what a complex subject line. long story short, I’m pretty sure I’m becoming allergic to blackwood. people have mentioned making a protective barrier on the flute using tape. can someone post a photo of this? I’d like to see how people have dealt with the embouchure area.
Perhaps one of these might do?
http://www.flute4u.com/store/cart.php?target=product&product_id=16792&category_id=266
Kevin Krell
You can also make them yourself from a piece of LCD protection film. But those Kevin posted should do the job as well.
Sorry to hear about the allergy. I took a few classes with John Skelton. He plays a cocus flute and I believe he used a very thin application of crazy glue (or something similar) to create a barrier between his lip and the wood. Maybe someone else has experience with that?
I searched for that on the forum and found dozens of posts that said “just use tape, I do it and it works great.” so I was hoping one of those people might have a photo to show.
William, if you’re looking for a template for making yours, this is from a Hammy with a silver plate-seems to cover enough area to make it fully functional:
Barry
I’ve thought about getting more creative with magic tape and an Xacto blade ala Barry’s example, but for me this “field surgery” version has been working OK:
2 strips of Scotch magic tape. It removes easily, too so that’s a good feature. I also wash my lip and chin after I’m done playing.
I made something closer to Barry’s photo, with two strips of electrical tape. it’s working like a charm. No swelling today at all.
I also scraped some horrifying gunk out of the tuning slide, as well, and the remaining playability/tuning issues with this particular flute are now all cleared up. Clean your flutes, people! 