Wax For Tuning

[srt19170]

I'm really breaking this out of another thread, but I'd appreciate any hints about using wax for tuning. I have some pure beeswax, but I find that cold it is very hard, and warm or cold it isn't sticky enough to adhere well to the tone holes of my (blackwood) flute. My approach has been to try to affix a small amount of it to the inside wall (the chimney) of the tonehole, but it seems nearly impossible to keep it there.

Any advice or specific recommendations of a better wax to use?

[GaryKelly]

Any advice or specific recommendations

Yes. Step away from your computer. Switch off your computer. Go play your flute. And keep playing it until you've forgotten all about tuning software.

[kennychaffin]

Any advice or specific recommendations

Yes. Step away from your computer. Switch off your computer. Go play your flute. And keep playing it until you've forgotten all about tuning software.

Nice avatar there precious.

KAC

[fearfaoin]

Where have you been Gary? It's been awhile!

[jemtheflute]

I'm really breaking this out of another thread, but I'd appreciate any hints about using wax for tuning. I have some pure beeswax, but I find that cold it is very hard, and warm or cold it isn't sticky enough to adhere well to the tone holes of my (blackwood) flute. My approach has been to try to affix a small amount of it to the inside wall (the chimney) of the tonehole, but it seems nearly impossible to keep it there.

Any advice or specific recommendations of a better wax to use?

I recently wrote up what I had done to my own R&R flute to slightly flatten its A in response to a request to advice on the Woodenflute e-mail list. What follows is a patch together text from that correspondence.

Both the fundamental A and 2nd 8ve A on my 1843 medium-holed (and Patent Head, so you can't muck about with the stopper!) R&R are slightly (and noticeably) sharp in the scale, not just in relation to the flat-foot syndrome affected fundamental D (D''/5 and d'''/6 are fine with the standard fingerings). Not having incredible/highly trained sensitivity to tuning issues, I'd played it like that for over 20 years, probably subconsciously lipping it in much of the time and annoying my fellow musicians with better pitch discernment the rest of the time. A year or so ago I bumped into Chris Wilkes for the first time in about 5 years; he had a go on my flute as usual and in addition to remarking "beautiful flute" as he does every time he sees it, he commented on the sharp A and suggested experimenting with some beeswax in the A tone-hole (LH3, NOT LH2!). This I did and now have a much better in tune A without (so far as I can tell, lacking Classical sensibilities and not making constant full use of the 3rd 8ve) any obvious deleterious effects - certainly I can still sound all the 3rd 8ve readily enough (save high C''''/7 which was never very accessible on this particular flute anyway - maybe I've never found the right fingering) and the As themselves don't seem to be significantly baffled by the reduction in tone-hole size.

The beeswax fix
This is non-harmful and reversible as well as adjustable, and cosmetically invisible to the audience and can't be felt by your finger.

Get some pure beeswax - except in the hottest conditions it shouldn't melt on you! (Parafin/candle wax might do too, but I haven't tried that.) Warm up a crumb of it in your fingers. The main difficulty I experienced was in getting the first bit of wax to hold to the wood - applying just a little molten wax to form a key does the trick, and then well softened wax presses onto it OK. I used an old metal manicure tool with a curved point to fix and sculpt the wax. I warmed the tool in a gas flame just enough to melt a little of the wax onto it and then carefully applied molten wax to the down-tube side of the tone hole (cleaned it first!). This made a foundation to press the rest of the wax onto. I then used the warm tool (not hot enough to melt now) to form the wax into a curve in the tone-hole chimney, to chamfer the top edge so that it didn't make much contact with my finger and to remove or redistribute any wax that was too low, projecting into the main bore. Then to testing against a tuner - scraping away or adding more warm wax as necessary. You will find you have to block rather less of the tone-hole than you have to cover with tape to achieve the same degree of flattening. If you don't like the result, say if it makes the note noticeably fluffy or weak, or upsets other notes, just scrape it all out again being careful not to damage the tone-hole and use a bit of cotton cloth on a narrow probe to polish out any residue - no harm done.

I've seen others advising applying your wax or shellac to the up-tube side of the tone-hole chimney: I'm not arguing, but would just point out that that will probably achieve a stronger effect with less wax as you effectively move the tone-hole down-tube as well as reducing its size thus, whereas you only reduce its size if you apply the wax down-tube. There are undoubtedly advantages to making less of a reduction in hole size (in preserving optimum volume/clarity) but maybe disadvantages in effects on other notes which are vented by the tone-hole in question by effectively moving the hole. The beauty of the wax is that, whilst a little fiddly, it is easy to experiment, change, redo as much as necessary until you achieve the desired result.

I have also recently used this method to adjust the tuning of a piccolo belonging to a pupil of mine, with fair success.

I did some photos showing what I did to my flute for the person I advised before (who, by the way, achieved exactly what she wanted by this method and was happy with the result) which I haven't time to post up here right now, especially as I'm having problems with my image hoster. If anyone wants them, pm me with an e-address and I'll zap 'em to you direct.

