The Spot Check

We stopped by the finishing department and met with Lindsey McChord just as she was preparing to buff some extremely small spots on keys.  In fact, the spots were so small that they were pin-pointed with a Sharpie.  You see, every inch of the flute is evaluated for function and aesthetics.  Even the smallest imperfection will be corrected before the final steps of the process.

Although the keys had been polished, buffed, and padded, a "spot shine" was required for any tiny imperfection on the keys.  We caught up with Lindsey as she was preparing to buff out a very, very small spot on the thumb key.  To begin, Lindsey removed the pad and shims from the key cup.  She then began smoothing out the mark with a small buffing wheel.  Although the wheel looks hard, it is actually made of a rubber material and quite flexible.  The wheel is used with the bench motor, spinning very rapidly to smooth out the mark.  Smoothing out the mark creates a matte finish, so another buffing wheel that is even softer is used next.  Finally, Lindsey took a small cloth wheel and applied some polishing rouge directly to the wheel to polish the key.  That is basically all!  Take a look at the photos below to see the process.

Buffing and polishing wheels in center of this photo.

Pad and shims must be removed first.

Pad removed -- ready to go.

Smoothing out the mark with a firm rubber wheel.

Initial smoothing leaves a matte finish.

Polishing with a softer rubber wheel.

Rouge for cloth wheel.

Cloth wheel for final polishing and buffing.

Final polishing and buffing.

Done!

Buying Flutes at the Show

Instruments on display can be purchased. 

When we exhibit at shows like the NFA Convention, there are many people who choose to buy flutes and piccolos that are being exhibited at the booth.  That seems logical -- they try flutes, find one particular flute that is "the one," and then they buy it.  So, now it is time to leave the booth with that new flute and take it home -- right?  Well, unfortunately, that last part about leaving with the flute is not possible with Powell.  We know -- it seems kind of disheartening, but there is a very good reason for this...

Flutes that are purchased at the show must be sent back to the shop in Massachusetts and head straight to Rachel Baker, the repair technician.  She says, "my job is to make sure it's perfect" before it is sent to the customer for keeps.  Why wouldn't it be perfect?  Well, the flute had been on display at the booth, so it was being play tested by people throughout the show.  It gets picked up, played, and put back down on the stand again and again.  This means many hands have been on it, which in turn means many fingerprints.  Although the flutes are cleaned throughout the show, it really needs to go back to the shop for polishing before it is sent to the customer.  Rachel tells us that polishing is "the big thing" because the flute has been picked up so much.  She polishes the body on the buffer and polishes the keys by hand (with a small buffing wheel).  She also makes any adjustments to the flute that may be needed.  If a customer has requests for small additions/changes to the flute, those can be done as well.  These minor changes include adding a D# roller, G disc, or having some engraving done.  Finally, she puts the flute in a new case, and then it is sent to its new owner.

Sold!  Going back to MA for cleaning/adjustment.

So, although it may seem disappointing to not be able to leave the booth with your new flute, keep in mind that your newly-purchased flute will be even better than it was when you tried it at the show.  It will be polished and adjusted at the Powell shop before it becomes yours -- going through the same polishing and adjustments of flutes that are sent directly from the shop to a customer!

Polishing to a Perfect Shine

So, how exactly do our flute headjoints get so shiny?  Well, they certainly do not start out with a perfect shine.  We recently caught up with our shop manager and one of our polishing technicians.  As you can see from the photo below, when a headjoint arrives at the polishing room, it is far from "shiny."  It actually goes through several steps before the final result.  In pre-prep polishing, grease is applied to the headjoint, and the headjoint is then buffed on a specially-tuned buffing machine.  The buffing machine has a wheel made of cloth used to buff and polish.  Pre-prep polishing is an important step since it allows the technician to clean up any solder and imperfections.  This step also polishes the headjoint to some degree to make it shiny.  After each buffing and polishing step, the headjoints are cleaned in an ultrasonic cleaner.

The final step in the polishing process is where something known as "rouge" comes in to play.  It may sound like an item from the cosmetic department, but it is a polishing compound that is made of iron oxide (rust) in a wax base.  It gets its name from its color as you can see!  The rouge is applied to the buffing wheel, and the headjoint is polished.  Rouge is excellent for polishing because it has very fine particles that remove metal in smaller pieces, thereby producing a very high shine.  In addition to our flute builders using rouge as a polishing agent, jewelers use it as well.  Makes sense to us since our flutes are made of precious metals!

Headjoints in an early phase of polishing

Rouge for the final step

Technician applies rouge to the cloth buffing wheel in the final step of polishing

Headjoints that have been polished and are ready to go!