Just acquired a beautiful blackwood flute. It had been languishing unplayed, but is free of cracks and has a lovely sound.
Problem: when I finally got a wand to attach my swab to (had to wait for a friend to bring it back from the city), and ran it inside the headjoint, it brought out a mossy-looking substance. Like the stuff out under the trees in my woods. Dirt attached and everything. Quite healthy-looking, pretty really, if not for where it seems to have been living.
Has anyone else dealt with neglected wood instruments? What should I do besides swabbing, before I oil the bore? Is it likely to have damaged the instrument? Should I take apart the headjoint? Advice, please!
Haven’t you heard of flutterrariums before? :roll:
Sorry, I couldn’t help it. I don’t know how to advise you, but someone like AndrewK should be more helpful.
PS By the way, congratulations on your new flute, it sounds like you will have a great one once it’s cleaned up! Tell us more about it when you get a chance.
Thanks everyone. Being the only person within a 300-mile radius with an Irish flute feels rather lonesome. Nice to have friends out there. I will be brave and attempt to carefully take it all apart and swab and oil it tonight. It’s scary to think of what may be in there. (Hasn’t kept me from continuing to play, though! )
It’s a Casey Burns, circa 2000, with silver rings and tuning slide.
On his site he recommends sending it in for refurbishment, for rewrapping the tenons and such. But I can’t bear to part with it for that long. So I’ll carefully reread all the kind advice from you folks and the whistle community, and hopefully will come back tomorrow with a flute that’s… well, “clean as a whistle!”
(Now where did they get that expression? )
Jennie,
You might want to measure the cork placement, and then push the cork out also. One can only imagine what that would look like, all mossy…
If it needs to be replaced you can fit it with a new cork by cutting off a piece of wine cork and grease it and put it back in the same place Aprox. 19mm from center of embouchure hole. You will have to drink the wine first…
Jon
(official distance between Fairbanks and Valdez is 275 )
I heard about your new flute - Skip told me. Are you sure you want to do this? There is no going back. I agree with the assessment about giving it a good cleaning and moving on. Personally, I don’t oil my flutes, but I’m the odd ball around here. The bore should be fine; if you come up I’ll take a look - there’s a session tonight
I stand corrected! Sorry about that, Erik. I was thinking road miles. If I could fly, I’d be there tonight at the session and you could help me out.
Meanwhile I’ve been to the hardware store for the right size dowel. The guys at the hardware were all for pushing that cork out right there in the store, and were arguing about what kind of oil the flute wanted and how I should maybe be waxing it with beeswax… I love hardware stores. You spend less than a dollar but get a whole bucket of hard-earned wisdom with it, free.
Anyhow, I’m headed home once the youngest finishes her Brownies meeting, and I’ll let you all know what I find. shudder!
Ever heard of “toxic mold syndrome”? It can be nasty stuff!
Good, now that I have shocked you!
First: You must measure the cork depth (I believe it will be 19 mm from center of embouchure, thats what mine was).
Second: You must drive the cork out the of the flute head. You are going to want to save your cork, so be careful. Casey Burns corks are actually wood and have been wound with thread.
THIRD: Decontaminate the bore and cork! Soak and swab with HydrogenPeroxide, mouthwash or “Jameson’s” something to kill the crud!
Fourth: Let everything dry out, preferrably in the sun (UV rays help kill bacteria). If it is in the sun keep rotating the pieceses ever 15 min or so, to evenly warm/dry things out. If neglected in strong sunlight pieces could start to split and crack. So be careful!
Fifth: Oil it all up (Cork also) with the lube of your choice.
I’m wondering if that is safe to put a wooden flute that’s had it’s bore wetted to dry in the sun? Personally, I don’t think I would risk it, but maybe many others have done it and it was fine? I would want all those people to chime in and say so, before I did it!
It sounds like a good idea to take the cork out, as was suggested before too, to get all the growing things out, even if it is pretty! (see that’s already been done by the hardware store team!).
I like the tea tree oil idea, myself, it being anti-bacterial.
I wonder if bactericidal substances are any use against fungal infestations ( or even moss ).
Tea trees seem to thrive on tea tree oil.
Wonderful stuff to use cleaning hospitals though, to get rid of MRSA.
I doubt if sunlight ( or even moonlight ) is needed to dry a flute, unless your walls are running with condensation.
Thanks! I really appreciated the step-by-step hand-holding in removing and replacing the cork. It was not actually terribly green, just a little on the wrap. And there was not a significant amount of other stuff growing in the bore. I must’ve knocked out almost all of it in the first swab attack.
I didn’t use oil or hydrogen peroxide yet (hadn’t read your post about the peroxide). I did call Casey and he recommended against the tea tree oil because it can trigger reactions in some people, himself included, and I wanted to keep it user-friendly for him in case I get a chance to have him work on it at some point. So the flute is thoroughly swabbed and inspected and reassembled. It looks fine, though if I knew how and had the materials I would’ve rewrapped the cork. It didn’t smell like mildew, though, and was surprisingly clean.
So now I’m feeling like I’ve just diapered and bathed a new baby for the first time. I’ll get better at it; meanwhile we’re awkward together but starting a relationship. Thank you all for the help!
I feel somewhat responsible for you being in this mess having sold you your first Overton whistle and hence causing you to break the “expensive” ( ) instrument barrier and placing you inexorably upon the slippery slope of WhOA which, left unchecked, can only lead one to the perils of flute shopping.
I myself am also the owner of a fine Casey burns in boxwood with keys oops…sorry! Forget I said that! Forget about boxwood. Forget about keys even though they can be added at any time. Ouch…I did it again. I’m really sorry Jennie. You don’t need keys! And you certainly don’t need a Rudall and a Pratten I mean that’s just silly! And those low A and Bb flutes he makes…completely unnecessary. Just don’t go there.
Excuse me. All I meant to say was that I really think you ought to oil that flute. Almond oil is my preference. You can add a vitamin E capsule to the bottle to keep it fresh. You can also use “bore” oil as used in clarinets etc but I think it’s stinky.
Again Jennie, I’m really sorry about this whole thing. :roll:
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I was thinking road miles. If I could fly, I’d be there tonight at the session and you could help me out.
shudder!
Good, now that I have shocked you!