Verne Q. Powell - The Flutist

Verne Q. Powell

This week, we had the pleasure of corresponding with Verne Q. Powell's gradndaughter, Gail Powell Dearing.  She had written an article for the Winter 2013 edition of The Flutist Quarterly, detailing some very interested yet not widely known facts about her grandfather. In this excerpt, we learn about Mr. Powell's earliest days as a wind player...

Excerpt from "Second Wind: The Powell Spoon Flute at 102" (The Flutist Quarterly, Winter 2013)

By Gail Powell Dearing

It’s not well known that Powell was an accomplished flutist.  He started playing the ocarina when he was 8 years old, and at the age of 10, started a small fife and drum corps with a couple of his friends.  When he first heard a piccolo, he had to have one, so his brother bought him one for $3.40.  Powell said he shined his brother’s shoes for the rest of his life to repay him for the piccolo.  Then he expanded his group to six piccolos, six snare drums, and a bass drum; the group played at local ball games for the price of admission.

He bought his first Böhm flute when he was 17, and four years later purchased his “first good flute,” a Rundall-Carte wooden flute.  Largely self-taught, Powell had a reputation as a superior flute player long before he became better known as a fine flute maker.

Thus, his spoon flute was born of the combination of his skill as a jeweler and engraver with his love of music and facility with the instrument.

The "Stand In"

We stopped by the finishing department this week and saw something particularly interesting at flute finisher Matt Keller's bench.  It looked like a metal flute body with extra ribs going in odd directions. It was also on a flute peg right next to a grenadilla Custom flute that Matt was finishing, so we had to had ask, "What's this?"

Well, it turns out that this ribbed metal "body" is actually a "stand in" to polish the ribs that go on the grenadilla flute.  Matt needed to polish the ribs as part of the finishing process, but he could not polish them on the wooden body.  Definitely not.  If you think about it, metal flutes have ribs that are soldered onto the body. Since the body is also metal, the body and ribs are polished together on a wheel that is spinning very, very quickly.  Although the image below is a photo and not a video, it helps in visualizing the polishing process for metal flutes:

With the wheel spinning so quickly, it's certainly not a good idea to have the wooden body anywhere close...  Also, the ribs are screwed on to the body of the grenadilla flute, so they can be screwed onto the metal "stand in" body, polished, unscrewed, and then screwed onto the wooden body.  Matt and our Repair Technician, Rachel Baker, tell us that once the ribs are screwed onto a grenadilla flute or piccolo, they have to stay!  Why?  Well, taking them on and off again and again can really weaken the wood and lead to more problems.

Matt told us that all of the ribs for the grenadilla body and footjoint are all on the "stand in."  So, the "stand in" might look a bit odd, but it truly is helpful for polishing the ribs that go on a grenadilla flute!

Close-up of the wooden flute body (which is upside down),
footjoint, and the "stand in."

Cutting Wooden Headjoints

Measuring angles

What does it take to cut a wooden headjoint?  Is it the same as cutting a metal one?  Luckily, we stopped into the headjoint room this week just as Lindsey McChord was working on wooden headjoints, so it was the perfect opportunity to find out more...

Powell's wooden headjoints are available in the Philharmonic and Soloist styles.  The process of cutting these headjoints involves different tools but produces the same shapes and angles that a metal headjoint in these styles would have.  Of course, working with wood is very different from working with metal.  In fact, Lindsey tells us that the characteristics of these two materials are quite opposite from one another.  Wood does not respond well to steep angles and metal does.  Wood also does not respond well to very deep undercutting and overcutting -- and metal does.  With wooden headjoints, rounded shapes and edges create a much better response.  Essentially, when it comes to cutting a wooden headjoint, it is all about blending without disturbing the shape.

When Lindsey works with metal headjoints, she uses tools to scrape and cut metal.  The tools are quite sharp so that they can remove material.  However, with wooden headjoints, Lindsey uses mostly files and sandpaper to make chages.  There is one small tool that allows Lindsey to scrape wood, but it is much more rounded at the end (as you will see in the picture).  The rounded end allows Lindsey to remove material without the risk of gouging the wood.  

To begin cutting a wooden headjoint, Lindsey must first adjust the height of the riser.  The riser is not a separate piece as it is with metal headjoints, so Lindsey makes the height adjustment by filing the top of the lip plate until the riser is the correct height.  She does this with a mill file, as you will see in the photos below.  The mill file is also used to create the shape of the lip plate -- which is completely round at first.  If she needs to remove a lot of material, she will also use a very course, 180-grit sandpaper.  Then, Lindsey must create the shape that one would see on the lip plate of the same style headjoint in metal.  With a metal headjoint, the lip plate can be bent, but with a wooden headjoint, the lip plate must be filed. 

Lindsey then uses small sandpaper file (or sometimes a razor file) for the inside of the wall.  She says it's important to use a firm touch, exerting equal pressure on the wood so you can detect and smooth out any bumps or knots.  The very smallest files (that you will see in the photos below) are used for  undercutting and overcutting the embouchure hole,  as well as for blending.  After she is done cutting the headjoint, she oils the riser and then leaves the headjoint overnight or for a couple of days, allowing the oil to soak in and the headjoint to settle. Then, she tests the headjoint.  After this, she will make any additional adjustments that are necessary.

