place to me. The springs are working properly, the keys aren't sticking, and the headjoint and footjoint are actually staying on like they should. Could it be a problem with the cork?

And as I am unaware how to edit one's own post, I'll double-post. Sorry. =X

"LTWFTW" isn't really an internet abbreviation -- trust me, I avoid those whenever possible. I actually stole it from a Homestar Runner cartoon, where Strong Bad calls the "long-time watcher first-time writer" that very acronym. Oops.

Sometimes my piccolo, Lily, will quit playing a particular note because there is too much moisture in the bore. She needs swabbing. One or two keys, when wet, will cause a lack of response when opening a key, say going from Eb to D. The moisture sticks to the key and doesn't let air out, so the note doesn't change. My flute Aleksandra does this less frequently, and usually it is one of the ity bitty trill keys.

Otherwise, I don't know.
good luck,
Tibbie
PS I had an Armstrong flute all the way through high school : )

I would say that maybe it is pad problems. I am not a tech. but something like that happened to my old Armstrong and it was two pads and a spring, like Kara said, that were the problem.
By the way, I love your writing style! Makes me laugh!
(And my flute isn't really called anything, but I think of an old friend of mine named Paul when I play... aw.. I just call my piccolo "my baby.")

Are you sure that Mary, Queen of Scots isn't bipolar?

Apologies for the slowness of response! My parents decided to ground me yesterday for reasons that reach far beyond my realm of comprehension, and I thus did not get a chance to get on and check, even if only sporadically. I thank everyone for all of your help and the time you took to reply!

Yesterday morning, I gave Mary, Queen of Scots to my band teacher too look at. Of course, it was a busy day for last-minute lessons and tune ups so he didn't get a chance to look at her until I went to pick her up again at the end of the day. He gave her a quick glance and concluded that everything was fine and it was only my embouchure. Of course, of course, how very like him. Like mentioned before, this is possible, but my embouchure hasn't changed very much, and this problem has only started occuring over the past few days. Er, okay? Right, I'll take your word for it, Mr. C.

A few of you have suggested that the problem may be too much moisture content and/or pad issues, so I'm going to assume it is that, and hope that it's not something bigger. Oh, how terribly unfortunate would it be if my flute decided to up and die two days before we leave for Toronto? Yesterday, she sounded more like an oboe than a flute. Awfully disheartening. (Even though I've always wanted to give the oboe a try, so there's a bright side to everything?) The repair job is also probably a part of it; what Micron said makes a lot of sense, although still leads me to believe in pad problems, seeing as Mary does have a reluctance to play that first Bb above the staff. And when it does cooperate and squeak out, the note is very dull and the way it was described sounds like a crown problem, too. Isn't it just my luck that this is an essential note in one of my band's festival pieces? Doesn't help that it's in pianissimo. Woe.

Thanks again, everybody! Many thanks. =]