Building the White Gold Flute - Part 6

Last week, we spent time in the stringing department with John Colvin as he fitted the keys and began building the mechanism. This particular flute has engraved keys which went to our engraver, Weiling Zhou, after John soldered the key cups to the key arms.  After the keys were engraved, they were sent back to John to be fitted to the mechanism.  In the video below, you will see a compilation of photos of the engraved keys and John finishing the mechanism.

Once the keys and mechanism are built and fitted to the body, the mechanism components (keys, mechanism tubing) are sent to the polishing room.  The body and foot joint are polished at this time as well.  The keys go through a pre-polishing step followed by two additional polishing steps.  Between each step, the keys are cleaned in the ultrasonic cleaner.  In the photo compilation below, you will see the the polishing process with Alex polishing the body and footjoint, and Galina Lavrishina polishing the keys. Galina is also the finisher for this flute, so we will take a closer look at the finishing process with her next week...



Music Credits:
Video Clip 1: Powell Artist Paul Edmund-Davies
J.S. Bach  - Sonata In A maj, BWV 1032: III.Allegro

Video Clip 2: Powell Artist Aldo Baërten with Laurine Phélut
J.S. Bach - Sonata, BWV 1031 (Arr. Michael Langer): III. Allegro