Now I have some questions regarding the care of my flute.
I don’t want to ask the seller because my 30 year experience with shops is: they’d even sell you bird’s food for your cookoo clock if you’re not careful.
I’ve read a lot about oils, corc grease, flute cleaning brushes and stuff.
I know from my guitars that there’s a lot of unnecessary stuff offered but the least is really NEEDED or can be exchanged by household stuff!
Could you guys tell me, what is really necessary to keep my flute in a good shape?
I’d also like to know if I can put it away in the bag right after playing or if I should wait a while to let the flut dry? I noticed a bit of condensed water/liquid in the flute after playing (no, I don’t spit into my flute! ) It’s just moisture from my breath, I suppose.
You should really contact Ralph for instructions, I am sure they are free!
My 2 bit sense; you can oil the flute with either a Almond oil (with vitamin E) or use a drying oil in the bore, like bore oil found at the music shop. The important thing is to keep it about 50% humidified. If you are in a humid climate, that would be grand, but remember that a heating system in the house can dry out the air! You should break in the flute, by playing it a few minutes, then increasing, Ralph will advise you. Always either blow out the water or swab the bore for any excess moisture from time to time and after playing. If it is below 40% humidity, store the flute in a plastic or wood case, and check the humidity, to make sure it doesn’t dry out.
good luck with your new pet flute!
Most important: keep flute disassembled when you are not playing it! Socket cracks are nothing to fool around with.
When reassembling use cork grease periodically on the tennon cork (it is cheap and worth keeping a tube on hand for when the joint begins to feel more “sticky”), and counter-rotate the sections (twist) when disassembling and reassembling.
If you have not read through it yet, take a look at the Sweetheart website. They have the care instructions in the FAQ section. http://sweetheartflute.com/faqs.html
