Building the White Gold Flute - Part 1

Entering the order

As we prepare for the 2014 NFA Convention, we'd like to highlight the process of building a flute -- but not just any flute.  In fact, we are building a 14k white gold Powell Custom with 14k rose gold keys specifically for this year's Convention.  In our series of posts, we will follow the white gold flute from start to finish!  Recently, we discovered letters of correspondence between Verne Q. Powell and Fritz Baker.  Baker was the former principal flutist with the Denver Symphony and owner of Powell #900, the only completely white gold flute made by Mr. Powell.  Click here to read a previous post on the color of white gold and here for a detailed post on Mr. Baker's white gold flute.

The process of building a Powell flute begins with a sales order being entered into our computer system.  The order specifies the details and specs of the flute, and then a work order is generated.  The work order follows the flute along every step as the flute is being made

In the videos below, we see the next two steps that take place after the work order is generated.  First, materials must be inspected.  Then, the body kit and stringing kit are put together.  We visited the materials area of the production floor to film the following videos of the materials inspection with Materials Manager, Dawn Rothwell-Mann, and assembly of kits with Materials Coordinator, Helen Power.

Introduction of Left Hand Pinless Design

Looking through our archives, we came across the Powell Flutes newsletter from the summer of 1988.  The pinless bridge in the left hand, introduced 26 years ago, is a precursor to today’s elegant and functional pinless mechanism.  An excerpt from the 1988 newsletter article highlighting the new design is below:

The Hidden Bridge: An Improvement in Left-hand Design

The unique action of a flute, whereby certain keys must act independently some of the time, and in concert with other keys at other times, creates a design challenge.

Part of the solution to this challenge has been the use of steels or rods which run inside the sterling silver mechanism tubing.  One approach, which is the most typical one for the left hand, is to “pin” the steel to the mechanism tubing, effectively putting one key in a fixed position to another key.  A second approach has been to connect two or more keys by running a bridge from one to the other.  This method has traditionally been used for flutes with split-E and offet G to connect the right-hand E with a lever that operates the left-hand lower G.

Each approach has advantages and problems.  Mechanically, the bridge is a more secure device.  However, bridges are cumbersome to build and do not have the delicate appearance of nearly invisible pins.

Powell’s design of choice for 62 years for the left hand has been to use pins.  After Powell’s craftsperson has pinned and adjusted the left-hand mechanism, it is both effective and attractive.

The practical mechanical limitation of pins for the left hand occurs when a flutist desires a split-E in conjunction with an in-line G.  Several Japanese flutemakers began using a bridged left-hand section for split-Es around 1980.  Powell constructed a left-hand bridge on two flutes during the last three years.  While the bridge was determined to be very effective, the aesthetics were unsatisfactory.

Powell’s stringing supervisor (Tom Sears) was asked to bring his 15 years of flutemaking experience and his artistic talents to bear on the aesthetic problem.  What he finally designed, after experimenting with several methods, was a bridge for the left hand which runs below, rather than above, all of the mechanism tubing.

The “hidden bridge” is so well designed and crafted that most players cannot even find it unless the bridge is shown to them.  Powell’s new hidden bridge design is mechanically simple and accomplishes the functionality of the bridge without any oversized or extra back connections.  Aesthetically, it is the equal of pinned mechanisms.

For more on today’s  pinless mechanism, we have two videos on our YouTube channel with Powell’s President, Steven Wasser, demonstrating a model of the mechanism at the 2009 NFA Convention in New York City.  Click here to watch the first video, “Smooth as a Rolling Stone, Part 1” and here to watch “Smooth as a Rolling Stone, Part 2: Q & A.”

Red box around pinned left hand mechanism

Red box around pinless "hidden bridge"

Debut of Cooper Scale

Photo from High Flutin'

The annual NFA Convention is a terrific environment for flute makers to present new products.  Convention attendees look forward to visiting booths and "checking out what's new."  At Powell, we premiered a winged headjoint this year,  Turning the clock all the way back to 1974, Powell Flutes attended the NFA Convention in Pittsburgh and premiered their model flute with the Cooper Scale.  In this excerpt from High Flutin', we read former president Ed Machon's account of the event:

Fenwick Smith returned from Germany where he had been studying and performing.  He brought us up to date on the "Cooper Scale," saying it was very well-received in Europe..He explained that Albert Cooper was very co-operative and would give us details and all notes pertaining to the new scale.

This was 1974...What to do?  We sat with the best flute in the world.  Should we risk the time and money necessary to entirely re-vamp the set-up or rest on our laurels?  The decision was quickly made to go all out and have the Cooper Scale flute ready for the NFA convention to be held in August that year.  Two men took over the tooling necessary to convert the scale, and the rest of the shop continued on with business as usual.  The decision to make the scale with drawn tone holes was a difficult one to make as, traditionally, the Powell was always done with the soldered holes.  The "pulling balls" to draw the tone holes out of the silver tubing would be much easier to make than face the uncertainties of gathering stock from our suppliers.  Very little of the tone hole stock used on Powells could be adapted to the new scale.  If I recall correctly, only one tone hole was in the same position as on the Powell.  Needless to say, the scene was bedlam, and from the loud continuous noises, mostly strange, carrying on all day and half the night, a visitor might think we were working on a new atomic weapon.  After what seemed to be an eternity, and a mess of ruined tubing, we had two bodies ready to be keyed up, polished, padded, and tested,  The moment of truth arrived finally, and with a strobe, which replaced our ever-loving "gong," the new baby was tested and found to be nigh on to perfect... All this came together about a week before the convention.

The convention was a "first" for all of us.  Dick Jerome and I, along with Albert Cooper went, as did Bick Brannen and his brother Bob with their wooden, conical bore Boehm flute.  They also helped us at the booth.  That was the first real convention; the one at Anaheim, California in 1973 was poorly attended.  The hours were unreal -- 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM, break for lunch, back for another four-hour session, supper if you were lucky, then 8:00 PM to closing.  I recall packing up the flutes at about 10:30 PM, then searching madly for a place still serving meals.  The dining rooms in the hotel shut down about 9:00 PM,  Dick and I ended up having dinner about 11:00 or 11:30 after walking about 8-10 blocks in a not-too-nice area.