The recent discussion on “compression of tenon joints” leads me to ask a couple of technical flute maintenance questions:
I am concerned about the dryness of the air in our house over winter. I have recently taken to storing my whole flute case in a plastic bag after swabbing the flute out, with the idea that some residual moisture will remain. But of course I have read that using a humidity control device is recommended. My question is: how does one prevent mold from growing on the flute if such a device is used in, say, a sealable plastic box? And a related question: if a wooden flute is not going to be played regularly for any period of time, what are the recommended steps for proper maintenance?
The thread on my tenon joints is starting to unravel, and I have read that plumber’s grease (or whatever it’s called) is the best thing for it. Do I re-wrap the tenon and then apply a light layer of the stuff, or do I coat the thread and then re-wrap?
And I have a non-maintenance question: What is the finger spread like on a Seery small-holed delrin flute (D)? I have a folk flute and the finger spread is just fine for my fairly small hands. I’m thinking about a Seery small-holed model, but since I can’t “try before I buy” where I live, I’m a little hesitant about acquiring a flute that I won’t be able to hold properly. The folks at Seery have said that kids as young as 10 use this flute, so that sounds encouraging. Is there anyone out there who can give an opinion on this issue, either comparing the folk flute to the Seery or providing Seery measurements?
You should be very concerned about keeping your flute in a dry environment. But surviving a dry environment does not require Herculean measures on your part, rather just a few fairly inexpensive objects and a bit of vigilance. Get a sealable plastic container (e.g. Tupperware or Rubbermaid) that’s big enough to hold all of your flute pieces. Go to a guitar store (or a music store if there’s no guitar-specific store in your town) and get a guitar-case humidifier, which is typically an absorbent material (pumice or stone-like rather than sponge-like) inside a plastic case with a few holes in the top to allow moisture to get out. The idea is that every few days you soak the absorbent material in water for 15 minutes or so, wipe off the excess drops, and then stick it inside the plastic case so that it gradually releases water vapor into your guitar case, keeping the relative humidity up. Inside a sealed plastic container with a flute, it does the same thing.
The vigilance comes in then as a matter of course. Every few days, check the humidifier to see if it’s dried out and is ready for another soaking. At the same time, take a good whiff of the inside of your container and eyeball it to make sure no mold is beginning to encroach there. There really is no way to prevent mold, but if you’re vigilant you can nip it in the bud. If you detect a moldy smell or see a spot of mold on your container, then run it through the dishwasher and that should wipe out the mold. Make sure it’s dried thoroughly while in the dishwasher or after you remove it.
If you do happen to get a spot of mold on your flute, don’t run it through the dishwasher. (Unless it’s a Delrin flute, that is.) Rather, get some rubbing alcohol, tea tree oil or some other fairly benign solvent (rule of thumb: if you’d use it on your skin it’s probably okay to use on your flute) and with a cotton ball gently scrub off all evidence of mold. Then give the flute a good oiling to counteract the drying effects of the solvent. Once you’ve done all this, you can safely resume your humidifying regimen inside the plastic container.
As for long-term storage of a wooden flute, there really is no “file and forget” method short of museum-level techniques (i.e. a special room with constant temperature and humidity), and that approach is rather expensive. Your best bet, assuming you do want to have a playable flute down the line rather than a wall ornament, is to follow the same care regimen you would if you were playing the flute regularly. There really is no such thing as a low-maintenance wooden flute. But take heart - at least you’re not a piper!
I’d recommend you not fully close the lid of any non-breathable container you might use because this can easily cause the humidity in the container to go much higher than is ideal. Don’t take my word for it, buy a little humidity gauge (which you should own anyway - the electronic one’s are best) and put it in a sealed container with your humidifier - within hours the humidity can shoot up to 90% or higher
Better to keep the lid of whatever you choose to use to store your flute in slightly cracked open (unless the container is wood or something else that absorbs and releases moisture slowly), and just take a peek now and then at the humidity gauge, to see that it’s in the range you want - ask the maker what they suggest, as they will know what RH they seasoned the wood to - adjust the lid position to vary the humidity. This will also allow fresh air to circulate inside the container, significantly reducing the chances for mold to take hold and bloom on your instrument.
With regards to mold, certainly you should clean it off if it starts to appear, but be aware that once it starts, the spores are in the wood, and you aren’t going to fully get it out, which means your instrument will always be at risk for the mold to reappear, sometimes rather rapidly. It’s also interesting to note that things like bleach and solvents are not terribly effective at getting rid of mold. One of the most reliable methods is to treat any wood affected by mold with a mild borax/borate solution, and then let dry.
Hmm, that hasn’t been my experience. For the past five years I’ve been keeping my two flutes in a large, sealed Tupperware container with an electronic humidity gauge, and I’ve never seen the humidity get higher than 70 percent. That’s about as high as I’m comfortable letting it go (the ambient humidity in my apartment right now is 65 percent, but the air is circulating freely, which isn’t the case inside the Tupperware). I’ve never had any mold develop on the flutes or their cases. Despite the fact that the Tupperware is pretty tightly sealed, I do notice the humidity inside drops a bit in winter. Usually the dampness from the rag that I use to swab out the inside of my flutes is enough to bring the humidity back up to 50-60 percent, which is where I like to keep it.
