I’m a 52 y.o. stay-at-home dad in Missoula, Montana USA
Started playing sax in school band at 9, guitar at 11 and classical/flamenco study for the ensuing ~35 years; dabbled with most of the stringed instruments over the years and played in bands ranging from salsa to reggae to trad scandi to bluegrass (also “paid my dues” playing drums in bar blues/rock bands…which did finally assuage my inner rock star ); became totally enamoured with “world” music and Shakti and Oregon as a teen-ager in mid-late 1970s…which led to being a hardcore jazz devotee for the rest of my years…
…until about 10 years ago, when some sanity did prevail and I settled down with wife/kids…and folk music. I started playing fiddle a bit more seriously (after dabbling with it for about 10 years)…which then led to lots of American “old-time” and trad music…and playing tunes on anglo concertina, a bit of 4ths-apart melodeon, the mandolins of course, and some hammered dulcimer/harp, etc…whatever sounds good–been playing O’Carolan tunes on hammered dulcimer for 25 years…nearly acquired a clarsach just to play O’Carolan…
I finally disposed of my metal Boehm flute yesterday–with which I’d been shedding thinking I could assuage all my crazy musical ambitions–and acquired my first wooden flute
I’ve searched for “maintenance” tips but have yet to find any. Granted, it’s a simple flute, but…how does one swab this?
One traditional solution is to use silk swabs. The silk will not scratch and is said to polish the bore. I went down to the local discount men’s wharehouse store and bought several inexpensive silk kerchiefs. I guess scarlet would be traditional but I have several colors, including a very formal black. . . The classic R&R flutes came with a wooden dowel. I bought a plastic cleaning rod from Yamaha. Again, scratching would be the issue, so metal is out. I also have a strip of old T-shirt for my lined heads, as they accumulate the most condensation.
You might also visit Terry McGee’s website for more tips.
I too use silk hankerchiefs. I bought a few onlline from an online ‘Gentlemen’s Outfitters’. Quite cheap and really good quality. I push them through with a short length of 1/4" dowel. I simply bought a very long lenght of dowel, and I cut off a length about a foot long whenever I need another one. For swabbing the head, I push the hankerchief in a short way, then push it in again, so as to form a bit of a wad, which I can then twist round in the head. For the other sections, the beauty of silk is that you can push it all the way through, even the narrow bit at the bottom. I just push/ pull the hankerchief through once, and leave it at that.
You don’t need to completely dry the flute after use - the idea is to move the moisture along so that there aren’t any big drops hanging around anywhere. In the house, I also leave the case open for 15 minutes or so after swabbing to let the flute dry off a bit more before putting it to bed. I wouldn’t do this in the pub though! Someone would knock the thing over or spill their beer in the case or something …
Hi.
I too am what an acquaintance of mine referred to as a ‘musical tart’ (Umm.)
Just coming up to first year of playing, and trying to fit in country dance/morrisy, bluegrass and Old Time weekly sessions, folk club where I try and get over flubbing when playing solo, baroque duets with (no gasps of horror please) a recorder-(you takes what you can get), and setting up a blues/jazz session. Urk. Have at least 100 half-digested tunes swilling round in there.
Optical quality microfibre cloth is very good for absorption; better than silk. Can be cut down without fraying to fit flute bore, so doesn’t stick - strong, too, so a home-made pull-through is fine, as long as the stitching is really sound- oh, and for a pull-through, small lead fishing weight on the bottom works very well.
Thanks all. Well I’m most inspired by ben’s comment–that we only need to avoid puddles and ponds… This is wonderful news–I hate (hate) swabbing. The best horn for me is one that sits ready to play. This flute–I shake the drops out of it, and stick it in a vase so that it stands…disassembling at night. I have really poor habits when it comes to maintaining instruments…so I long ago decided to avoid owning anything that requires much upkeep–I found, back then, that I spent more time fretting about instruments than playing them
Would it be poor if I confessed–one thing that I appreciate about simple flutes and whistles…is their relatively low maintenance requirements
One option is not to swab the flute but to stand it up for awhile before taking it apart, and letting it drain.
This works pretty well, IMO. Shaking it out is OK, too.
Next most simple is the suggestion from this thread of the flute flag, which allows you to swab the assembled
flute in one stroke.
There are two schools of thought about oiling: Do it. Don’t.
If it’s a grenadilla flute, it doesn’t hurt not to oil it–or so I’ve been told by some makers.
The one thing that you need to do with a wooden flute is to humidify it when things get dry,
or it will crack.
I use silk clarinet swabs - they have a little weight-thingee on one end so you can thread it through the flute and then just pull it through. For the headjoint, I just use a cleaning rod with the non-weighted end of the swab inserted.
); became totally enamoured with “world” music and Shakti and Oregon as a teen-ager in mid-late 1970s…which led to being a hardcore jazz devotee for the rest of my years…
The classic R&R flutes came with a wooden dowel. I bought a plastic cleaning rod from Yamaha. Again, scratching would be the issue, so metal is out. I also have a strip of old T-shirt for my lined heads, as they accumulate the most condensation.