[groxburgh]

Loren mentioned you can get wax specifically made for this purpose, and it'll be more durable than beeswax but just as easy to remove. I've got several kilograms of bees wax so I use that, for a permanent fix I use glue mixed with wood sanding dust.

Before using wax you can try what the bagpipers do and just put tape across part of the hole. Always try the upper edge of the hole first - you need to cover much less of the hole for the same tuning change, and you get less side effects. But there are times when the lower edge of the hole might be best.

Getting the wax to stick:- Get the flute vertical, so that the hole edge you want to add wax to is at the bottom. Light a candle. Heat up a saftey pin, bit of wire or whatever, and pick up a drop of melted wax, place on hole edge. Let it cool. Repeat. Lately I've been using a soldering iron but while it can be faster it's also trickier. (Lots of wax running down the bore tends to create unwanted side effects!)

Once you've got the flute so that it's in tune enough that your ears don't bleed when you play it, and all the other session players stop stuffing chips in your flute and/or moving to another room; then is the time to turn off the computer and play the thing.

Cheers
Graeme

Cheers
Graeme

[Jon C.]

Any advice or specific recommendations

Yes. Step away from your computer. Switch off your computer. Go play your flute. And keep playing it until you've forgotten all about tuning software.

Hey Gary, welcome back!
Great advise there...

[GaryKelly]

Where have you been Gary? It's been awhile!

Alas, I am living in 'interesting times', and haven't been very well.
Hey Jon! Not really back as such, just kind of 'popping in to lurk' from time to time. These days I spend much more time playing my flute than talking about it, which is the way it's meant to be I reckon.

The whole tuning thing is fascinating isn't it? I can't wait for the next newbie "What flute should I buy?" thread. In addition to the usual "buy a rich dark creamy chocolatey sonorous cocoa-wood McChud they're go-to-the-grave-keepers" one could add "And although I've never played one I hear they have a pretty good RTTA polygraph chart."

[srt19170]

Thanks for the information, Jem. I still find beeswax too difficult to use alone, but I made a mix of beeswax and a softer, sticky wax (from a toilet ring seal as recommended elsewhere) that is at least workable, although still a little too soft. On the other thread, Loren mentions hard waxes that recorder makers use for tuning; I may see if I can hunt down a source for that as well.

[srt19170]

Switch off your computer. Go play your flute.

Advice from the "Do as I say, not as I do" school.

[Loren]

On the other thread, Loren mentions hard waxes that recorder makers use for tuning; I may see if I can hunt down a source for that as well.

Sorry, I'm currently working 12+ hours a day 6 days a week, so I've been a bit short on time.

If you're in the U.S., try searching the J.L. Smith and/or the Ferree's catalogs it'll probably take you a good while, because both companies on-line catalogs are a PITA, but one or the other should have the proper product. Shoot me a PM with a link to the product in question, if you like, and I'll attempt to confirm you've got the right thing. I can't recall off the top of my head who we sourced our tuning wax from, because we used a number of suppliers, and my head is a bit over full of Physiology and Anatomy at the moment while I cram for a certification exam.

The method of application involves mounting a piece of steel pin (axle) rod of around 1mm or less in a wooden handle. Heat the steel over an alcohol lamp then touch the steel to the wax, melting a bit onto the steel. Immediately place the steel in the tonehole where you want to build add wax. Repeat as needed to build up the area, and then lightly file to shape and desired thickness.


Best,

Loren

[groxburgh]

I've put up a web page showing how effective altering a few holes can be, with a photo of one of the holes after waxing.
http://www.business.otago.ac.nz/infosci ... eeswax.htm

Cheers
Graeme

[mjb128wv]

That was a very interesting and helpful link -

Thanks Graeme!

[Jon C.]

Thanks for the information, Jem. I still find beeswax too difficult to use alone, but I made a mix of beeswax and a softer, sticky wax (from a toilet ring seal as recommended elsewhere) that is at least workable, although still a little too soft. On the other thread, Loren mentions hard waxes that recorder makers use for tuning; I may see if I can hunt down a source for that as well.

Liberon makes colored wax sticks, commonly used to filling scratches and gouges.
http://www.thefurnitureconnoisseur.com/ ... etail&p=62

[Jon C.]

Where have you been Gary? It's been awhile!

Alas, I am living in 'interesting times', and haven't been very well.
Hey Jon! Not really back as such, just kind of 'popping in to lurk' from time to time. These days I spend much more time playing my flute than talking about it, which is the way it's meant to be I reckon.

The whole tuning thing is fascinating isn't it? I can't wait for the next newbie "What flute should I buy?" thread. In addition to the usual "buy a rich dark creamy chocolatey sonorous cocoa-wood McChud they're go-to-the-grave-keepers" one could add "And although I've never played one I hear they have a pretty good RTTA polygraph chart."

Well, sorry to hear that you are having health problems, but try to post when you can. It is always nice to have the colorful posts, from time to time.
Actually, the McChrud has been found to play quite a bit flat, the syndrome is called the flattened McChud grave digger...