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lucyls
(6 points)
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I am returning to the flute as an adult after many years away from it, when I was playing the oboe. I used to be quite proficient at the flute and had no trouble getting any of the "normal" notes. However, I have just purchased a new, "no name," open-holed flute, with an off-set G key and a low B-flat. I cannot seem to get some of the right hand notes to come out. I assumed that it was a key or pad problem, but it seems to be no help to press down manually any keys that should normally be automatically closed farther up the bore. The C, B, B-flat, and A have a very nice tone in either the first or second octave. The G is mediocre in 1st or second, but the G# is pretty good. I can't get any of the regular notes using the right hand keys, but, interestingly enough, I can get a harmonic of A in the second octave (with all the right and left keys down). I have just moved to a new neighborhood, so I don't yet know where any flute repair techs are. Can anyone tell me what things I can check to see if this is a repair issue or just me, forgetting how to play the notes?
Thank you very much for any suggestions.
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Kara
(2896 points)
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I would suggest tossing the no name flute and buying yourself a good reliable name brand flute. It most likely will cost more to have a no name brand flute fixed than you originally paid for it and in the long run will not be worth it.
It is called a B foot, not B flat by the way 
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lucyls
(6 points)
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I do appreciate the advice, but this is what I can afford right now and I'd like to do what I can with it, so any insight on its specific problems would be helpful. Thanks.
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Kara
(2896 points)
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Unfortunately, without seeing the flute it is going to be very hard to evaluate what the problems are. I just bought a like new used student Armstrong flute for only $30, so there are still affordable good name brand flutes out there without having to buy a no name.
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Flutist06
(1545 points)
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I agree with Kara. There are almost certainly leaks in the right hand (no name flutes are notoriously poorly made, and that includes setup/padding). However, having it fixed by a competent tech could easily cost $150+, which is probably more than you paid for the flute to begin with. As Kara noted, it's very possible to get a name brand flute used for about the same price as a no-name. Aside from the obvious padding/mechanical issues, that flute is likely made from pot metal, which is much softer than the normal alloys, so it's more easily damaged and harder to repair (you'll be lucky to find a tech willing to work on it, as they pose a financial liability...Fix one thing, and two more issues pop up). Most of these flutes have terrible scales (meaning they can't play even remotely in-tune with themselves, even if they're in good working order), and a highly unreliable mechanism. If budget is an issue, it makes far more financial sense to invest in a name brand flute (which will be much more reliable due to higher quality construction and materials), than to try to get by with the one you have.
<Added>
Incidentally, my guess at what's wrong would be (at least) a leak in the lower G key. That would explain why you can't get anything below G, and the tone on G is starting to suffer. Without seeing the flute, I could easily be way off, and/or there may be some deeper problem causing the same thing, but that would be my first guess.
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lucyls
(6 points)
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Thanks to you both. It is a silver flute and does seem to have a nice tone and decent pitch. Yes, it would be very nice to get another one, but that is not happening now, so I'll see if I can find someone who can look at it. At least I know, from what you said, that it is not just my embouchure that is the problem.
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leighthesim
(240 points)
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try looking in the phone book for music shops and theen they will be able to give you a number for a techie who may be able to identify your problem (is the name on it XE because if it is its a decent flute but one of the screwss came a bit loose on mine causeing the pad not to seal propally) but press the keys down and see if you can find leaks and then take it to the techie
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Micron
(1406 points)
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The problem is almost certainly to do with a leak or leaks.
I assumed that it was a key or pad problem, but it seems to be no help to press down manually any keys that should normally be automatically closed farther up the bore. "
That will not necessarily solve all leaks.
Unfortunately, the cost of dealing with the problem(s) on an instrument of such low quality that it has no name, is likely to be more than you paid for it. On the other hand, you may be lucky. They vary a lot, even within a "brand". To service such an instrument is usually far more challenging than servicing one of reputable brand name, so it is almost certainly not a case for DIY.
