Condensation in flute bore

Irish Flute
1

Hi everyone,

It is the dog days of summer in the northern hemisphere, and the hot humid weather means more condensation inside the flute (or does it?). I am finding that I need to swab out my flute quite frequently if I want to blow the low D note with ease. I attended a classical flute recital recently, and I noticed that the flautist disassembled her flute and swabbed out the bore with a silk cloth after every piece. Beginning players take note that it may not be your embouchure that is causing your difficulties with blowing a good note on the flute. It may be all the drops of moisture inside the flute that is impeding the smooth flow of air in the bore.

I am thinking about strategies for keeping the bore of a flute dry and in top performing condition. For my silver flute I have a short cleaning rod with a needle eye for inserting a small cleaning cloth. It is short so that it can be carried in the case. The disadvantage of using this is that you have to disassemble the flute in order to use it. I have made a long cleaning swap from 14 gauge steel wire (clothes hanger wire will also work). With needle nose pliers I bend a loop at the end to hold the cotton flannel swab. I use it for both my silver flute and my PVC Irish flutes. I like it because I don’t have to disassemble the flute and can swab out the flute in seconds. I am curious as to how this is conveniently done with wooden flutes with conical bores? I sure that wooden rods are also used for this as well. Does anyone have any other ideas or suggestions?

Best wishes and happy fluting,
Doug Tipple

2

I get more trouble with condensation pooling at the stopper; the bore itself doesn’t seem to be an issue when it comes to condensation and tone (wooden, conical bore, cylindrical head). I just cover the toneholes and blow into the embouchure hole to move it along, and do any swabbing when I’m finished playing. Sometimes shaking the flute helps, but that darned condensation seems to really like hanging around the stopper for some reason, so pneumatics is the more reliable solution for me.

Maybe it’s a wood thing, but in contrast to yourself, Doug, I’ve found that on humid, hot days, I’ll get no condensation at all. I figure that the temperature of the flute and my breath, and the humidity of the air and my breath are all at least equal. As soon as I get into the air conditioning, though, it’s dribble city. Guard that pint!

3

I only find it a problem with my one flute with a lined head. I swab the head out once it’s warmed up and it’s a non-issue after that. If you have a wooden flute made and the condensation is an issue, you might consider an unlined head.

I agree with Nano that it’s much more of a problem in the winter – takes the head longer to warm up.

4

Whistle players sometimes use Jet Dry (keeps spots from forming on glasses in your dishwasher by acting as a surfactant) on the fipple head to make the moisture build-up spread out rather than beading up.

This may be a worthwhile experiment to try on a PVC flute. It won’t eliminate the moisture, but it should keep it from forming beads.

5

Summarizing the replies to my question about condensation in the flute bore, it appears that this seems to be more of a problem with flutes make from impervious materials, such as PVC, delrin, other polymers, and metals. I’m guessing that the reason condensation is not so much of a problem with wooden flutes is that the wooden bores are absorbing part of the moisture from the breath. This means that wooden flutes will need to dry out between the times when they are played. Simply swabbing out the flute after it has been played will not remove the moisture that has been absorbed. To prevent mold growth and to facilitate drying out, I think that it is a good idea not to keep the flute in a case or heavy bag. Except when I want to carry it somewhere, I leave my silver flute assembled and lying out in the open for the reason mentioned above and also so that the pads can dry out. Do forum members think that this is a good recommendation for wooden flutes and whistles as well?

6

Wooden flutes need to be kept humidified and in a case (often with a small instrument humidifier). Dry wooden flutes crack (I mean really dry) since wood needs a certain RH to stay in good shape.

As for my delrin Seery and polymer Aulos - I leave them put together, pointing down to dry out.

Eric

7

I think different flutes are…well, different, as much on the issue of the amount of condensate as on anything else.

