Of rain and humidors

Well we’ve been having a drought here in Idaho for the past several years but for the last two days it’s been raining like crazy.

As most of you know, I’m the owner of a boxwood, keyed, Casy Burns Rudall. It is a truly fantastic flute. I mean really, really nice sound. It has, however, had a bit of a warp which I never cared about (Casey, incidently, has offered to replace the warped section but I haven’t been willing to part with it).

I play the heck out of the thing every day and keep it in a case and figured that would be enough moisture to give it what it needs, and heck if the things a bit “smiley” so what.

Well today, after yanking the molar out of a pomerainian, I found myself with a bit of time on my hands. I pulled out the flute and lo and behold it’s straight as…er…well…a stick. Really quite straight and normal-looking.

The kids are concerned. They think maybe it’s not “happy” anymore.

I think maybe it is.

I guess it’s time to buy a tupperware and start taking care of the rascal. :blush: :roll:

Doc

I had the OPPOSITE problem with a boxwood flute, actually.

I have an Aebi Bb flute, which warped once it got here to the swamp. It’s stable, but it bent. Aebi was really distressed, since the boxwood (80+ years old) has been so stable for him. It plays well, though, and I can’t tell that the intonation or anything has suffered at all. Eh!

So, be careful not to OVERhumidify, since the flute could bend either way. No pun intended.

But I think most people have your experience. Brad Hurley’s boxwood Wilkes Bb loves to become a pretzel in the Canadian winter, but it straightens

Stuart

I’m guessing all this rain made it homesick for Seattle. :laughing:

Doc

Sounds like I’m fortunate to have humidity similar to Seattle. My boxwood hasn’t gotten into a twist yet, but it definitely moves. It changes size about the diameter of one layer of thread on the tenons with a 10% fluctuation in humidity.