I bought the sweetheart low C
I mentioned in an earlier thread.
Actually I traded an old mandolin
for it. It’s a likeable flute,
easy to play, not at all hard
to finger, lovely deep sound.
Any advice about how to care
for Sweet flutes?
I just bought one of Ralph Sweet’s little D fifes. It came with a little care sheet which I’ve apparently lost in a little under two weeks time, but it basically said swab out after playing, oil it sometimes, and that may have been it.
Just treat it like any other wooden flute.
I’ve had one for about 5 years now (just pulled it back off the auction block, I couldn’t bring myself to sell it) and about all I’ve done is oil it once or twice, and kept it liberally moisturized inside with spit. They’re a fun flute if you get a good one!
Thanks. I checked Ralph’s site but found
no instructions. This helps.
The big question–do you have to
humidify these things?
I take it neither of you has done so…
Jim, just curious…
How come you’re advising to treat a bamboo flute just like any other flute on one thread, and asking how to take care of a Sweet flute on this one?
If it’s wood, it should be humidified, swabbed out after play, and oiled occasionally, a bit more frequently when it’s new. There’s always some disagreement on the oiling, none at all on the first two bits, but – as you said on the bamboo thread – oiling certainly doesn’t hurt, and it may help. David Migoya has advised a light oiling after every heavy play, which also doesn’t hurt, particularly with almond oil, which washes out pretty quickly on a heavily played instrument anyway.
Ralphs instruments vary in quality, and the woods are often softer (fruitwoods, redwoods, etc.), but that only means a bit more care (than, say, an oily hardwood like blackwood or mopane), not less. Wood is wood – humidity is it’s friend, uneven wetness in the bore, or extreme dryness, it’s enemy. The theory goes that oil equalizes these two factors.
And, like all woods, keep sudden temp changes down – carry it in a case and warm it before playing.
Jim - Mine is humidified. I keep it in a ziplock bag (a big advantage of a fife) with the cleaning rag to up humidity.
Thanks, Gordon and Jayhawk,
I wrote on the bamboo thread:
Almond Oil won’t hurt. It prevents the
wood from absorbing moisture. But
I wouldn’t go to a lot of trouble
to do it, personally. I do think
there’s no problem in treating
bamboo like other wood.
Well, that isn’t advising to treat
a bamboo flute just like
any other flute–just says
there’s no problem in doing so,
but I wouldn’t go out of my
way to do it.
The truth is that I’m not oiling
or humidifying my Olwell bamboo
D, not because of any belief
I have about what to do but
mostly because it’s a bit
daunting. How do you humidify
something as long as your arm
that doesn’t come apart?
So far everything is OK,
which is the best reason
I have to believe
that maybe this isn’t
utter negligence–also
I’ve had a fair number of
cane flutes and whistles
from India, most (but admittedly
not all) of which haven’t
cracked in 15 years.
Thanks again for the advice. Must
really think about this. Best
Jim - If you would LIKE to humidify your bamboo flute, simple take a 25" or 26" long piece of 2" PVC pipe, buy two end caps, and you have an instant bamboo flute humidifying case!
Thanks!
Jim, I think bamboo is a bit more resilient than lathed wood, so while humidifying it is probably a good idea, it’s a bit less necessary if you play it regularly. Wood flutes, in these winters, really needs to be kept humidified (playing regularly goes the longest way, as well). I believe oiling helps in the process of slowing down the humidity in, humidity out process, so I think it’s better to err on the side of the it-can’t-hurt debate.
You never mentioned the wood type of this Sweet flute – he makes them in a variety of woods. As I said before, his less expensive flutes are often a fruit wood, his more expensive rosewood or blackwood. All need to be kept humidified, but with blackwood, I find oiling almost unnecessary, whereas my old rosewood flute seems to really suck up the oil. I oil the former simply in the hopes that I’m preventing something or other from happening, but the biggest issue is humidity. This winter, even with humidity kept up, some rings have shifted a bit with shrinkage.
They didn’t know what the wood
is where I bought the Sweet flute,
in fact, and I’m not sure.
I would bet applewood or cherry,
probably the former; certainly not
rosewood. This info is very helpful,
especially that these ‘fruit’ woods are
more vulnerable. Interesting, too.
Thanks again.
Since fruits were mentioned, if in doubt about humidification, put an orange peel in the case with the flute. This is a tip that’s been around for a long time. When the peel gets dry, replace it. Be aware that the peel will get moldy 
, if left unattended for a long time.
Bill
Gordon (et al),
I’ve actually had worse luck with bamboo than with timber, cocus included. And that’s living in a very humid climate with very few heating months.
When I talked to Steve Cox of Tallgrass Winds, he basically told me to oil the cut surfaces of the bamboo (endgrain/holes), but to leave the rest alone. He binds his flutes because of the proclivity of bamboo toward cracking, and when I bought a flute from him I actually sent my Olwell low C to him for binding. It cracked at the foot.
The problem with bamboo is that a crack is hard to stop; bamboo has so many longitudinal planes of separation that lickety-split, if you pardon the pun, the crack widens and shoots toward the other end of the flute.
