I bought an old flute off eBay, and I figured that it would be a good one to learn small repairs on, such as replacing pads, dis-assembling, cleaning and lubricating, etc.

I spent about 40 bucks on an old 'Selmer Manhattan' flute that was in an old french-style case that looked to be the original.

It appears to be silver or a close alloy, but is not marked sterling, .925, or anything else. It has soldered tone holes- Micron, you would be thrilled-they are PERFECTLY level!

Some of the mechanics are different, and it has no ribs on which to mount the posts.

There are no dings, scratches or dents anywhere on the body, although there are a couple on the headjoint.

There is a little bit of rust on some of the steels, the trill keys seem to be stuck together and the footjoint rod will not come out.

It looks like I'll need some help to get this flute cleaned up. Does anyone know anything about a 'Selmer Manhattan' flute? The case says Selmer, and the flute is marked 'Manhattan' with a New York skyline design.

I am guessing that this was part of a sax doubler's estate- it smells like my dad's manky old C-Melody.

I played it a bit before I started taking it apart, and it has a really nice tone.

I'm guessing that once repaired, it will be REALLY nice, especially with a modern headjoint. The sounding length/tonehole placement is similar to my Pearl 501, so it is probably an A=440 flute.

How do I get the inside/bore clean? Is there a way to unstick the trill keys from each other? The mechanism is pinless, by the way.
Thanks,
Tibbie

Some of the mechanics are different, and it has no ribs on which to mount the posts. the trill keys seem to be stuck together and the footjoint rod will not come out.

The shake key most likely acts as a thumb key triller. and the footjoint probably has a pinned C# assembly.

See a picture in my photos album look at the 1921 Haynes album and find the foot joint detail pictures. These didn't come apart the usual way...:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/butkevicius@sbcglobal.net/my_photos

Does anyone know anything about a 'Selmer Manhattan' flute? The case says Selmer, and the flute is marked 'Manhattan' with a New York skyline design.

Anything marked Manhattan was probably a stencil brand as that was common practice in the 20's when this was probably made. It is remotely possible that is was made by George Haynes, but those were marked with the H&A Selmer, New York mark...The George Haynes flutes were quite nice and pitched at 440. They had a characteristically low riser.

How do I get the inside/bore clean? Is there a way to unstick the trill keys from each other? The mechanism is pinless, by the way.

Pinless? That would be interesting..Can you take detail pictures. Does it resemble any of the other Haynes flutes on my photos page?

To clean the bore after usual chemical cleaning you can polish via this method:

http://www.langemusic.com/jerry.htm
BTW, That's one of some private pages on my website that pop up from time to time when various techs ask me how certain things are done..Ignore the last picture of a mutual friend of this page's intended audience enjoying a lobster dinner at last year's Boston Convention <G>....

The trills must have a pin in there some where. You'll need a pin driver to remove it. Soak it in penetrating oil overnight to get started...

Joe B

Hi Joe,
I don't think it is an early Haynes, but I do suspect that it is an early model handmade by somebody who liked to think and try out his ideas.

The Bb shake works in the traditional way.

The right hand keys all connect to a 3" rod which closes F#. The 'back connector' is simply a small square bit of rod (1 cm long, 2mm square) on the upper end of this rod that then lifts the Bb shake and closes the Bb key.

The B keys (thumb) are standard, as is C#, G# (closed, and with a gracefully shaped spatula) and the offset G keys.

There seems to be a very tiny allen wrench required to dis-assemble the trill keys, as well as the lower end of the Bb shake to take apart the left hand keys.

The weirdest thing must be that I found an adjusting screw (the ONLY adjusting screw on the wholoe flute) which appears to tighten down and connect the trill keys. They were designed to work independently, or together if you tighten that screw down onto the rod just below the upper trill key.

I am really a rank amateur at all this, and have no vat of solution to soak the grime off the dis-assembled flute, nor do I have penetrating oil.

A 5/8" dowel I have, and a dishrag, but no lathe and no tripoli.

My internet connection is dial-up, and thus extremely slow, but I do have a good camera.

My husband is thinking that if this flute is worth some $$, somebody else should be working on it.

My choices would be:
1)go to the local guy, who is very resourceful, likes a challenge, enjoys something new and has no problem with following directions from 'afar' to fix a problem he hasn't seen before. This would cost some $ because he would have to charge me for making new 'tools' to clean this thing up.
2) Send you the flute and see what you can do with it. Also costs $$
3)Sell you the flute, and you can make the rest of the choices!
The best decision probably lies with getting a ball-park valuation on this flute. I'll start by taking a couple of pictures. Sorry I didn't think of the 'before' one- it was really gross!

Wow,

You've GOT to take pictures of that thing. That is very unique!

I can't imagine who would have made that for Selmer. Will have to put some inquiries in. But I would LOVE to see pictures of it...

Joe B

Joe,
I think it's probably at least partly a copy of an old Haynes. The riser IS low.

I put the flute back together, and on the notes where the gummy springs or leaky pads don't interfere, the tone is very sweet and hints at a nice richness.

Now I need to find a collector who wants to mess with it.

I will do my best to get some pics to you, maybe when I am at my parents' where there is a high speed connection.

Try David and Nina Shorey at
http://www.antiqueflutes.com/

Or ask for Gary at Wichita Band
http://www.wichitaband.com/

They can probably help you out.

Joe B

Micron,
As for being thrilled, I was referring to the LEVEL part

Thanks, Joe, I'll follow up on those.

When I took the keys off the body, I noticed that the tone holes were not rolled, and appeared very level. So I took a cd case and set it atop the tone holes to see if I could find any gaps. I couldn't see any, but of course my method was not too scientific. The appearance was striking, however, especially compared to the wavy and visibly un-level rolled tone holes on the footjoint of an old Emerson.

I know that you are a proponent of level tone holes as being worth the money on an expensive flute. When I saw these I thought of you

You're the expert- how does one determine if the tone holes are perfectly level?

I think this flute might be made of nickel, perhaps with a silver head. Is this likely? It just doesn't get as shiny as silver when I polish it, and it doesn't have much for scratches at all.