If all things are equal (warm room, playing moderately hard, not drinking a lot of liquid between tunes, etc), then this is how my flutes tend to stack up:

antique blackwood 8-key: runs like a faucet. bore fills up and has to be blown out about every other tune

Hamilton blackwood: builds up a certain amount of wetness in the bore and then levels off; rarely has to be blown out.

Seery polymer: doesn’t build up water in the bore much at all

M&E original design: another faucet. Has to be blown out often, though maybe not quite so much as the old 8-key. This flute also has a very dramatic change in tone and response as the water builds up in the bore.

M&E R&R: stays pretty dry, actually. Doesn’t build up much water at all.

Silver Boehm-system flute: if the room is warm, it’s a dry player, you can play for an hour and have only slightly visible fogging in the bore. On the other hand, if the room is well air-conditioned, then this flute becomes another faucet. It doesn’t generally have to be blown or swabbed out, though, as the water moves down towards the end of the bore pretty continually on its own.

As far as care of the flute after it’s been played, I carefully dry out all my flutes except for the polymer ones. I do occasionally dry them out as well but it’s just more me reassuring myself that the bore stays reasonably clean and free of “visitors.” blech.

So my conclusion: I don’t think my own experience points to any consistent conclusion that can be drawn, except that every flute is a different, unique critter with its own personality and peculiarities.

–James

8

Rather than keeping all of my wooden instruments (violin, viola, cello, guitar, mandolin, recorders) in cases with humidifiers, I maintain the relative humidity (RH) in the music room of my home at a good RH for instruments. I use a digital hygrometer with large display and maintain the RH between 40%-60%. In the summer I need to dehumidify with an air conditioner. In the winter I use a humidifier. I believe that a RH that is good for wooden instruments is also healthy for people.

9

Doug - you’re right. If you can maintain a good RH like you are, wooden instruments should be fine.

Eric

10

Once up on a time I found a hank of rope. It is about 3/8 inch (8mm) in diamete. It looks like a cotton clothes line but is a little stiff. It has plastic fibers inside, like heavy thread. I counted and there are about 40 strands, not woven, just straight. You cut it twice the length of the flute plus 8 inches (20 cm) or so. Skin back the ends and cut the plastic short so there is a flimbsie cotton end on both ends. Double it, stick it in the flute and twist and turn a little. It fits losely in the flute but a couple of jiggles and it picks up all the water. Put it in your case, put it in your pocket, keep it around your neck like the medical people do stethascopes. The only flip side to this ram-rod is that when I keep it around my neck and am around people who use whiskey, they sometimes try to choke me with it.

Sorry I did na think to tell others about this sooner. If you find a hardware store that has some in stock, let me know, mine is getting frayed. Send me a piece to:

Nelson McAvoy
Rt 6 Box 6514
Keyser, WV 16716

11

I wonder if there’s anything to it, but I recall as a kid playing GHB that people talked about “wet blowers” and “dry blowers.” People whose drone reeds never seemed to work (because they’d swell shut) were termed, well, wet blowers . . . those not, dry blowers. The wet blowers would often go to great lengths to get stupid water traps for their blowpipes, etc. Of course, this was right at the beginning of GoreTex bags (the 1980s), so most people were using elkhide bags (L&M).

I wonder if there’s anything to it? No matter what flute I play, the thing FILLS with condensation. Fills, I tells you, fills. But, it seems only to affect the tone (as far as I can tell) at first. Meaning, as the flute warms up, there seems to be a ton of water in the headjoint (mine are all lined), so I sort of shake them out a few times. Once I get going, though, it seems to me like the whole dang flute is full of water, but it doesn’t seem to have the effect on the tone.

I guess my flutes are all pretty similar, but hmm. Who knows.

And I think Doug’s right. I think it’s actually probably better to have a “music room” or at least an “instrument closet” in which you can really regulate the humidity. You shoulda SEEN the boxwood in this place back when I first moved in and the A/C broke. High 90s F (meaning 37-38C), 90% RH. Let’s just say, things swelled.

Stuart