Hello,

I'd like to know if someone has an idea about what I got: sometimes when I play, after a while (1/2 hour or more) I start to have... nothing, no sound on the medium or low D, just pfff! This happens rarely, mostly after playing a fast scale it seems, or after a trill on the notes immediately above (E# - F). And if I try next second to get the (supposed) leak again, no chance, no leak anymore for 5 more minutes, and then I get the pfff again when I don't expect it. It's tricky because it's not a frank breakdown.
I went to a local repairshop, he told me -summarized- "the flute is okay, it's probably the way you play." Interesting!
The flute is a miyazawa silver head, one year old, I've been playing everyday for 4 years (and years before but occasionnally) on a yamaha first, then on this one. I never had that before, as far I can remember. So if it was the way I play, I would know it I guess.
From what I can deduce, it should be in relation with heat and dampness, because this leak doesn't happen at the beginning, when I start to play, but after 30mn or more.
Did this happen the same way to someone? Thank you to advise.

(BTW I'm in Vancouver, Canada. Do someone know a real good flute repairman in this city?)

I had the opposite problem with my old flute: the sound improved when damp, after playing say, half an hour. The pads were in bad condition or out of adjustment in my case.

I would tend to blame the flute after figuring out what I was doing wrong, sounds like a problem with tension in your embouchure, do you have a good teacher there?

I would tend to blame the flute after figuring out what I was doing wrong, sounds like a problem with tension in your embouchure, do you have a good teacher there?

Doesn't that flute have Straubinger pads? I would start looking there.

-Dennis

Could you be getting a water droplet in a pad? like the RH pinkey Eb?
Try contacting Jen Cluff abot a decent repairperson in your area.
She's a flutist on Vancouver Island.
http://www3.telus.net/Garry_McKevitt/

~Bilbo
N.E. Ohio

Hello, thanks everybody for answers.
Patrick, no, I've no teacher at all.
Dennis: yes, straubinger, and I heard really bad things on this board about them. I tried to test them with a feeler (after reading the book by Phelan) but I can't really figure out what to feel exactly, difficult to know what pressure to apply to test properly. But so far as I can see it looked okay.
Micron, it is an open holes one. I tried to stick tape yesterday. I played the whole day and I did'nt get the "supposed" leak. So is it the way I play after all? It looks like, but I'm not sure yet : the days I got that, it was very hot for the first time of the year, but yesterday the weather was back to cold, I thought it could be related to temperature. And I'm QUITE SURE I never had this trouble with this flute since I bought it last year... Anyway I'll keep the tape sticked on for a while and I'll wait and see. Maybe you play right for a long time and then one day, you don't know why, you catch a bad habit or weakness somewhere into the way you play, I'm not experienced enough to know about that!

I tried the B to D slur check, it's just the same response I think.

sounds like it may be a combination of things, I had a picc once that I sold cause I didn't like the silicone pads, they did the same thing your describing

Yes it looks like a combination, but maybe not.
Because I played today (rainy day, 62 at the hygrometer) 2 hours without tape on open holes and NO leak symptom at all. I'm eager to retry a next dry day, especially after reading that from Kara, in the (excellent) thread "Ahhhhhhh straubinger pads are crap"

=>"By the way, I found out that staubinger pads do better in a more moist environment. For the life of me, I could not understand why my flute was playing so awful when I had went to visit my parents in Idaho about a month ago. I talked to the technician at Powell and she told me that if I lived in a drier environment like Idaho, I would have to get my pads re adjusted about every six weeks!"

PS - Oh, BTW, is it possible to put another brand than straubinger to repad a miyazawa??? (I hope so)

Micron: no, fingers in good condition, health and mental okay too. The only real environment difference between having / not having the "pfff" symptom, so far as I can see, is climatic, dramatic fast change between dryness and rain in Vancouver those days.

And please, again, is it possible to set NON Straubinger pads on a miyazawa??

Thank you Micron! that's a relief, because reading here the posts about Straubinger pads, I started to think that Miyazawa and Straubinger was an indissociable couple... After only 6 month I got this flute, I already had some tearings, like kind of tiny (but pretty long) yellow threads hanging from the pads - I'm very careful when cleaning them, though, not pulling the paper when closed. Plus weather sensibility (if its confirmed). So I'll maybe have to change them sooner than expected.

Some other things to note:

The grommets on miyazawas often leak badly and that is something that needs to be checked. That is not something you will find with a feeler gauge. Devious leaks of these sorts are additive and when you play a long tube note problems can show up as you describe.

I don't find straubinger's to be unstable or finiky IF (really big IF) they are installed correctly, but you are not going to eliminate the eventual tearng problem (the fatal flaw IMO). That's the big overall problem.

Many miyazawa straub pad jobs need to have some re-seating done. It is far too common in my experience to find the pads really light in their seating near the axle after some usage. (and the grommets leaking too) Miyazawa uases a special grommet not removed in the traditional manner. (it's designed to eliminate prying the grommet out on the pad face risking skin tearing and fatigue...a nice idea in theory, not quite there in application though...)

If you were going to repair the straubs I would recommend replacing the grommets with Schmidt delrin replacements or have your technician check the original ones for air-tightness and seal them if necessary..

Other than that, there is no mystique as to what type of pad you want to put in your flute.

If your climate is dry, try some hand cream to keep your fingers soft. Testing equipment will reveal that leaks are at your fingertips, all else being fine. And you don't need to have anything more than dry climate for that to happen.

Since you describe that the problem occurs after you have been playing for a while, I would tend to discount the dryness/humidity differences. Your flute is not going to get drier after playing for 30 minutes. So much for that theory...

The other area I would check is the cork/stopper area. It may appear to be sealing but leaking at the closer end. (it's might be tight at the Crown end, indicating it is not leaking, but not sealing tight enough at the other end, which is where the sealing really need to take place..) The long tube notes (especially D2 and D#2 ) are affected to a small degree by the placement of the cork and/or the devious leak of the cork near the air column end of the cork.

So there could be a ton of things causing this specific problem. You need a good tech and a good teacher....<G>

Joe B