Assessing a "just out of 10yr storage" Yamaha YFL225S

[flutego12]

Assessing a "just out of 10yr storage" Yamaha YFL225S
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Hello all.

A friend called to say that she wants to revive an old flute of hers for her 10yo daughter who wants to learn and has been peskering her to get it serviced.
They've asked me for my thoughts and I've asked them to go to a trusted repairer for some advice. In the meantime they've sent me some photos and I wanted to see what you thought.

1) The silver has started pitting but that's just cosmetic. Will it polish off? If so what's the best procedure?
2) The pads look almost translucent, squishy & lopsided . I don't think it's pad bug infested (at least I hope not) - your thoughts are appreciated.
3) Where is the screw for adjusting the A key to B key hiding?

Is this salvageable w/o a repad? How much is a partial versus full repad?

I get the sense they don't want to spend too much. A local trusted repair guy said straight off to discard the 225 and just get a good quality 221 due to repadding costs w/o seeing the flute.

What are your thoughts.
Here 's the flute.

[mirwa]

1. No it wont polish off, thats pretty much as good as it will get, you may with vigorous hand polishing restore some luster but pretty much the rest will remain the same

2. You need to pull it apart to have a good look, at a corsoury glance F looks split and the others look fairly bad, but they may clean up fine. Sometimes when doing a service just cleaning the pads is enough to destroy them. You wont really know until you have pulled it apart,

3. The adjustment screw is located on the rear side of the A key, should be visible when looking at the key from behind from the thumb lever

Prices I can only comment here in perth, a service which would include up to 3 pads will set you back $84 where as a repad would set you back about $260

[flutego12]

1. No it wont polish off, thats pretty much as good as it will get, you may with vigorous hand polishing restore some luster but pretty much the rest will remain the same

2. You need to pull it apart to have a good look, at a corsoury glance F looks split and the others look fairly bad, but they may clean up fine. Sometimes when doing a service just cleaning the pads is enough to destroy them. You wont really know until you have pulled it apart,

3. The adjustment screw is located on the rear side of the A key, should be visible when looking at the key from behind from the thumb lever

Prices I can only comment here in perth, a service which would include up to 3 pads will set you back $84 where as a repad would set you back about $260

Hey Steve, thank you so much for your help.
For 1) I will just try and use some Tarnishield then - hope that slows down the process.
For 2) day of reckoning, be interesting to see how a 10yo pad behaves when budged & nudged (fingers crossed). I noticed JLSmith sells fish skin. Is that for reskinning pads with perforated skin but in good condition -these look a strange translucent glow...?
For 3) I see it now. That's not too bad access, thankfully!

Will keep you informed. Thanks, sinseh!
(Sending thanks with caffein 'n carbs, courtesy your lovely wife.) cheers

[pied_piper]

I agree with Mirwa. You really won't know how good or bad the pads are until you tear it down. I've seen some really ugly pads that seal perfectly fine and I've seen beautiful pads that leaked worse than a screen door on a submarine.

The skin material that JL smith sells is primarily used for re-covering Straubinger pads because they are quite expensive and while the skins will deteriorate or become torn, the underlying materials are synthetic and reusable. That said, I have used it to recover a regular felt pad when just the skin was torn and I didn't have an appropriate replacement pad available in a timely manner. However, with felt pads, the felt will compress and deteriorate over time. Normally, it's best just to replace a felt pad with a new one. In a shop, time is money and it would cost the customer more labor to re-cover rather than just replace a defective pad.

[mirwa]

Yes, thank you for that, most surprised.

They were very nice.

[flutego12]

I agree with Mirwa. You really won't know how good or bad the pads are until you tear it down. I've seen some really ugly pads that seal perfectly fine and I've seen beautiful pads that leaked worse than a screen door on a submarine.

The skin material that JL smith sells is primarily used for re-covering Straubinger pads because they are quite expensive and while the skins will deteriorate or become torn, the underlying materials are synthetic and reusable. That said, I have used it to recover a regular felt pad when just the skin was torn and I didn't have an appropriate replacement pad available in a timely manner. However, with felt pads, the felt will compress and deteriorate over time. Normally, it's best just to replace a felt pad with a new one. In a shop, time is money and it would cost the customer more labor to re-cover rather than just replace a defective pad.

YOU, my friend are SO RIGHT. haw haw love your metaphor... were you ever in the Navy?

I was so wrong about the pads. In real life they were fine and sealed perfectly, I was almost embarrassed to say PERFECTLY. How can something that look so wrong seal so nicely? passed my 180 cigarette paper test. it was the headjoint that was stuffing up the sound and I most dislike the hj cut. A poor 10 yo is going to have to cut her teeth on it. So I just changed the headcork; cleaned the pads and a whole lot o' hand polishing after the flute bath. Projection is a whole lot better though not the most agile flute but more than sufficient for our enthusiastic young beginner for a year or two - she is impressive indeed!

[flutego12]

Yes, thank you for that, most surprised.

They were very nice.

Pleasure all mine. Glad they were yummy.