Patrick Olwell advises using only silk to swab a flute after
playing. I use a piece of silk, therefore. However there
is another interesting product, the Flute Flag, which
is made of synthetic stuff, it’s semi stiff and it’s on a
long thin metal rod. This can go through a whole flute
in one swipe. Very useful when you’re performing or
don’t have time to break down the flute. I have one of these too.
Grey Larsen uses one, I’ve seen.
So what I want to know is this? How delicate are flute
bores? Is Pat O’s advice the charming but perhaps
excessive view of a perfectionist or is one actually
taking a chance of harming the bore by using
things other than silk, e.g. muslin or even the Flute Flag?
they’re very handy and efficient but also pricy.
i use one conical bore flute flag(38$) and two Short Fixed 14" Length Versions (20$).
i find the conical flag rather expensive. i use it only for the foot joint, wich is too narrow for the short fixed version.
i used a rod with a silk cloth before, but i felt it slipping all the time and that way the rod could scratch the inner bore…
maybe it’s best just to use a silk cloth over one of these swabs, then you can’t go wrong i’d say.
I believe Patrick advises silk because it doesn’t shred and doesn’t leave any lint behind. Others advise cotton (somebody, possibly Hammy, advises just an old piece of T-shirt material), because cotton is absorbant. Both of these ideas have their merit. You don’t really need a very absorbant material, because you’re not trying to dry the flute, just wick away the big beads. And if the bore is really smooth, you’re not likely to be catching fibers from the cotton. I’m solidly in the silk camp; when I’ve used cotton, I’ve definitely see bits of lint in the bore. I have no idea if this does anything to the sound, but it definitely makes condensation points.
If being able to swab the entire flute is important, just get a longer stick. And swabbing to the end with a silk rag is easy, just put it over the end of your stick.
And definitely don’t use a metal rod that doesn’t have a rubber or some other coating. I just use a stick with a cut in the end.
Thanks, both of you. So I think neither of you feel that
the cotton, silk, or whatever damages the bore.
The stick is the menace if it’s metal. I am using
a slender stick which I’ve made very smooth with
steel wool. I push the cloth through, it isn’t attached
to the stick.
I do have the flute flag made for Irish flutes.
It isn’t terribly absorbant, but, as Chas says,
the point isn’t to entirely dry the flute.
I take it nobody feels the flute flag represents a danger to
the bore.
I guess I don’t know how delicate bores are (or aren’t).
A bit paranoid here.
I use a piece of dowel with a slot cut in the end. I wanted a longer rod so I could clean my one-piece bamboo flutes. To cut the slot, I filed the end slightly flat on one side, then drilled two closely spaced holes and opened up the space between them with a fret saw. If you have a drill press, you could probably avoid filing the flat.
A home-made wooden rod is somehow more appropriate for these “natural” wood and bamboo flutes anyway.
PS Shakuhachi are generally cleaned with a pull-through style cloth on a string. You could use the same thing with a multi-piece flute, but you would still need some kind of stick for the head joint.
So if I’m supposed to switch from old t-shirt strips to silk, what kind of silk? Satteen, pongee, matka, old chiffon scarf??? Inquiring minds (or at least this one) want to know.
Choosing a rod, swathing it in silk…no wonder flutes were considered too racy for ladies to play in times past!
Actually, their might be something to that. My husband bought me my Sweet as an anniversary present, and he just indulged me in a Dave Williams for Valentine’s. I seem to recall an interviewer with a famous classical flute player – the sister of an even more famous violinist or conductor or whatever. She maintained that playing the flute gave a woman special advantages when it came to her love life. I have no interest in conducting a survey, being happily married. But it’s a good story and I’m sticking to it
Every time you go by a hardware store, stop and see if they have any cotton (closeline) rope. If you are lucky, it will have a plastic core that makes it a little stiffer. Fray one end of a piece a little longer than the flute. The other end you service with a string so it will not fray. When you take the flute appart you can use the frayed end to swab. Use the serviced end to swab the whole flute from the bottom. The size to get is really the size that is just smaller than the end hole. Make about a half dozen and keep one around your neck like a tie, or in your pocket or bag. If it has a plastic insert, be sure and cut that off on the (intentionally) frayed end. Make a few and give them to your mates for presents. This is absolutly the best, cheapest, and handyest swab.
I had my rod with (cotton) swab attached sitting on my desk one afternoon, after I’d played a tune or two at lunch. One of my more energetic students grabbed it and used it to swat other students, before class began and while I was making photocopies. I came back to the classroom and swiftly reclaimed it. When they found out what it was for, all parties involved cried “Gross!”
Especially me. So much for that particular rag. Imagine hauling that through my bore after contact with all those teen hormones and public school germs!
… and by the way, my rod is metal and my rag is cotton. But I’m really really careful, covering the tip of the rod with the rag whenever I swab.
And yet … as I understand it, the moisture in flutes is pure water condensed out of the air due to the temperature drop accompanying the release of air under pressure at the edge of the embouchure hole. It is not “spit” as so many seem to think.
