Boundless Flute

Back for a moment to help out a 14K Pearl with a bumped G #. 🧡

The following isn’t news if you’ve been watching my personal FB page, but for those who haven’t…

I’ve been pretty quiet lately on IG because…well, I put myself through coding bootcamp. 🙈

I love repairing flutes, but oof, it’s a tough way to make a living, even when you’ve got clients booked for months.

So, I decided to take the leap into a profession that could give me retirement and healthcare benefits, and still allow me to solve problems and help people.

If you’re so inclined, you can follow my adventures on Instagram at , and also as the person behind the scenes of the account (yup, I was lucky enough that the bootcamp I attended wanted to hire me! 🤩)

I’m not booking new repairs for the time being while I adjust to my new career, but I’m not selling my tools yet, either. 🛠

I hope 2022 treats all of you well - here’s to ever evolving and new adventures! 🤩

Geoghegan Phoenix 😍

Something I get asked about all the time! This is going to be an important show. 🤓

In the market for a new flute under $3,000? Curious about all of the options? What is the best flute for YOU? 🪄 🎶

Tune in via Facebook Live this Thursday, May 6th at 8pm EDT/5pm PDT for our Step-Up/Intermediate Flute Buying Guide 🤓

This is very popular and important flute category for players all over the world! However, the price point also makes these flutes a balancing act for the maker. We will discuss what this means, how it affects flute maintenance, and how to decide what the right balance is for you ⚖️ See you Thursday!

Hello, gorgeous. 🤩 Platinum with gold toneholes, rings, barrel, and keys getting a COA and some new pads today. 🤍💛

•
•
•
•

Friends don’t let friends try to move the headjoint cork with a cleaning rod. 😱

The line on your cleaning rod is GREAT for checking that your cork is in the correct position.

But it’s not great at moving the cork to the correct position. It’s too small and pointy, and you’re much more likely to dent your cork plate than to move your cork if the cork is really stuck.

A wide, smooth, flat-ended wooden dowel is the idea tool to use - the wide end distributes the force across the plate evenly and prevents damage.

•
•
•

This vintage piccolo came in for a COA, except it ended up being much more!

The owner was trying to do their best to look after this lovely instrument by oiling it, once a month.

If you’ve watched , you know that we don’t recommend that players oil their own instruments and this is exactly why. This player is extremely careful and conscientious, but they still managed to use far too much oil and wreck their pads. There’s no saving an oil-saturated pad, so it instantly turned their COA to a repad. 😢

Even without the oil problem, time had caused large grain lines to open across the rims of the toneholes, so I had to seal and repair every single one.🔬

Before anything, I had to mop up all the excess oil, clean the piccolo, and reoil it. I took the opportunity to show just how brown unoiled grenadilla is - pictures 4, 5, and 6 show a patch of the wood that hasn’t been oiled, then with oil applied, and then wiped away. Just because your piccolo isn’t super shiny doesn’t mean it needs oil. Some piccolos, especially vintage ones may naturally have more of a matte finish even when properly oiled. It’s more about the color than the shine! ✨

Now that all the toneholes are repaired, and the wood is happy, it’s time to put the ribs back on and start installing some new .flutes pads. 🙌

I’m so excited to hear this piccolo after its transformation!

Andddd this piccolo belongs to the first Boundless Flute client to book through for our new partnership! 🥳 What a way to kick things off! 😂

One of my very first prototype Seashell crowns came in with its flute for a COA! It’s always fun to see them again and remember how far I’ve come. 🐚🎉

•
•
•
•

.crowns

I am looking forward to having such a great team at my back! 🤩 Reposted from Flutistry Boston 🎉 :

⭐️PARTNERSHIP ALERT!⭐️⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
We are so excited to be partnering with Boundless Flute to better serve our community. If you are a client of Boundless Flute, you can now schedule your full-service repairs through Flutistry. This allows Sarah to spend more time on what she does best: repairing flutes!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
☎️If you are in need of a repair, give us a call today to schedule your repair consultation today! We are now booking appointments for spring and summer 🥳⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
{flute + artistry = flutistry}⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Overcompressed Straubinger pads are much more likely to tear, and they seal unreliably against the tonehole. That means more frustration and inconsistency for the player, and more expenses down the road because they’ll need more frequent adjustments and replacing sooner.

The first photo shows the center of the pad being pulled downward.

That puts too much strain on the skin and means it’s pulling too hard against the plastic rim of the pad...and that means it’s going to fail sooner along that edge than a pad that isn’t overcompressed.

This kind of compression is very common on vintage flutes that were designed for felt pads. Felt pads can be squished more than synthetic pads and be just fine.

When converting a flute to synthetic pads, though, you have to relieve this pressure. Unscrewing the pad screw a little seems like it would work, but if the screw doesn’t stop on something, the pad is unstable.

So, you have to either make the spud that the screw goes into taller, or make the washer sit higher on the pad, or even both.

Here, I’m using a tool to stamp a recess into the washer to create clearance for the pad. That extra bit of height allows the pad to sit flat. A flat pad will last much longer and be more stable than an overcompressed one! 🙌

It’s good to have a lathe. 🤓

•
•
•

#флейта #長笛 #フルート #플루트