So, everyone seems to think that instrument is some sort of mystical art. It's somewhat amusing to me how I'm seen as some sort of wizard/artist/scientist. I know that a large part of that is due to the fact the customer drops off an instrument with me, and for the most part, they don't see what I do to fix it. Many times, it just isn't working, and when they get it back from me, it's like there was never a problem in the first place. It's even more entertaining when people do in fact watch what I do to repair things, and learn just how non-magical a repair actually can be.
I got a call from a parent that their teen daughter's flute needed some work. Below a certain note, nothing would come out. When they brought it over, I could see that the key had been bent sideways. If the little arm on the back of the key is at twelve on the clock, then the nine was hanging open by several millimeters. She admitted the key got snagged on something and it hadn't worked since then.
I told her I could do the repair, pushing the key back down, and that it would take about 5 minutes to do. She said she wanted to watch, but I warned her that she probably didn't want to be there when I did it. She kept insisting that she wanted to see what I was going to do. At this point, my thought was "Ok, you asked for it"
I spent about 3 minutes explaining to her what I would do. I was going to put something under the pad on the side that was already touching. I was then going to take a little hammer, head made from canvas and resin, and tap the high side back down to level. I let her inspect the hammer, and went over this many times, so that she wasn't surprised by the process.
After double checking everyone was ready, I then went to work. I put the wedge in, and tapped the key with the hammer. Note, I tapped, not hit. No sooner had the little noise from the impact was heard, within a nanosecond, there was a gasp from the flutist. I looked over at her, hands over her mouth, eyes kind of wide, and she was breathing deep. I reminded her that this is what I said I would do to fix it, and she tried to compose herself.
On the second tap, she started to turn a bit white. I brought the flute closer to her, and pointed out that there was no damage on the flute the hammer was causing. I even let her know that, because the head of the hammer is canvas and resin, it will break before the metal if I hit too hard. I then got back to work on tapping the high side down, and by the last tap (it only really took about 8) she had left the shop to avoid seeing me work on it.
When she came back in a moment later, I was testing the pad with a mylar to check the pad was sealing around the tone hole. I then put the head and foot joints on, and had her play test it. She confirmed it was like there was never a problem. We talked for a moment, and she admitted that she still wasn't prepared for something impacting her flute at on velocity. I let her know that, at the factory, the flute saw far worse and more extreme handling than I am ever capable of doing in my shop, and that was to even turn it into a flute in the first place.
As they left, she told me that sometimes, people are better of not knowing what I do to fix their instruments. They have brought the flute back for subsequent maintenance, but now she opts to leave it with me, rather than watch
No comments:
Post a Comment