Many technicians will not even touch such objects-that-look-like-instruments. Read this cautionary tale:
http://www.saxontheweb.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=320533&highlight=piccolo#post320533
"Aside from the obvious padding/mechanical issues, that flute is likely made from pot metal, which is much softer than the normal alloys, so it's more easily damaged and harder to repair"
I would like to see this myth put to rest. "Pot metal" refers to a rigid, brittle, cast alloy that cannot be silver soldered if it breaks. Although it has been used for keys on a one or two models of clarinet in the past,and on some seldom seen sax keys, I have never seen it on a flute, not in the hundreds of models of over 120 brands I have worked on. And the thin body could not be made from pot metal.
On SOME cheap flutes, the metal may be very soft, affecting reliability, and on others it may be excessively strong, making correction of manufacturing faults by bending, more difficult. But they are not made from pot metal. Keys can be silver-soldered.
"It is a silver flute and does seem to have a nice tone and decent pitch. "
If it is no-brand-name, then the chances of it being silver are almost nill. It is likely to be a copper-nickel alloy, silver plated, like other student flutes. "silver" usually refers to solid sterling silver, but advertises of these cheap flutes use the word 'silver' to refer to colour, rather than material or construction.
<Added>
Pot metal:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pot_metal
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Plekto
(259 points)
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I think what the meant by pot metal was recycled alloy, which is common in exports from China. You know the crud - it looks fine but is the first thing to break in the project or repair that you are doing. I notice it most of all in automotive applications. I can't honestly count the number of nuts and bolts that I've witnessed in the last decade that snap, strip, or cross-thread made in China. I've had to resort to buying U.S. or Japan made hardware as replacements, right out of the box, for even the most innocuous things.
That's not to say that China can't make good metals.
Almost all of China's better metals and alloys go to their major construction projects and military. Everything else, which ranges from recycled steel foisted off as high grade to the metal that they use to make instruments and everything else that you might find at Wal-Mart is basically junk. Or at least stuff that wouldn't pass muster in any first world country. But it's for export and there's no legal ramifications for even the most outrageous lies, so people being people, they send us the worst junk.
I guess we do get hat we (don't) pay for.
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Account Closed
(394 points)
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I probably just missed it, but could some of the leaks be from your fingers, since this is an open hole flute? Perhaps, a key covers (plugs), whatever you want to call them on those open holes until you get to the root of the problem. You are new coming back to the flute, and it may just be that your fingers are the leaks? It is just a suggestion.
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Account Closed
(394 points)
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When I got my first open hole they came with cork inserts on the open holes that you remove one at a time as you get used to playing, and training your fingers to cover the holes correctly. I have B-foot and a C-Foot open holed Flutes, and they sound very much alike, except the B-Foot is better, because everyone else says it's better, and it has the split-E which is better cause everyone says its better, and Gizmo which also makes it better, because everyone says it's better. I am better, because everyone says I am better....the doctors at the state hospital do not concure...hmmmm
:-P
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lucyls
(6 points)
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I was off-line for a few days, so I am trying to catch up quickly on all the posts. I hope I didn't miss anything. Thanks for all the information. Let me explain the story about my getting back to the flute. I played an open-hole flute in high school and college, and it only had the C-foot, so I was sometimes frustrated by the fact that some music for flute needed the B-foot. As I mentioned, I played the oboe for about 20 years, so I am used to having my fingers cover open holes. The reason I am going back to the flute is that my work schedule is such that I don't have time both to make reeds and to practice enough to keep up a decent tone. I wanted to start with an inexpensive flute while I relearned it, knowing that I could easily upgrade. My husband got it for me on eBay, from a company that does a lot of eBay business, so I think I have some recourse if it really has a mechanical problem. The main thing I wanted to find out was whether it IS a mechanical thing, or just my embouchure. It's been so long since I played, that I couldn't remember whether those notes were supposed to be harder than the left hand notes.
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Flutist06
(1545 points)
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Well the short answer is no, those notes should not be particularly hard to produce just because they involve the right hand. It's always possible that there is some other issue that we can't diagnose through the web which is making it harder (and it would be best to consult a live teacher to rule out this possibility), but also VERY likely that you have leaks or other issues with the instrument.
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Plekto
(259 points)
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My guess is that one of the trill keys is slightly open or not sealed. This can cause all sorts of havoc(word for the day!) with right hand notes.
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