I would imagine that it might have something to do with the fact that (a) bamboo is really porous and (b) the outside of the flute is usually impermeable, so the bore can get wet and suck up water while the other surface stays dry and tight.
The crack on my Olwell bamboo has stopped, largely thanks to Steve’s binding, I’d imagine. It was on the dependent side of the flute (down when I play it), so I can’t help but think that spit/condensation collected there.
Gordon may well be right, and I might be the exception, so take this with a grain of salt. This climate is QUITE weird; my first set of boxwood pipes swelled so much when they got here from Scotland that I had to DEhumidify them to get them apart. Who says Britain is wet, anyway? Swamps are MUCH wetter. 
Stuart
The following web page talks about bamboo flute care. It states that cracking, is not usual. However, it occurs due to expansion and contraction.
http://www.tallgrasswinds.com/care.html
I have not had a single wooden flute or clarinet crack yet. I have purchased some that were cracked when I purchased them.
I just got a shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute) back from repair. When I purchased the flute, it was bound on the bottom to repair cracks. A couple of weeks ago, it cracked on the unbound top section. I took good care of the flute, but it still cracked. I knew it would, because all of this maker’s flutes (a top maker), that I’ve seen crack on the top. It cost $600 to bind (inlay) the flute, and another couple of hundred dollars for tuning.
I was wondering if Olwell bamboo flutes were “immune” to cracking. I “guess” not, since Stuart’s Olwell cracked.
I guess the type of bamboo, when and where it’s cut may also contribute to “crackability”.
Bill
[ This Message was edited by: SuiZen on 2003-01-19 11:03 ]
Bill - I’m in no way a bamboo expert, but I have made several flutes for myself. I had more flutes crack before I learned to burn/fire them, and it seems to me most shakuhachi I’ve seen (in books, on the internet, etc… - I’ve never owned one) look like they were cured by aging and not firing (could this be a tradional method?). I can’t remember which website I saw, but it claimed firing changes the nature of the bamboo by creating almost a natural, bamboo oil shellac on the flute. I’ve noticed this myself - fired bamboo simply seems stronger & more stable. Even so, I think that if bamboo has any pre-existing crack that doesn’t go all the way through to the bore, even after firing, it will eventually split at that location.
Just my 2 cents worth…
Eric
On 2003-01-19 12:45, Jayhawk wrote:
I had more flutes crack before I learned to burn/fire them, and it seems to me most shakuhachi I’ve seen (in books, on the internet, etc… - I’ve never owned one) look like they were cured by aging and not firing (could this be a tradional method?). Eric
Eric,
A long time ago, I decided that it would be too involved to make a decent bamboo shakuhachi, so I didn’t investigate bamboo preparation.
I quote from Ray Brooks’ book, “Blowing Zen”, just after his instructor had his students gather bamboo to make their own flutes.
“-- watching him (instructor) carefully heat each piece over a low flame, releasing the natural oils and turning the bamboo from green to a golden brown. These pieces, he told us, would be dried in the sunlight for up to two weeks and then aged for three years.”
Is the first step, above, what you refer to as burning?
Bill
[ This Message was edited by: SuiZen on 2003-01-19 13:07 ]
Bill - that sure is, although most bamboo flute makers I’ve read about use a high heat torch (that’s what I use, too). Who knows if the temperature makes a difference, but what you wrote sounds like it’s heated enough…another great mystery of life I’ll never know the answer to!
Eric
On 2003-01-19 10:42, sturob wrote:
Gordon (et al),I’ve actually had worse luck with bamboo than with timber, cocus included. And that’s living in a very humid climate with very few heating months. (snip)
Gordon may well be right, and I might be the exception, so take this with a grain of salt. This climate is QUITE weird; my first set of boxwood pipes swelled so much when they got here from Scotland that I had to DEhumidify them to get them apart. Who says Britain is wet, anyway? Swamps are MUCH wetter. >
Stuart
Or I might not! I’m not as familiar with bamboo as with wood. You also might be right about the humidity – too much can be as bad as too little, and it may affect bamboo more seriously being too wet. The expansion may be too much for it (rather than shrinking), causing it to crack.
I personally think there are all sorts of factors that cause splitting, or not, some of which are inherent in the individual piece of wood, almost irregardless of its treatment. Hammy has this theory that some splitting is caused by wildfires suffered by the trees themselves during growth (this is African Blackwood he’s talking about).
Who knows? The best anyone can do is take care of their flute, use common sense but don’t treat it like fine china. Almost every case of a split flute I’ve ever heard has some really obvious prequel story (Oh, I played it for 7 hours last night, then left it in my car in bone-chilling temperatures. Forgot to swab it.. Or, everything was fine, playing in the broiling August sunshine, then there was this loud “pop!”. Etc.
Bamboo has always seemed pretty indestructable to me, but that’s because I basically ignore it. If I lavished attention on it like I do my regular wooden flutes, it’d probably crack in three weeks…
Best,
Gordon