I have been reading another chat forum through the years and some of the ideas that have been mentioned to do to the flute have left me wondering... "Are these people for real?"

1. Weighted crowns and all sorts of stoppers gizmos and gadgets will greatly improve the response on your headjoint?
2. Blowing on all of your flute pads before playing it will greatly improve it?
3. Pouring hot wax into the top of your crown on your headjoint also improves it?

There are more, I am sure, but I can't think of all of them right now. To each his own ideas and finding I suppose.

I think I might go glue a penny on top of my headjoint and start a new fad.

kara, I had at least two experiences I can tell about.

One is the Bigio's Crown & Stopper. This "equipment" really made a difference in the resonance of my Sankyo NRS1 headjoint. My set came in zirconium. It's funny because Robert Bigio himself confessed that he would not know how to explain the effects his creation do to our sound. I can tell you there is a difference.

Another one, is the Nagahara locking crown. My Naga head came with both the normal and locking crowns. This one indeed caused the sound to be more resonant and I felt more ease in attacking the notes. Of course the difference is small, but it exists.

I don't believe so many tricks could change the way we play and mostly learn how to play a flute. It can help projecting a little more the sound, or perhaps make us feel more confortable playing.

It's important though to make clear that those are not solutions for resolving technical and tone problems. Those are just ad-ons to make some refinements that even may not work for everybody, by the way.

cheers,
Zevang

Did you have to special order your Nagahara with the locking crown? Mine came with a regular one. While I love my new Nagahara and it is less then a month old because of poor business practices with the company I am selling mine and refuse to play on anything by them anymore. I would rather play on a silver simba headjoint then give support them.

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Sorry, I am not in the best mood over it. can you tell?

I always align my flute magnetic north and south with a compass when not in use and at night I put the flute in its case under a crystal pyramid...

The bit about crowns at least is legitimate. I was going to buy a Muramatsu DS at one point, and had picked out the particular instrument I was interested in, and tried a large selection of different crowns (probably around 10 or 12), and each had a slightly different impact. My personal favorite was a silver one with onyx set into it, but as Zevang noted, the differences are subtle, and mostly limited to how the flute feels as you play, rather than a huge change in how it sounds (though certain crowns can change the sound slightly). I have been following the same thread (presumably) that Kara has about blowing on the pads, and I decided to give it a try on my backup flute yesterday. I did not notice a difference in how it played before and after, so I would tend to think that blowing on the pads is more a psychological thing than anything. I have not tried the wax-on-the-cork trick, but I'm going to start overhauling an old Armstrong I have with me soon, so I may try it with that.

For those interested, I have posted quite a lot on the subject on a current discussion on Flutenet (yahoo groups). Rather than revisit it all here, it's already posted there. But I'd be happy to discuss what I wrote there over here..

Joe B

I must not have a good ear then because I have yet to try different crowns and hear a difference. I think that scientifically that can change the sound, but for some of that other "stuff" it is good for the imagination and I think that is about it.

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Patrick, I like your idea. I wonder if Galway said he did that on the board how many other flutist would too. *Grins*

Well Micron showed me that if you have dry hands and you wet your fingertips, the fingerprints and other cracks in them will seal better on the open holes. I suppose you could also use hand cream on the finger tips and it'd work fine.

Now they are talking about moisturizing the case. Perhaps a good way to grow baby Portabellas for the evening's stew.

Micron said: "My sound used to be far worse if I ate an apple within hours of performing. Or so I was convinced. Now it makes not a scrap of difference.

Maybe you should have tried pears..

Joe B

I eat lots of really salty chips

When I was trying out headjoints at a local flute shop, the owner kept trying to get me to try different gemstone crowns. I did not hear a difference in the first few I tried, but she claimed there was. For my own amusement, I started changing the sound myself to be the opposite of how the crown was supposed to affect the tone. But, of course, the sales ladies still claimed the gemstone crown acheived its intended effect. I ended up having to go on and on about how ravishingly beautiful the stock Muramatsu crown made me sound in order to get out of shelling out $300 for a pretty stone.

Iv'e been looking for a gizmo that helps hold the flute while playing "C". The flute keeps wanting to slip making it difficult to get a clean response.

You might look into a Bo-Pep hand saddle and thumb guide.
Also effective can be a foam stick-on corn pad (NON medicated, please) stuck either to the base of your left hand index finger or onto the flute where your left hand holds it.
You might also google 'Rockstro' and 'modified rockstro' to hear a good description of some ergonomic ways to set up and hold your flute. Jeniffer Cluff's website has a good article.

You might look into a Bo-Pep hand saddle and thumb guide.
Also effective can be a foam stick-on corn pad (NON medicated, please) stuck either to the base of your left hand index finger or onto the flute where your left hand holds it.
You might also google 'Rockstro' and 'modified rockstro' to hear a good description of some ergonomic ways to set up and hold your flute. Jeniffer Cluff's website has a good article.

Those are some excellent ideas. I give em a try. Thanks!

I cut a small patch of sticky back vecro of the soft side and put that on my flute. It helps cusion it and gives me a better grip.