I wanted to ask if anyone here uses a hygrometer in her\his flute case, I was wondering how one is suppose to make use of the Hygormeter’s output, I mean if you find its too dry what can you do to change the local-climate inside the case or if its too humid again what can you do?
also, say, if you have managed to achieve perfect climate conditions inside the case and the flute is merry&jolly and then you take it out of the case to play and the conditions outside are not as benign, would the flute not suffer from the harsh changes? would it not better to keep it out of the case altogether perhaps in a shady corner and let the flute change along with the weather as if it was still a tree out there in the mercy of the elements…?
I don’t store my flutes in cases, but in a large plastic container with humidifiers. In this case I used the hygrometer for setup – see how many puck humidifiers it takes to keep the humidity at 55% or so. Now the hygrometer tells me when it’s time to recharge the humidifier.
If you put a hygrometer in your flute case, you can basically do the same thing – put one of those weensy humidifiers in it that’s adjustable, and open it up till you get a stable humidity in the range of what a flute likes – 50% or so. And it’ll tell you when you need to to up the humidifier.
As for changing conditions, moisture goes in and out of wood slowly. A couple hours worth of playing (basically 100% humidity) doesn’t hurt it once it’s stabilized, nor will a couple of hours of being somewhere dry, although I really wouldn’t bring it out to extreme dryness without playing it anyway. The good thing about a humidor is that the flute won’t be exposed to long fluctuations – the indoor humidity in my house in the winter is about 30%; the flute won’t like that. But being out in that 30% is fine as long as I put it back into its normal 50% environment.
thanks Chas, say, could you recommend a company that makes those tiny humidifiers and perhaps a website?
also, what do you do if the inner-case-conditions are the opposite (when its too humid)?
I’m not sure who makes them – I’ve had a couple of flutes that have come with them. I think Dave Copley sends them out with his flutes – you might want to email him. I’ve bought the larger ones at cigar shops; you might try that. Those would be overkill for a case, but they might have small travel humidifiers.
If your case is too humid, you should let your flute dry somewhat before closing it up.