If Arizona were instrument hell, then I’m sure Minnesota would be instrument Purgatory. I have a three-piece Folk Flute from Casey Burns, and given what a great instrument it’s turned out to be, I’d like to protect it along with my Busman blackwood whistle. I’m getting a Plano pistol case to hold them, and I wondered what folks used as a good, relatively inexpensive hygrometer. Any suggestions? Most of the humidity measuring devices I looked at on Amazon had poor reviews. Thanks in advance for your suggestions!
Humistat works for me. 
http://www.humistat.com/prod01frame.htm
I have a FF as well as a christman that I use the humistat products to determine humidity and keep at the proper %.
So, I’m sure there will be more experienced people following (or proceeding) with excellent advice but if i’m correct in assuming there is no metal on or in that flute then you don’t have as much to worry about. I had a Sweetheart pearwood flute that i oiled regularly when playing and did absolutely nothing to it when i stopped playing and after coming back to it 5 years later it had hardly changed at all (after 10 years the joints eventually loosened a little but it was still playable). I live in Boston and never once humidified it. That said a little moisture in the winter might not be a bad idea.
I monitor where I keep my flutes. It is about 50% all the time. I live in Middle Tennessee. Haven’t checked in the winter yet. I haven’t humidified either because of the humidity is correct. Yep, oiling is nec in my humble opinion. Swabbing is also something that I do after playing as well.
just my two cents.
A sling hygrometer is by far the most accurate. And I really, really want to go to a session where everyone sits down, opens their cases, then proceeds to swing their hygrometers like mad Jedis. Festoon them with colorful ribbons, and you have the start of a new opening ceremony session tradition!
I use the Humistat for my 6 key blackwood. Skyspirit, i stopped using the little bugger because i saw some black stuff forming in the filter and i was afraid it was mold (this may be because i was using it in the summer). Also i still use the little Hygrometer but i wonder if i should detatch it from the case and test its accuracy. Have you ever had a problem with the filter getting mold?
Trying hard to stay on topic,
Bob
I use a digital hygrometer to monitor the room where my flutes and wooden whistles live. I have a number of stringed intruments in that room as well. My hygrometer cost about $25 and seems to be accurate for my purposes. I don’t use one in the case. I’d rather work on the humidity in the room than in an individual case. Once you take the flute out of the case to play it all bets are off anyway. I am sure others will have differing opinions.
The Plano Protector cases, as well as those by Doskocil, work great, IMO. I stopped by Gander Mountain yesterday to pick up yet another Plano case and found that they no longer stock them in the store. The now stock a line of cases branded Flambeau. I bought one for $10 to see how it works out. It is smaller than the Plano single handgun case. But it holds a three piece, short foot flute just fine. If you want something a bit more rugged than the Plano, then a Pelican or an SKB case is a sturdy one. Make sure you measure things before you buy the case.
Feadoggie
Are you moving to Minnesota, or are you just visiting? When? You haven’t said.
If you materialised here in MPLS today, my room’s humidity gauge reads 58%, so no point in bringing humidifers yet. Purgatory’s a few months off.
Nano, I go to Carleton College down in Northfield. I’ll be a junior this fall (oh god career decisions) and while it’s far from my first time there, it is definitely my first time with three feet of blackwood to look after. As I’m buying my books and whatnot I thought I might as well grab some bore oil and something to watch the humidity. If it starts getting really low I’ll throw a film canister/sponge in there, but it’s more for my peace of mind.
Jeez, I just looked at your location. 
As you probably know, the RH can get to as little as 10% in the winter in MN, especially with central heating. You’ll definitely want to humidify. Lotsa people go the gauge route in their cases, by the sound of it. I hate to tell you what I do, because last time I did people here basically told me I’m nuts or careless or both, and I’ll probably be told once again that I’m giving poor advice, but it’s worked fine for me all these years:
First of all, I go by ambient RH rather than what’s in the case, because a French case doesn’t seal like a gun case, so there’s hardly any point. So all I do is keep tabs on the weather, and what my apartment humidity gauge tells me. Anything below 45% RH (40% for sure), and I start humidifying. What I do for that is use those green guitar humidifier worm things, cut and trimmed to fit in each section of the flute. If your foot joint has too narrow a bore for the guitar worms, a violin worm is best for that. Other than that, that’s it.
