A lot of time and money has been spent by flute makers on experimenting with the geometry of the head piece, with alloys- some of them of secret composition- for the whole body,the lip plate and the chimney and with new padding systems but most makers appear to be content with the traditional cork assembly without much or any thought to possible alternatives. I say "appear" because there may have been a ferment of research going on, the results of which have not seen the light of day but I doubt it. There are some exceptions
J.R. Lafin the celebrated maker of head joints it is true has carried out many experiments with different materials and shapes for the stopper but has come to the conclusion that the the traditional cork assembly (albeit with some refinements) produces the best balanced result (although he is open to new ideas).
The design of the metal stopper held in place by a rubber O ring by E.J. Eggs in the 60's of the last century and developed by his son L. R. Eggs, did not catch on but has seen new life as a consequence of my experiments.
The flute maker William Simmons in England has experimented with facing the cork with gold, platinum and titanium discs with different results for each;he has also used plastic stoppers faced with different metals and thin metal discs rimmed with cork but without any other backing.
On the whole however-and I stand to be corrected on this point - the attitude of flute makers has been one of unquestioning acceptance of the tradition of the past.
My idea was to carry out a systematic study of the effects of replacing the Delrin (plastic)stopper with various metals in many cases quite unknown to the flute world. Since carrying out the initial experiments reported in the "Pan" article of 2003 I have added 4 more metals to those on which I reported therein - indium,niobium,nickel & vanadium. Each metal of all the ones that I have tried has in my opinion a more or less distinct foot print not always pleasant or interesting. For instance for playing loudly a tungsten stopper is unrivalled but there is a lack of body & of dolcezza; 22 karat gold is marvellously rich in the low octave but rather dead higher up;indium is rather weak; silver and many others uninteresting.
So far as crowns are concerned I think there is a benefit in
matching the metal of the stopper with the metal of the crown.
A zirconium stopper improves most metal flutes (wooden flutes are for me terra incognita) but it does not follow that it is the best material available for a particular instrument and for a particular player. For those contemplating a change it is I suggest worth the trouble of trying out other metals if practicable.
My experience is that the sensivity to changes in the material used for the stopper differs very widely from player to player which I suppose is hardly surprising. For some the change from a cork to a metal stopper seems dramatic and dramatically better; a Damascene conversion follows. For some of these sensitive players each metal provides a distinct experience.
.
