I could use some advice from more experienced players.
I seem to be a fairly “wet” player, and I’ve noticed that the area around the embouchure of my Burns Folk Flute is getting discolored (actually, losing color - as if the finish is disappearing) because of it. I’ve been trying to minimize this by gently wiping the area after playing and oiling whenever it starts to discolor, but it needs to be repeated every few days.
So: Should I be concerned, or is this normal? And should I be doing something more, or different, to deal with it?
FWIW, it doesn’t seem to be harming the playability, just the looks - but I’d welcome input.
The oiling is a good thing and may have to be repeated as often as you’re doing it. Do you play with your head titled way down? That could cause saliva to run that way more quickly. Lift the chin a bit to keep it at least level with the an erect standing position and it may help. It will also help to open the windway (throat) more give a better quality to your tone.
You might want to try something like a wax to protect the surface. The Doctor’s Products (maker of Bore Doctor bore oil) has a wood cleaner, and a woodwind wax (says it repels water, but allows the wood to breathe), and from what he says, it is used by museums to protect their wood artifacts, and used also by musicians (most products are designed for Clarinetists). So I would think it might help with the problem you are having. At least, it’s probably safe enough and worth a try.
Casey is allergic to some things like certain oils I believe, so if you plan on maybe sending it on to him for any attention in the future, you might want to check with him first. In general, it seems harmless enough.
Here’s the link to the accessory page: DA6 and DA7 are the two I mentioned. They also make the Bore Doctor bore oil, and different kinds of cork grease too, swabs, etc, etc!
Reasuring to know that it’s normal. For now, I guess I’ll just keep up with the almond oil unless Casey suggests something better.
I will keep in mind that embouchure discoloration is characteristic of mopane, too. But it’s still at the top of my list when/if I want to commission a higher-end wooden flute - I like the looks, feel in my hands, and mopane’s reputation for stability over time.
I think my next flute will be a polymer of some kind for travelling, though - I’m a bit nervous about hauling a wooden flute through multiple rapid climate changes, and I don’t want to be fluteless for 2-3 weeks at a time. Though it will have to be one heck of a nice instrument to play any better than the Folk Flute. If it wasn’t for travel requirements, the Burns would be all the flute I’d need for a long time to come.
For what it’s worth, I had the same problem and emailed Casey. He said it happens to some people and not to others, that it’s nothing to worry about, and suggested oil.
I’ve been oiling it for some time, and have changed my embouchure, and with time the problem seems to have gone away. Or maybe since I’ve made some flutes myself I just don’t play that one as much.
Happens to me on my Blackwood Flute (Geert Lejeune) and it happened on the Blackwood Bleazey Whistle I owned for a couple of weeks, which was traded for one of his Ironwood Flutes which doesn’t have this problem neither does my other Ironwood Flute (in F) made by Mark Hoza. Yest he Flutes are my avatar, shouldn’t be to hard to figure out which is which. So I have the same problem on some Flutes. Could have to do with the way a persons saliva reacts to the wood which would be different for most people.
Well, now, there, then, I’ve been pondering this discoloration thingee again. I notice a bit on my Boxwood but not on the Ironwood or Blackwood. What I DO notice, however, on all of the above is a mild gunk buildup on the portion of the head joint where the left side of my lip rests - just to the left of the bottom of the blow hole. I had just been oiling over it but now wonder why its there!!!
I also took careful notice of the blow hole and find more gunk buildup on the inner edge of it than on the outer edge. Anyone else notice these two oddities?
Actually this used to happen on my Blackwood Flute, but one day it just stopped and never came back, I thought it was really weird but did not make a big deal out of it.
I don’t think it’s saliva contact, because it’s mainly where my chin / beard touches, and I don’t drool down my chin when I play.
I think it’s just skin or probably skin oil contact–as evidence to this, it also happens around the finger holes, but to a lesser degree.
I use cold pressed linseed oil to oil the bores about every 1 to 2 months (very lightly). I will also put a light coating of oil around the embouchure and anywhere else the wood is discolored.
This seems to fix it for various amounts of time.
There are times, months at a time sometimes, where it won’t discolor at all. Other times it happens in just a few days.
I remember a discussion awhile back in which it was suggested that the pH of one’s sweat had something to do with it. Given that my boxwood Bleazey has considerably darkened where the area below my lip rests, and I sweat a lot, I think there’s some validity to the idea (an acid stain is used to darken boxwood). I’ve been keeping the area below my lip unshaven partly to combat this, and partly to provide some traction. There’s been no further darkening of this flute, and my boxwood Olwell, which I got after I began keeping these whiskers year-round, hasn’t darkened at all. I have a rosewood Olwell that goes almost white in this area at times – I think it’s correlated with something I eat or drink, possibly in the prefious 24 hours, but I haven’t figured out what.
I have a goatee and it still happens on my Blackwood Flute. Although come to think of it I thik the apperance of hair and the gunk thing not being there could have happened around the same time but I use an electric razor so that means no shaving product as I just use lotion instead of aftershave this brings up an interesting question. It probably has to do with the pH of ones sweat/saliva.