Of course you have to make sure that the humidifier worms stay well-moistened and that their surfaces are dried off before you insert them into the flute parts; but no matter how you humidify, you should take out your instrument for playing (preferably on a daily basis) because a good regular airing will prevent mold or mildew.
I use filtered water, and find that I have to replace the worms about every three years at most. There are at least two other locals I can think of who use this same method, and no one’s had a disaster yet.
Probably too late to do what I do in Minnesota: Play brass, aluminum and delrin whistles… I keep my recorders well oiled and that’s about it unless the humidity drops below 35-40% in the house. Then I jack up the humidifier until there’s frost on the windows…
cboody- The difference between wood and delrin is pretty large from the flutes I’ve played. Delrin lacks much of the warm resonance of wood and gives much less tactile feedback. Especially if I’m going to invest in a quality instrument, I don’t want to compromise tone quality simply because a little more care is required. (Smallpipes are quite another matter. I draw the line at something that has more feet of blackwood than I am tall. Walsh poly pipes all the way!)
Nano- if I lived in a house rather than dorms I would just look at the ambient humidity, but I have zero control over the conditions outside of said pistol case. I did, in fine Scottish fashion, jerry-rig a primitive humidifier last year with a fan, towel, and bucket of water, but I wouldn’t trust my flutes to it, haha! I’m sure Laura MacKenzie, my teacher, has more tips on how to winterize instruments, but since I’m buying all my gear for another year at school now I thought I’d ask around here. Thanks everyone for their replies! I think I’ve got an idea of what to pick up.
Think these differences (while clearly real to you) are probably largely in your head, and personally take the opposite view re. the ‘risks’ of wood when I’m getting all the resonance and tactile feedback I need from my Delrin flutes!
It is probably mold. I haven’t had that issue. I don’t use much since the humidity here is around 50% in the house. It maybe less in the winter.
You just haven’t played the right delrin flutes is my guess. There are really good delrin flutes out there, no hygrometer needed.
Feadoggie
Glenn Watson told me to put a piece of Orange peel in the case during drier weather. I never seem to have any Oranges handy so I wet a small piece of microfiber cloth, ring it out, and put it in the case. I just keep rewetting it every day or so. Plus I also keep the rag that I mop the flute with in there as well.
High-tech
Kirk
I confess I’m not sure what you’re saying here. I live in a 1923 two-bedroom apartment without any integral climate control other than heating, so as far as I can see I’m in the same boat as you. That is why one monitors the ambient humidity, and why I have a centrally-located humidity gauge - I used no other word - hanging on the wall, to let me know when it’s time to start humidifying the flute. When I said in my previous post, “I start humidifying”, I only meant the flute in its case, because as you have already pointed out, that’s all I can claim some control over. This is just common sense. Humidifying a living space with that kind of square footage well enough to accommodate one little instrument for a whole season is, practically speaking, impossible on one’s own devices unless one is willing to live with ridiculous conditions underfoot for part of the year. Not wanting to be too ridiculous, at one point I’d settled for containers of water lined up like soldiers on every radiator, and while it makes me feel better, it just doesn’t do the job for an instrument, at least in an older building like the one I live in. Plus you wind up with rusty coffee cans and lime scale that doesn’t go away on the containers that don’t rust, so you can’t use them for much else. After battling for years I’ve finally thrown in the towel and now simply use one of those ultrasonic jobbies, but it only alleviates the dryness enough to ease discomfort, and mainly only in the immediate area. I could have one for every room plus my very long hallway, but that would ideally mean five running at once, and I don’t see the point, because the humidity would still be too low to leave the flute uncared-for. When the humid days are done with and ambient humidity gets below 45%, it’s time to intervene. I just happen to use the “worms” for my in-the-case method. I might just as well have used another.
She won’t steer you wrong.
I’ll be spending 2 weeks camping in the Canadian Rockies (the national parks near Calgary), leaving on
saturday 1st sept. Should I worry about my Martin Doyle flute drying out … ?
Thanks
Ian
Well, right now Calgary’s humidity is low at 27%, and sunny conditions are forecast for that locale until the 20th which would make one expect no significant humidity changes so far as a flute’s needs are concerned, so I would make that a definite “yes”. Humidify that sucker to be on the safe side, for sure.
The case for the Doyle flute is thick leather one with a velcro fastener, so its not airtight. Would putting the flute + case into a plastic bag along with a bit of wet sponge in a smaller bag be sufficient? It will likely be in the tent all day while we are away hiking.
Thanks
Ian