i was cleaning my flute and when i finished i noticed that when i played it, my a flat key will not stick....i was wondering is it time for new pads or is it the key itself...?

i also noticed that the spring that makes the key work is in a little indention....is the indention suppose to be covered with other metal or is it suppose to be exposed like that...?

i dont want to take it to the shop now...i want to wait until right before school starts...but i still would like to practice on it....im gettin prepared for all-region early...

im lookin for the cheapest route before i go all out at the shop....

what i mean by the a flat key wont stick is that when i release the key the pad will not completely cover the hole....it will still hover over it a little...i have to push it down to make it cover the hole all the way....

It sound to me like either your spring is loose, the spring is in the incorrect spot or it could be that the rod backed out a bit on it making it loose and now it won't close correctly. Can you take a picture and post it some where for us to see?

I have had a similar problem and I think I can figure out what happened:

The spring that keeps the key up (open) goes in an indent (the one you see "empty").

It is possible to have the spring slip out of the indent while cleaning the outside of the instrument with a cloth, unless you know the problem and avoid touching the springs.

If this is the cause, try to get the spring back into its indent, but be very careful, you can break or bend it.
If you have doubts or do not know how to do it, a flute teacher or a fellow flautist can easily do it for you (and show it how to, for the next time it happens).

But if you break/bend the spring, the visit to the shop will become unavoidable...
Good luck!

From the description, it could be a lot of things. The Lever could be slightly pushed to the side and hanging up on one of the G keys. The steel could have some dirt in it. The spring itself could be the problem in either where it seats or if it's fitted to the key and has come loose.

No easy way to tell without more info. But, if after cleaning, I would suspect the lever got pushed to the side a little and is rubbing up against a G key cup when it is coming up.

Joe B