So, I have this lovely new rosewood flute with brass lined headjoint. What I didn’t previously realize is the danger that lined headjoints pose for the wood. I live in the SW and am especially concerned. What do you all think? Is it worth keeping and taking extra good care of it to try to avoid problems, or should I try to trade up to something without a lined headjoint? Is it likely to crack in my lifetime with frequent use (and frequent oiling) or not, or is it impossible to tell?
A few facts, I’m at 6,000 feet (dunno if this effects how wood ages), I live in a dry climate with annual wet seasons and I also live in a wood-heated cabin which means extra dryness in the winter.
If you store the flute in a closed plastic box, such as Tupperware, with a moist sponge inside, the humidity should stay high enough to keep the flute safe. You may want to pick up a cheap hygrometer to keep in there too. Just be sure to moisten the sponge frequently, because the dryness can, indeed, cause cracks in lined flutes. As long as you keep up with it, you should probably be fine.
I used to have the same worries about wood in the hot dry environment where I live and started out buying and playing delrin flutes. But now I have mopane Burns large hole, keep it in a plastic cake box with holes and a hygrometer to keep the humidity at 60-65% and have almost no worries of the flute cracking. Have take the flute on trips to SoCal, kept it in a plastic bag with a wet paper towel…etc.
I love playing real wood and would not go back to delrin. Yes, it’s a bit more risky (that’s part of the fun), but even if it cracks, it can usually be fairly easily repaired.
Lastly, the flute you have is the one you just got from me. Its wood seems thick and dense with a lot of oil sealed inside. I truly doubt it will crack. I have a sense that the flutes that more readily crack are the high-end thin flutes that have less resistance to and are more greatly affected by climate changes. My Burns is a stout flute, thicker than yours, which gives me added peace of mind regarding cracking.
Ah, good to know Akiba, thank you Just want to take the best care of it possible, and not torture it to a slow (or quick) painful death because of my climate.
I really love wood too, and don’t want to go the delrin route if at all possible.
here’s an easy and affective thing you can do. Get a wee piece of foam, ever so lightly dip in a bit of almond oil and rub a film of it on the outside of the HJ…leave the lightest film of oil on it once a week.
wouldn’t it be better to use an oil that hardens, like tung or cold-pressed linseed? that’s what i learned to do for my shakuhachi, especially the tung oil.
but yes, copious amounts of oil will be furnished for the flute
no! not at all! you don’t want to effectively ‘seal’ the wood. that would impede resonance. use almond oil, and again…don’t heavily oil it. a very light film.
Huh, I would have though that with makers like Mark Hoza, Ralph Sweet, Brent Santin and others using it, that it wouldn’t be harmful to the instrument or its tone. There’s also this interesting article on flute care http://www.larrykrantz.com/oilwood.htm
I also found this particular piece on oiling fascinating, it’s specifically about shakuhachis but seems to apply here as well http://www.navaching.com/shaku/oil.html
I’m very curious about this as I’ve read so many times that almond oil doesn’t really do much of anything… and it’s so great to hear from people with real life experience about humidifying and oiling.
be careful, sweet, about opening that can of oil, can o’ worms, about which oil to use. Do a search on this forum and you’ll see many a heated and very detailed debate on the oil issue. I use bore oil because Casey Burns and Terry McGee recommend it for their flutes.
I see now thanks for the warning. I had recently read Terry McGee’s flute recommendations as well (that’s what got me started on being worried about the lined headjoint in the first place).
Oh, and Akiba, you weren’t kidding about the intonation of the flute. I’m not sure it could be any more in tune LOL even all the way up to the highest notes, very impressive. I like the thick wood too, a nice weight in the hands.
It’s kinda funny, I thought when I switched my primary instrument from fiddle to flute, it would mean less worrying about a finicky chunk of wood, but evidently not. However, the sound is more than worth it.
I’ve become addicted to oiling the outside (body) of my cocuswood flute… why? Because it looks nicer, brings out the tones and colours of the wood. I use almond oil. But I can’t stop doing it. Every time I sit down in the evening, before or after playing, or watching the news, I’m oiling the flute. My imagination tells me that if I keep doing this, it will look better and better, and get stronger and stronger. Is it just my imagination? The trouble is, after playing for a while, it’s back to being dry wood especially around the finger holes… S.
Minor contention: unlined heads are in no way “trading up” from lined heads - plenty of the absolutely finest made and best playing/sounding flutes have lined heads, as do many of the 19th c. originals they copied or were inspired by. At the moment, I’m much happier with the sound of my lined-head flute than my partially-lined head flute. Whichever you choose, it will have more of an effect on the sound than whether or not the flute will crack. Oils, IMO, for what it’s worth, have more effect depending on what wood your flute is made from (blackwood seems to need nearly none, rosewood maybe more), and whether you can keep the humidity in a good range without major swings from humid to dry and back again. Mostly, don’t smack the head against anything - more cracks are caused by trauma than by all the good/bad oil advice in the world.
A flute that’s been broken in (as opposed to some dried out husk being restored) really doesn’t absorb much, if any, oil after the initial treatment(s) - the oil is mostly external and acts as a barrier. Oil in the bore will drip out, or absorb into your swab when you clean it after/during playing, and oil on the outside will end up on your hands and in your case lining. In short, oiling all the time keeps you busy, makes the flute look shiny, but does little to change or improve a well-broken-in flute. A wood like African blackwood has lots of natural oils to begin with, and if it’s well humidified, probably needs no oil at all - most err on the side of occasional oiling, but - again - more to make us feel better than to make a huge difference. Boxwood and some others seem to absorb oil more readily, but they will reach a saturation point where they just become gummy.
I’m sure others will disagree, but oil used sparingly is far more effective than regular, chronic oiling.
Agreed! Terry McGee posted an excellent thread way back describing what happens to wood submerged in oil. Very little penetration. The primary benefit of oiling is to make the moisture bead inside the bore.
Whoa there cowboy… You can go blind from oiling your flute too much.
That’s a nasty old wives tale. It’s the hairy palms you gotta watch out for.
Does anyone have any recommendations for fixing a crack? The crack is about 4 centimeters long on the head joint, parallel (though not quite in a straight line) to the embouchure, about 5 milimeters from the embouchure. The headjoint is metal-lined; the wood is cocus.
How should one proceed: should I just pour the glue into the crack? I do not have the expertise to remove the slide-tube and to glue the wood together again and file the bore.
thanks.
thanks for the warning. I had recently read Terry McGee’s flute recommendations as well (that’s what got me started on being worried about the lined headjoint in the first place).