Hi. I have an 8 key rosewood flute. I am wondering how important it is to have a hunidifier or sponge in the case with it? I play it every day, so the flute feels slightly damp, the next day when I go to play again. Do I need to have a sponge or violin humidifier in their anaway, or is playing it frequently sufficient. By the way, I live in Upstate Ny, which is rather moist and cool, so I think I might do better than being out in Arizona or L.A.
Thanks
-Daniel
but what is the humidity level inside, where the flute is?
and what is the level in the flute case?
If your humidity external to the flute is like 55 or higher, you don’t need anything, I believe.
Certainly I don’t use anything when the humidity is definitely above 50.
Below 50 I humidify. St. Louis is reasonably humid,
so I use a humidfier only during the winter when central heating dries the
place.
I use a room humidifier then, to humidify myself as well as the instruments.
If your environment is moist, I wouldn’t worry, though I would have a hydrometer.
Except when central heating is used, and then I would watch the hydrometer.
I don’t think being inside a case makes much difference, but if you wonder,
leave the case partly open.
Sounds like you are alright.
Also, do you swab out your flute when you are done playing? You may want to do a search on Chiff using the search function at the top of the page on humidity or humidifying. Lots has been written about it before.
i definitely swab out my flute, but the unlined, wooden sections always feel a little damp the next day. Is that abnormal?
I doubt it. Anyhow it’s nothing to worry about.
When humidity is low some players just shake the moisture out
of the flute, not even swabbing it, so as to let the flute
stay damp.
It’s hard to know what’s really true about flutes and moisture,
cause different theories abound. FWIW, I rather like
this idea: the danger from too much moisture is
chiefly to new flutes. One wants them to absorb moisture
slowly. But once a flute has been played a few months,
it has a fair amount of moisture in it, so it isn’t
going to absorb much more. So one doesn’t need
to overly worry about it. Lots of dryness
is more serious.