I’m thinking that as we live in a near desert with humidity of about 5-9% (at 15% people start saying how muggy it feels), humidifying Caitlin’s flute might be a good idea. How does one go about keeping a flute humidified? She is keeping it bore oiled according to the maker’s instructions, but what kind of techniques should we be using to keep it from drying out. Or will it eventually stabilize to our climate?
Tipper
Go ahead and do a search on humidifying flutes and you’ll get quite a few ideas. You may want to PM Jon C as he often goes to the desert, I believe, and will have better advice than me. I’m in NY and doubt my methods will work for your climate. I’ve heard some people in the desert putting them in sealed containers after playing in order to keep them at a consistent humidity. The important thing is no rapid changes in humidity as that will eventually damage the flute.
Another choice, of course, is to contact the maker and get their suggestion. That’s always the best bet!
Granted, I don’t live in a desert, but Kamloops is semi-arid, especially with central heating in winter. What I have done is use a digital hygrometer in one of those plastic pistol cases, with a 4" x 6" piece of microfiber cleaning cloth under between the case wall and the foam. Using one or two drops of water on the cloth, scrunch it up and then put it back in the case, and check every day or so if not playing. I have no problem maintaining the flute between 50% and 60% humidity this way, with a background humidity in the 30s.
Clinton
I’m in Flagstaff, AZ. I keep my flute in a nearly sealed gun case. It used to have an o-ring all the way around the perimeter. I cut and removed the o-ring from along one side, leaving the o-ring in place along the other three. This allows some air movement, important as a totally sealed case could promote mold. Inside the case, I use a small sponge that I wet and completely ring out about once a week. You must prevent the sponge from directly contacting the flute. I’ve been doing this for three years, and my analog hygrometer stay between 55-65%. You will need a hygrometer. Digital ones are better, but I like the analog meters for their simplicity. You might have to adjust your technique to keep the flute at the desired humidity (according to the maker).
I once used an off the shelf humidifier…it did a great job holding lots of water, but was very poor at releasing the water fast enough to keep the humdity where I wanted it.
Best,
Jay
I drill holes in the top of empty pill bottles (got LOTS of those) and put a piece of damp sponge in there. Works great… I keep my flutes in bait boxes that I bought at WalMart - they have removable vertical dividers and I just cut notches into the horizontal dividers to allow the moisture to travel.
Pat