Hi all…
I converted to a simple system wood flute a month ago from a silver keyed flute. I’m curious about the tricks you session players use to clear condensation as the instrument warms up. Due to the mass of these things, and low heat conductivity of wood, the warm up time is much longer than a metal flute. The lack of humidity in the Dallas area makes a wood flute behave like a still…(maybe recapture some of that Guinness! )…and I play dry.
Short of blowing, shaking, or taking the thing apart and ram-rodding it, what to do?
I cover all the holes and blow briskly into the embouchure hole (make SURE the tail is pointing directly at the bodhran player). After that, I tap it vertically on my knee to soak up any drops that are hanging on. I also try to swab it every hour or so and then do a good swab when I get home.
I find condensation in the bore a real problem too. Try a flute flag - the one for conical bores. Roger, the maker of the flags is a great guy.
Check it out here: http://home.nethere.net/roger45/fluteflaga.htm
cheers,
Paul
My flute had some cracks that were sealed on the outside, so there were no air leaks, but the cracks were wider in the bore and tended to hold water. I was forever blowing through the flute as described by other posters until the cracks were identified and fixed. Now, I seldom have to blow the moisture out. Worth looking into.
There is also a commercial device called a ‘flute flag’, which works on Irish flutes and enables
one to swab the whole flute without taking it apart. If you google on flute flag
you will find it.
Also blowing, as described above. Cathy Wilde described keeping the flute vertical tween tunes and
bouncing it on her knee as helpful and I have adopted this method, which seems to work pretty well.
I made a swab from some ‘sham-wow’ type stuff (available as a camp towel or car chamois at Walmart) and yes, it’s great. The tricky thing is to have something that expands up the flute taper starting at the small end. Otherwise you have to take the flute apart. The ‘flag’ idea might be just the thing. I can make one from a .22 rifle ramrod that has threaded sections.
Make that three, that is exactly what I do. Except the blowing at the bodhran player, she has serious attitude. “Flute Farts” That is a good one, I am going to have to use that now.
I do this too. And since I started playing an older flute that I oil more frequently, I’m noticing that a couple of my pairs of pants have little circular oil stains on the knee. One of those “how do you tell a flute player” signs.
With my first flute, I used to really pay attention to holding it “holes up” when I wasn’t playing, so I didn’t get soggy fingers.
Be careful with that ax Eugine! This is the cork from an old Meyer I just bought. I’m sure what you see here is from aggressive swabbing. (Sorry about the size of the photo, it’s what I had out there on the web.)
Carey
Edited to display the picture. Odd. It was working.
That’s a great question. The one thing I wouldn’t do is flick the flute to fling the moisture out. I’ve seen sections fly off a flute and heard of very bad landings.
I usually bounce the flute on my knee, too.
A friend puts a cloth on her knee to collect the water. I have occasionally caused a stir when the host has noticed puddles next to my chair. I’ve wondered how to prevent that, short of sitting in a kiddie pool.
)…and I play dry.
