CANDELARIA PRO FLUTE HEAD JOINT

Seamed tube:

Our headjoints begin their musical journey by having the alloy created from scratch. We prefer to alloy our own metals to ensure their purity and thus create headjoints of uniform quality. We combine the silver alloy (for example) to a ratio of 92.5 grams of pure silver to 7.5 grams of copper. This is known as sterling silver.

The molten alloy is then poured into a flat mold and allowed to cool. Upon cooling, it will be pressed numerous times through a special laminator to make a thin silver sheet. This process ensures that there will be no voids in the metal. The metal sheet is then cut to size and is rolled on a special headjoint mandrel exclusive only to Candelaria Flutes.

The edges of the rolled sheet are then soldered to make a seamed tube. The tube is then pulled through a die with the mandrel in place to create Candelaria's exclusive parabolic bore. The tube is then polished by hand and will receive the Candelaria mark hand-engraved by the maker himself. Our special technique of seaming the tubes results in an invisible solder along the seam. The seam is observed only from the bore of the headjoint resembling a very thin pencil line running the length of the tube .

Only a handful of flute makers nowadays still apply this traditional process of making the flute tubes, notably Tanaka and Akiyama of Japan, and Candelaria. This method is time consuming and laborious, and only the most dedicated flute artisans will dare venture into it. This technique was started by Theobald Boehm, the inventor of the modern flute, and was later adopted by Louis Lot who obtained the patent for the Boehm flute in France. We at Candelaria flutes believe that this process imparts a unique and unmatched resonance to our headjoint.

Forged Lip plate:

The lip plate is manually forged on a die created by Candelaria. A thin silver disk is hand-hammered to this die which imparts the exclusive double bevel design, unique to Candelaria headjoints. This double bevel lip plate cut is where the airstream glides and this creates proper resistance for the lower, middle and higher octave air-jet speed according to the desires of the player. The resulting lip plate effectively saddles the lower lip and directs the airstream to the "sweet spot" on the edge of the blowhole.

Seamed Riser:

It is common that risers are cast or machined. Candelaria headjoints offer two types of cast or manually formed seamed risers as well:

Type 1: Regular-- This is where the lip plate is mounted on the riser.

Type 2: Extended -- This is where the riser extends past the blowhole's edge at the surface of the silver lip plate. If the riser is made of gold, it forms a gold ring around the blow hole. This imparts the full tonal coloration of gold in a silver headjoint more than of mounted lip plate on the riser, as it is the red gold metal that is first struck by the air stream.

Cork Assembly:

The cork assembly contributes to boosting the fundamental tones and also aids in tonal coloration. Candelaria headjoints use hand-threaded brass rods which are hard soldered to silver disks for the screw assembly. Cork stoppers are machined for a hermetic seal.

The Crown:

The crown regulates the headjoint's vibration for homogeneity of the sound and to primarily soar the tonal color of the headjoint. The design, weight and metal used must match the headjoint tube, otherwise a good headjoint might not be optimized to full potential. Candelaria crowns are hand forged and hard soldered.

Every part and design of the Candelaria headjoint is well thought of through a long period of experience, from the parabolic measurement of the tube to the thickness of the cork disk and crown, to produce a clear and distinct sound that fits to modern style of flute playing.

After assembly, the headjoint will be buffed by hand until the rough surfaces, discolorations and blemishes are removed. The smooth, shiny silver metal is the objective of this step. After that, the most intricate part of headjoint making will commence -- the cutting of the blowhole. The blowhole will be meticulously and carefully cut, voiced and tested until the desired response, tone and playability is attained. Only when these characteristics are achieved will we humbly present the Candelaria headjoint for you to play.

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