Yeah, the flutes are soaked (soaked, mind you) twice in tung oil, which seals the wood and protects against moisture.
This actually seems to work. This enables them to use softer more porous woods without problems.
Most makers who use maple (as in recorders) do SOMETHING to compensate, including
injecting wax.
I find the rosewood D flutes, for instance, sing the way I hear rosewood does, which I actually
don’t always like in the Sweets. I prefer maple and cherry, FWIW. Prefer the sound.
By the way, Sweet higher pitched flutes are VERY good. I play G and A and they are kind of hard to beat.
Great for busking and for where one wants the tonic key.
I believe there used to be a quality control issue, but (again, my experience), that has been solved
quite well. I’ve visited the ‘factory’ and played lots in each key and they are all fine. Also I’ve
ordered flutes by mail and they were always fine.
