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. 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? I’ll ask the flute forum too.
As long as there aren’t any fungi growing on the outside we can rule out dry-rot. Probably some sort of mould. A swab with a bit of tea-tree oil should go a long way desinfecting the flute.
It would probably be best to remove the cork to make sure you de-crud it all. Get a wooden dowel which fits closely into the head. Stick it in so it rests on the cork, and mark the cork position with a pencil on the dowel. Now you can use the dowel and a mallet to gently tap the cork out. Once you’ve done your repair, you can use the pencil mark on the dowel to make sure you get the cork back in the same place.
I hope you don’t need a mallet to tap out the cork (that would be one seriously stuck cork). Most of the time, you can push the cork out simply by pushing on the dowel rod.
Thanks, Paul and Eric and Peter. It’s done. I appreciated the advice on safely removing the cork. It was stuck all right, not enough to need a mallet but enough for me to get one out before I was successful.
No significant crud on the cork, though it looked a little greenish on the wrap. I cleaned and relubricated it and I think I’m all set now. The bore looked okay.
I decided against tea tree oil after talking to the maker. He said that although it would work, if I wanted to bring the flute to him at some point, it would be better not to use anything that smells strong as he sometimes has a reaction to these substances. So I haven’t oiled it yet, until I get somewhere I can find bore oil or almond oil.
I feel much more intimate with this flute now. Thanks for the encouragement!