Aside from the tool differences and opposite response tendencies in wood and metal, it is also very difficult to see your work with a grenadilla headjoint because the wood is so dark.  One does not have the reflections that a metal headjoint would provide. However, Lindsey told us that when cutting wooden headjoints, she also cannot use any type of motor with the tools because the wood is much different than metal.  With metal, the headjoint cutter has to use motors to power some of the tools because of the hardness of the metal.  The headjoint cutter must still control any tool powered by a motor when cutting a metal headjoint. With a wooden headjoint, the tools are "hand powered," so it is a very special process -- and certainly one that brings great pride and satisfaction to the skilled craftsmen and craftswomen who create these headjoints.

Headjoint and tools

Wood scraper has much more rounded tip than the metal scraper (blue handle)

Using mill file to adjust riser height

Using mirror to see inside

Sanding riser

Using wood scraper

Filing to blend and create overcutting

Wooden Flute and C# Trill

We had a customer ask why our wooden flutes are not available with a C# trill, so we went straight to our Wood Instrument Shop Manager, Tim Burnett, to find out!

It turns out that there are a few reasons why a C# trill is not an option.  Tim told us that a C# trill tone hole would be in a bad spot of the wood -- where the wood can be unstable and weak.  Also, there really is no room for another tone hole in that particular area of the flute body.  As you can see from the photo to the right, and from our previous post on forming tone holes in wooden flutes, the tone holes are rather large because of the way they are carved from the wood (especially the area around the tone hole that provides clearance for the key cup).  You can read the previous post on forming wooden tone holes by clicking here. 

So, it's pretty clear that tone holes on a wooden flute take up quite a lot of space, but it may be hard to visualize exactly how there would be a lack of space for the C# trill -- so we thought a photo refresher comparing metal flutes with and without the C# trill might be helpful.  In the photo below, we see the two flutes next to each other.  There is a yellow arrow pointing to the key cup with the C# trill. 

Now, looking at the photo below of the back of a wooden flute, it definitely becomes clearer.  The C# trill tone hole and key cup would simply be too close to the thumb keys (because it would be in the same place it is on a metal flute). 

So, there you have it!  The reason why there is no option for a C# trill is because of space and location -- not enough room for the C# trill tone hole and key cup, and definitely not a good spot on the wood for this, either.

Wooden Flute Finishing

Since we've spent some time looking at flute finishing, we wondered if the process for finishing a wooden flute differs from that of a metal flute.  We stopped by one of out flute finisher's benches earlier this week, and he happened to be be working on a Handmade Custom grenadilla flute with a sterling silver mechanism.  He said there are not too many differences, but there are a few -- namely polishing and corks.

With a metal flute, the ribs are soldered to the body and cannot be removed, but this is obviously not the case with a wooden flute!  With a wooden flute, the ribs are attached to the body with screws to hold them in place.  In the finisher's role, s/he must remove the ribs from the body and polish them.  After this is complete, the ribs must be reattached.  There are also metal rings on the body that are polished by the finisher as well, but these rings are not removed -- so this polishing process takes extreme care and skill so as not to damage the body. 

Another difference with the wooden flute involves corks -- the most noticeably different being the tenon cork.  Metal flutes do not have tenon corks, so this is an extra step for the finisher.  The flute arrives at his/her bench without this installed, so the finisher must cut, fit, and shape the tenon cork to size and then glue it to the tenon.  There are several other corks on the wooden flute that get some "special" attention -- corks under the arm of the G# lever, under the low D# key, and on the trill keys.  For these keys, a layer of foam is glues to the bottom of the cork (where it would meet the body of the flute).  The purpose of the foam?  Just to keep things quiet since the cork is touching a large surface area of wood on a wooden flute body.

Other than corks and ribs, there really aren't too many differences.  When the wooden flute arrives at the finisher's bench, there is no additional work required on the tone holes (no leveling, etc.).  The bodies and tone holes are finished by our wood specialist.  The processes involved in producing a wooden flute are different but certainly result in a beautiful instrument!

Finishers will add the tenon cork to the body.

Ribs must be removed and polished.  Also in this photo, a piece of the (beige) foam that is attached to corks.

Foam is placed under cork on G# lever arm.

Foam under trill key corks.

Foam under D# key (clearly reflected in the ring!).

Wooden Flute Tone Holes -- and More

If you've looked closely at the tone holes on a wooden flute, you may have noticed that they look a bit different from tone holes on metal flutes.  At Powell, metal flutes have either drawn or soldered tone holes, but those choices are not possible with a wooden flute body.  After all, with wood, you wouldn't have the option to solder something onto the body or "pull" the hole up from the body.  No, wood is definitely not as flexible as metal.  So, how exactly are the tone holes formed on the wooden flute?  Are there other differences in how the holes are covered by the keys?

The answer is rather simple, actually.  It's all about subtracting material and sculpting the wood.  With a wooden flute, the tone hole is cut out of the body in a process that is referred to as "milling." However, after the tone hole is milled, more material around the hole must be removed to allow clearance for the key cup.  Since it is a wooden body, you are actually carving or sculpting the wood to create the convex shape around the tone hole.  The tone hole itself has a flat edge, so the key mechanism functions exactly the same as it does on a metal flute.  The key cups and pads are exactly the same size and shape as those on a metal flute -- and they cover the hole exactly the same way as they would with a metal flute. 

But what about the rest of the body?  Is it the same thickness as metal?  Obviously, no.  A wooden flute body is thicker than a metal flute body.  The wood has to be thicker so it doesn't crack.  However, the inner bore diameter of a wooden flute is exactly the same as the inner bore of a wooden flute.  So, there are some differences with the wooden flute but many more similarities. 

Wooden flute bodies before and after tone holes are cut.

Close-up on the tone holes (notice carved covex shape around hole for key clearance)

Final assembly with keys in place.