Some of you know the issues I've had with my new Amadeus flute. It has been very frustrating, but I finally thought everything was straightened out. However, last night was the first time I really gave this flute a workout. I played for three hours in a trio and then two hours at band. Both times, about an hour into the gig I noticed condensation forming where the headjoint inserts into the barrel. My flute was swabbed clean before each gig. Now, I have played on $50 flutes that never did this. I've been playing for 25 years and never heard of this. And, when I do pull the headjoint out the tenon is completely beaded up with wetness. It seems to me that there has to be some kind of leak? It's hard to believe because the headjoint fits very tightly.

I have not re-contacted the Haynes repair shop yet about this particular issue, for reasons that I WILL get into in the future. I hate to rag on a company in a forum like this, but when I pay that much money for a flute I expect no problems whatsoever.

Any suggestions?

there coule be a small gap between the tenon and the thing it fit into,

does the wetness affect the tone or anything like that?

if it does nothing
whats the problem then?

"Both times, about an hour into the gig I noticed condensation forming where the headjoint inserts into the barrel."

Moisture condensation inside of a flute should not be related to the brand. It is a function of the temperature differential between your breath and the flute's metal. Basically, if the tube of the flute is colder than your breath then the moisture from your breath will condense inside on the metal. This is particularly a problem when playing in cold rooms or outside (For marching band players and such) and a real issue for piccolo players where the moisture can get caught in a tiny pad hole and actually block the hole from opening at all with a bubble of water.

Now, the tube can appear to be snug BUT it may be not totally snug along the complete length of the tenon. MAybe the diameter of the head joint tube is ever so slightly smaller at the very end but it still goes into the receiver pretty snug. So, if there is some sort of gap at the end of the head joint then some of your breath moisture could collect at this gap before it has a chance to roll out the foot joint end.

I suspect that this isn't a problem with the way that the flute plays.

If you are getting moisture on the pads, it can be an issue and this pad moisture is a primary reason why we don't set our flutes upside down when we aren't playing them. Even still, moisture inside your flute shouldn't be considered a fault of anything related to the brand.

For clarification, this is not normal moisture on the inside of the flute. This is drops of condensation running out of the flute barrel onto the exterior of the headjoint while playing the flute. Simply, this means the connection is not tight. Is the affecting the tone? I don't know because this is a brand new, from the factory, special order flute.

"Both times, about an hour into the gig I noticed condensation forming where the headjoint inserts into the barrel."

Is this forming on the outside of the flute, or is it coming through the joint? Presumably if the headjoint wasn't sealing properly you'd already have noticed the detriment to your sound.

It is coming out of the connection while the flute is still assembled.

Is this forming on the outside of the flute, or is it coming through the joint? Presumably if the headjoint wasn't sealing properly you'd already have noticed the detriment to your sound.

I believe that she ordered the flute from the factory and if it came like this, she wouldn't notice any change in her sound because it would be the sound that she is used to hearing.

I would take the flute to a repair tech that has one of those fancy leak detection machines and see if he can find a leak or detect if your tennon is out of round by milimeters.

If he finds a problem, I would contact Haynes and see what they have to say.

Scratch that last idea. I would just call Haynes and see what they have to say about the phenomenon that you are experiencing. Maybe they can recommend someone locally to check out the flute and possibly get you a replacement.

That's just my 2 cents.

Good luck

This happened with my flute before I had my headjoint fitted properly.

However, the tech said it was because something wasn't completely round. This does NOT affect any tone or sound. It just gets messy sometimes

But with a brand new flute should something not be completely round? I could see if this was ever even a demo flute, but like I said it was special order.