Another option is to buy a humidifier. These aren’t expensive
and are pretty good for you as well as for flutes. It
depends on your situation as to whether the humidifier
will be adequate, however these have worked for me
in a number of different residences.
If the space is too big there is the option of stationing
the humidifier and the flutes in a smallish room, e.g.
the bedroom, where it’s likely to do you the most good too.
Yes, but you’re not putting a humidifier in the sealed tupperware, are you Brad? That’s what will make the RH inside the box shoot up. That’s what I was referring to: sealing the container with a humidifier inside, as John suggested.
Right, no humidifier. I play my flutes often enough (every day if I’m lucky) that they’re fairly humid, and the rag I use to swab them with has enough moisture to keep the humidity comfortable inside the container. In winter if the humidity drops too low, I take a wrung-out sponge, put it inside a small plastic container with holes punched in it, and place that in the big Tupperware container along with the flutes for a few hours, then remove it.
I used to humidify the room I keep my Flutes in. Now that I don’t live there and barely have space to movein this small dorm room, I keep my woodens in a drawer with a sponge in a bag.
Just to be clear that by ‘humidifier’ I’m talking about
a machine that blows water vapor into the
atmosphere. I suppose that’s clear but I didn’t mean to confuse the words. These devices’ sell at Walmart type
places for under 50 bucks, as I recall. Easy to use and are supposed
to reduce the incidence of colds during winter. I have a ‘Holmes’ brand
humidifier in my living room which keeps the general atmosphere
between 55 and 65.
That hasn’t been my experience, either. And I DO keep my humidifier inside the sealed tupperware, and have been doing so for ten years. But as with everything, the devil is in the details. For instance, I had to get a rather large tupperware in order to fit the longest piece of my D Olwell inside it. Not only is it long and wide, it’s also tall (about 6"). So the volume of air inside the tupperware is large, compared with the size of the flute and the humidifier. Actually, I keep three flutes in there - a C, a D and an Eb - and all three of them sit on the bottom of the container, which means the volume of air in there is at least five times the volume of flute solids. Also, I only keep the humidifier moist in the dry winter months. During the humid summer it’s in there, but usually dried out. Also, I have the top of the container totally off at least twice a day (once to take the flute out to play, once to put it back in), so even if the relative humidity inside the container does hit dangerously high levels, it won’t stay that way for long.
As with most things regarding flute maintenance and care, I think common sense is the more prudent course rather than trying to determine a set of hard and fast rules. As they say on the Internet, your mileage may vary, so remember the goal - to expose the flute to as constant a humidity level as possible, neither too dry nor too wet - and do what you can to achieve it, without getting overly obsessive about any particular aspect of it. And if you think about it, if you followed the rules like a slave in order to constantly keep your flute at exactly the right relative humidity, you’d never be able to play it because the first thing that happens when you do is that a stream of water starts running right down the bore. Remember why you have the flute in the first place!
Don’t use a humidifier.
Humidifiers themselves breed molds. It’s a perfect environment for fungi. The fan blows the spores across the room and you end up breathing the stuff. It’s best to localise the humidity and limit the exposure to your flutes rather than to your lungs.
There is plenty of discussion of this on the net:
Excessive exposure to molds can lead to adverse health issues for humans. The affects of human exposure to mold is not a new, emerging problem but has been manifested for many years.
and
Running a built in humidifier, or a portable humidifier, or a vaporizer can significantly increase indoor humidity to make mold a permanent house guest if such humidity inputs are used on a regular basis. Because of the serious threat of mold infestation to family health, you would be wise to never again utilize the humidifier.
I agree with John; If you have a large container, relatively small humidifier in the container and have the top of the container off once or more daily, then you’re not likely to have problems.
Gosh, Brad, I thought you’d seen it all. After all, aren’t you the one who hosts “Ten Disgusting Things Irish Traditional Flute Players Do” on your website? ( http://www.firescribble.net/flute/disgusting.html )
I was going to order a keyed Olwell, but, because of finances, I’m just getting the holes. Do they need to be humidified?
The Tea Tree Oil trick is pretty good. I throw a few drops on the chunk of terra-cotta that humidifies my flute box (quite large and not totally sealed). I haven’t had a mold bloom yet, even though some of the old flutes surely have spores.
Hard to say. The waiting list for Olwell holes is so long that no one has actually accepted delivery of any as of yet. If you get yours first, please report back.
Yes, seeing as how Tea Tree Oil actually comes from trees I don’t have any concerns using it on a flute that also came from a tree. I guess the only thing to watch out for when using it is to not get it on the embouchure hole where you might end up ingesting some of it - although even then I’m sure if there are any adverse effects they wouldn’t be all that bad. Probably no worse than accidently ingesting woodwind bore (mineral) oil, anyway, and AFAIK generations of kid clarinet players have survived that successfully.
Thanks for all of the replies on the humidity issue. I think the idea of as large-ish container, with some source of humidity inside, not tightly sealed all of the time, should work.
May I treat this as a “bump” concerning the other questions? How to properly use the plumber’s grease on tenon thread, and any personal experiences with finger spread on a small-holed Seery?
