so many posts i see on this forum about people haveing a flute that thay have played for a number of years and not had it checked or serviced

think of your flute like a car would you drive a car for a number of years without a oil change or a service no you wouldent a service is designed to keep it running at its best oil thickens and when it dose it causes wear in parts a service allso identifies problems before they become major and in the long run you flute will last so much longer if looked after and serviced or a regular basis

Exactly the analogy I use with my customers.
Even when players are initially sceptical 95% admit it plays better after a service or adjustment.

"so many posts i see on this forum about people haveing a flute that thay have played for a number of years and not had it checked or serviced"

Really, I see very few on this point of view on any of the flute forums. The tendency is to advocate a "COA" at least annual basis.

"think of your flute like a car would you drive a car for a number of years without a oil change or a service no you wouldent a service is designed to keep it running at its best oil thickens and when it dose it causes wear in parts a service allso identifies problems before they become major and in the long run you flute will last so much longer if looked after and serviced or a regular basis"

BTW: Not to sound arrogant but the correct use of spelling, periods and capital letters in your writing may better define your intended meaning and at the same time may make your words seem more intelligent.

"Even when players are initially skeptical 95% admit it plays better after a service or adjustment."

I would think that a goal of doing servicing would be a slightly higher percentage of satisfied customers. Imagine a surgeon's career with a 5% failure rate. The truth be told, from my +30 years of experience in flute, I've never had a repair technician who even considered asking if their work was done well by any customer that I'm aware of. I have however seen ones who ignored complaints and then argued an obvious mistake by responding with disdain and denial.

Servicing is good when it's needed and when it's done properly. As a flutist and teacher of the instrument, I generally try make sure that this is done properly.

"Even when players are initially sceptical [I did mean this spelling which is the accepted one my side of the Atlantic!] 95% admit it plays better after a service or adjustment."

I didn't mean to imply that as many as 5% are unhappy just that they make no comment but most do return to me in due course because they are happy with my work & recommend me to others. Still a high proportion will only bring their instruments to me when they find them totally impossible to play - usually a few days before a concert or exam.

bilbo i take it you don't read many posts on this forum. I would not make a comment on this subject if i did not see a number of posts from people saying things like.

"i've had my flute for a couple of years and never had any thing done to it"

And people offering advice on the flute they play stating they have had for some time without problems. "easy to work out it has not been serviced cause they haven't had problems with it" and would not consider it needing a service

You pointed out "servicing is good when its needed" when would you consider a flute in need of a service when the keys stick or dont spring back up or even heavy to the touch.

A lot of people would consider there flute in perfect working order 12 months after buying it. In actual fact it may seem fine but in 12 months of wear the oil would be a lot thicker and it's at this point that parts wear.

IF we can minimise wear in parts you flute will last so much longer without the need for any major work to be done to it. A service allso cleans the parts removing dust, dirt and grime that acts like any abrasive wearing the metal away every time the key is used.

And lastly your in the states i'm in Australia before you comment on my spelling you may like to consider that we spell differently to you and as do the united kingdom and most other English speaking country's.

So if ya don't like the way i write my posts don't read them easy.

I hear you and agree with you 100%! Service your flute or expect it not to play up to it's potential! I am glad you posted this

agreed.

I agree with the 'if it ain't broke don't mend it' philosophy to a degree.
But 'is it working to it's full potential?' is the point.

. , : ; - ? ! "

Are used almost everywhere in this world

Adamrussell,

"
bilbo i take it you don't read many posts on this forum. I would not make a comment on this subject if i did not see a number of posts from people saying things like.
"

I've read a fair number of posts here.
More often than not, they are relating to some issue with a flute that the poster is uncertain about and the suggestion that people such as myself have made is to take it to a repair technician.

"You pointed out "servicing is good when its needed" when would you consider a flute in need of a service when the keys stick or dont spring back up or even heavy to the touch."

I'm not one for mandatory COA myself as often as some people would like to suggest. These reasons are:
1)Not all repair technicians are always of top quality. Recommending this to young students presupposes that they are always of top quality. I've personally seen them do one of three things when they get an instrument in for repair: 1) repair it acceptably 2)do nothing a3) or actually damage them further. Generally as a pointer, most of the top flute repair technicians (but not always all of them) pretty much stick to working on flutes. However most repair technicians will work on anything they can get their hands on. They are more common in the places that have a large number of school students but it varys from tech to tech. As one example, the last issue I had with one was that after a repair was needed I had to send it in 3 more times before the repair was accurately addressed. This is after written and phone descriptions increasingly more accurately specified the exact problem which should have been found with the first description. As far as I'm concerned this is too much down time for the student. When I did actually talk to the repair person, he apologized with the phrase, he "thought that he was working on a store rental instrument"...that goes to show you how he was thinking.

2)In my location I actually have gone as long as ten years before any key had any sluggish issue or locked up as a result of dried out oil. I will concede that this issue may be greater in certain areas around the globe or that possibly the repair technician that others have used was using the wrong type of oil. Of course, I try to keep my flute out of messy areas.

3) If I may suggest an idea to the forum, the thickness of the oil will not wear parts. The amount of impurities in the oil will though. In my opinion, the only way to properly oil a flute is to disassemble the mechanism, clean all parts of oil and all dirt/impurities, lightly re-oil it and then reassemble it properly while checking the pad seating. A point meant to anybody out there who has COA regularly, ....Does your repair technician guarantee that this is being done or are they applying oil to the outside only?

Finally:
"And lastly your in the states i'm in Australia before you comment on my spelling you may like to consider that we spell differently to you and as do the united kingdom and most other English speaking country's.

So if ya don't like the way i write my posts don't read them easy.
"
I was offering advice. As far as the differences between various nationalities and the spelling of English words is concerned, I was relying on my browser's spell-checker which may be set to common U.S. spelling practice. I'm sure that in australia, things may be different.
I respect that United States customs are different. If I offended you on this issue I would like to apologize. However your meaning can be misunderstood totally if you don't communicate anywhere near to the bounds of acceptable grammar usage, capitalization of words, punctuation and all. This is not my problem. I was trying to only suggest something in the way of assistance. It is your issue.

One of the primary common issues that I actually HAVE seen around forums when people ask for assistance with an issue is that they will often not describe all of the details or symptoms of their issue. This leaves the people that are trying to offer assistance, a large hole for assumptions (Similar to the game called Charades) as they try to guess at some way to help them. In this respect ambiguous communication is largely a waste of time in a non-social setting.
Respectfully,
~bilbo
N.E. Ohio