Lower register dissapeared!!! Help!

Hey all! I'm new to this forum, so don't laugh at me-yet. I don't know how you guys work around here. Ummm, I used to have a nice Emerson, but I was never able to get the lower register-never lower than the lowest F I believe. I've been using an open-hole Gemeinhardt my dad bought (secondhand), and it had the most WONDERFUL lower register I had ever played....but....I lost it. I can't play any lower than an E anymore. I was able to get all the way down to Middle C until a few days ago. Unless I go down the Chromatic scale, which even then I can only get to D. Can anyone please tell me why this might be????? All springs seem to be in place.... the foot joint is fairly loose, but that never bothered me before. PLEASE help me! I'm 1st chair flute in my band, and I need to get that lower register. This is my 4th year playing, so it wouldn't be-and I know it isn't-my embrochure.

Welcome to the forum.
Since this just started happening and the lower register was fine before and you know it isn't your embouchure then I am willing to bet it is your flute. Best advice I can give you with out seeing your flute is to tell you to take it into a good repair tech.

Good advice, Kara. To the OP, when you get it to a tech, you should ask him to fit the foot. If it's overly loose, you might as well have a pad leak somewhere. Getting it fit will cost only a few dollars and should be an extremely quick and easy operation.

This has happened to me before, but it could be a different solution. on the two long rods running down the side of the flute there is a screw on the end nearest the mouthpiece, which could be loose-check both of them... they shouldnt be sticking out more than 1mm over the edge of the rod. Its puzzled me for a few days when i was looking at the springs but never thought of checking that! if its loose get a small screwdriver and screw it in, but be careful not to do it too tight! Hope that helped

My dad took a look at it last night(he use to own a music store) and said he might be able to fix it, but today's he's saying I might want to take it to a shop. He has a few friends that play the flute and might be able to fix it. It got worse last night, I couldn't even get 2nd D (in the staff, I don't know what you would call that)My dad kinda got that working. I miss my low register

i feel your pain hope it gets fixed soon

Thanks!

Me-flute, that rod you were talking about...my dad said the rod is bent. I have no choice but to send it to a shop, in which case it might take a week until I get it back...It's driving me crazy!!!! I'll take out my flute periodically without thinking start playing, and rediscovering I can't play hnaalf of my notes. I suppose this happened when my case fell open on the bus (dumb flute cases). Does anyone have any quotes on how much it might take to get the main rod fixed??

How much will depend on the tech, your area, and possibly even the level of the flute. There's really no way to know without asking whoever will do the work for a quote. In any case, I would not suggest taking a screwdriver to your flute unless you know what you're doing, even if that might have been the solution. Messing with the various screws on a flute without an understanding of exactly what they do can cause even more problems than may originally have existed, ranging from leaks to the mechanism binding. It's just not a smart idea. If all that needs to be done is have a screw replaced, the price of such work will reflect that. My tech has done simple work for me for free in the past, as I give him good business with more expensive projects.

have you tried another flute that is in working order? that will answer the question as to the cause of the problem, if it is the flute, then playing one that works will get ur confidence back...

wow i have the same problem i can't get lower than F either

wow i have the same problem i can't get lower than F either

wow i have the same problem i can't get lower than F either

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sorry for the triple comment took a while to load

That's alright!
It's torture though cuz I can't really play. More of my notes are missing. My dad said he'd call a friend who was really good at playing flute (and fixing them) and see if we can get it fixed. Someone said in a preivious post, patrick I think, not to mess with the screws. No need to worry 'bout that. I think that's what went wrong with my old Emerson. I guess I messed some of the screws up somehow I have band tomorrow, so my dad's gonna pull out the emerson and see if he can get that working again. Shouldn't be to hard for him if that's the only problem.........Uggghhh, I miss playing. I can't stand hearing all of the ugly notes.

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sorry, flutist06 said it.

My dad took my flute to an "expert". It took him just a few days to fix all of the problems, and my flute is now playing like a DREAM!!! I love it! Apparently, the lip plate was all messed up and had a big leak, a few of my pads needed replacing, my springs needed adjusting, etc. Could never tell it was second had Yeah, it cost $65 but it was well worth it. I'm being so careful with it now. I'd hate to go a week without it again!