The flue pipes needed some serious attention, especially violins and piccolos. The "flue" on this type of pipe is the narrow slit through which the wind is forced at the base of the mouth. They work just like whistles, but their construction is very precise, in order to give them the required tone and loudness. Some of the feet had come away from the pipes, remaining firmly embedded in the blocks on which they stand. These needed very careful manipulating to ease them out without damage. All feet needed filing round to remove remains of glue and to get them smooth and round again for re-fitting.
The piccolo section contains conventional open flutes (dead-length tuned) and pan flutes, which operate by blowing the wind across the pipe's mouth opening similar to the way an orchestral transverse flute is played. The German pan flutes are wooden, as opposed to the French brass, and are shorter and appear fatter.
The violins all have brass freins screwed to the caps. These all needed cleaning, but otherwise they were in good condition. Some of the upper lips of the violins were split and needed repairing by gluing very thin paper over them, hardened with shellac polish.
The stopped pipes had their leather stoppers re-greased and the insides of the pipes cleaned out, so the stoppers could move easily when required for tuning. All screw holes for pipe-stays were filled, as they would inevitably be required in different positions upon re-installation.
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© 2018, John Page