What do you do when you travel for several weeks
and you can’t take your blackwood flute?
It isn’t the emotional trauma that gets me,
really, but how do you humidify and otherwise
preserve the flute you left behind?
I’ve left instruments with friends before–
good way to lose both. As Sartre put it,
Hell is other people.
Also, is there any sane way to take a blackwood
flute for a long drive, say two or three thousand
miles in the summer, without destroying it? Don’t worry, I’m
not gonna try, but I’d be grateful for opinions,
tips… Thanks
My gameplan for leaving instruments behind is to oil them right before I go, and then not wipe them down. I just leave them oiled (bore and outside), and then they get to soak up the oil the whole time I’m gone. I don’t do anything else special, but I also live in a wet climate.
As for a long car trip . . . that’s a good one. I might be inclined to put the instrument in some kind of insulated container. Taken apart, wrapped well, and then put in either one of those insulated foil bags (like for going to Sam’s Club) or in an Igloo. As long as you (a) keep the thing away from the sun, and (b) don’t leave it outside in the car in the daytime for longer than a pitstop, I think the timber would be fine.
My feeling is that unless you’re planning on leaving the flute in a hot trunk or on the window-ledge of a car, I’d take the flute with me inside the car. If it’s comfortable enough for you, a blackwood (or any wood) flute can take it. Car air conditioning might dry the air more than in a home, so a small insulated cooler is a great idea, too, if you plan to leave it in the car alot and/or cross into different climates rapidly; throw in a humidifier of some sort (a wet rag) along with the flute(in it’s case). But – I’ve said this before – blackwood in particular is a pretty rugged wood and takes (almost) as much as Delrin, barring physical impact.
If you must leave it home, Stuart’s advice is good, oil it first, but again, blackwood doesn’t dry out alot, especially during the summer (unless you live in some really dry climate), and a few weeks is really not that long. The biggest challenge is that when you get back, break it in a little – don’t run out the first day and play for 5 hours straight. But a few weeks with a blackwood in a normal-humidity setting is really not going to change the wood much; it’s sadder for you than for the flute.
Gordon
Just don’t store the flute anywhere where you wouldn’t want to be stored, and you will be fine. Oil the flute before the journey, if you want. Put the case in an airtight plastic bag to prevent moisture from escaping (i do this when i’m going to fly with my flute). It will be fine. People travel with wooden instruments all the time, even with violins, that are much more breakable.
Given the tour schedules of a lot of our favorite trad bands where they spend a lot of time on the road, you’d probably do well to bring the flute and just keep it out of the blast of the a/c as Gordon said.
Cheers,
Aaron
Jim, I have to say that I was a bit mystified by your post. Call me reckless, but I couldn’t imagine not taking flutes with me in my travels. It’s not as if they’re obtrusive or something…visualises tuba
I wouldn’t worry too much about leaving a flute unplayed for a few weeks, especially if it’s blackwood. If you’re really worried about humidity, I would seal it in a big freezer bag, but without any sponges or anything like that. This creates a little sealed environment where no moisture is going to get in or out.
Blackwood’s toughness is somewhat proportional to how well it was seasoned, and how close it is kept to it’s “seasoned” moisture content. It is easy for people who haven’t had any problems with their particular instruments to say Blackwood is highly durable, but unless you have a piece of wood from the same batch as theirs, I suggest you take all due precautions - any flute can crack.
I do agree that pretrip oiling, and storage away from extremes of heat, cold, and humidity (or lack of), are wise. I had no problems travelling, for the last 6 months, with my Olwell: I simply kept it in a rubbermaid container with a humidifier, which I packed in luggage.
This is true, but a flute that’s going to crack because it wasn’t well seasoned (grain of salt?) is going to crack eventually whether Jim takes it with him, locks it in a baggie, or gives it a feather-bed to sleep in. Sometimes it’s the maker’s fault, or, as you say, it was in a batch that had a predetermined crack, just waiting to happen.
That said, a blackwood flute that is well seasoned when made, is played regularly, maintained/oiled and treated with common sense (avoiding unrealistic extreme), can withstand far more than most non-wooden flute owners seem to believe or scary stories about cracks imply. That some flutes crack is true, but it’s akin to saying some of us will die prematurely due to a genetic defect, or if we don’t take care of ourselves. All true, but you can’t live worrying about it, unless that means just using common sense with your fun, food and other vices. Wooden flutes were made to be played and taken places to be played, not treated like crystal.
Since you took your cocus flute with you when you traveled, you know this is so, and blackwood is, statistically speaking, the toughest of the bunch.
Gordon
I hope the rest of you realize the courage it takes for me to put this down into a semi-permanent format.
How often, seriously, do you hear about a flute cr*cking after it’s been around for more than a year? I feel like most cracks either occur when the instrument is being made, or when it’s being played in by the new owner. You can put the blame anywhere you like, on the maker or on the player. Probably it’s a combination of both.
Let me say something else about that, something that occurs to me whenever folks get stoked about a maker’s short lead time on instruments. A short wait time is not necessarily a good thing. Say it with me. A short wait time is not necessarily a good thing.
Half the problem may be how well-seasoned the wood was when first tool hit grain. But the other half is how long the wood got to sit and “relax” between work. Wood was alive in every sense at one time, and remains organic for all time. Meaning, it’s NEVER static.
I’ve noticed that my own opinion is that beginners are probably best served by buying either a used flute or a new polymer instrument to start out, and getting on a good maker’s wait list when they have the money or the real inclination. A lot of makers commit the timber when they get the deposit, even if the bulk of the flutemaking is months or years in the future.
That’s so, Stuart, but different makers also plan things differently. A good maker with a shorter wait list still might stockpile well in advance. Others might put you on a list for years, but the wood used will not be purchased for years, either.
I think your one-year plus for a flute is a good one – most flutes won’t crack after that point if they’re well cared for. As for the rest, almost every crack has an “all I did was…” before the story..
My thoughts…
Gordon
I disagree with you Gordon (regarding flutes not cracking after the first year), but I’m not into arguing about it. My point is that Jim can do whatever he want’s (obviously) but he’ll feel like a fool if his Copley cracks and he didn’t take precaustions because folks here convinced him that Blackwood is nearly as durable as Delrin.
Well, leaving it at that has never been your forte, in but I’ll take your word on it this time.
I never said they can’t crack after the first year. What I said was that they most probably won’t, if properly cared for, particularly after the first year. I was, perhaps, a bit over implying it is as tough as Delrin, though I was making a point, not seriously proposing a stress-test between the two.
The properly-cared-for part was mentioned many times in the above statements by me and others, and it’s not something I brushed over lightly, nor – I think – would Jim or anyone else have read it as such. I really don’t mean to be argumentative, Loren, but you can’t say “be careful” and “I took my flute with no problem” in the same breath, unless you believe that Jim is somehow less careful than you, or that your Olwell was somehow more rugged than Jim’s Copley. Since you valued yours at over double the cost of a Copley, I’m assuming you felt fairly confident that your flute would not crack if taken on the road. Nor should his, realistically. It is no more likely to crack while traveling (particularly in hand, in a car) than when being played at home, a session or while busking. IF properly cared for and common sense is used, a wooden flute, particularly a blackwood wooden flute, can and should be taken along when traveling. The belief that most wooden flutes, particularly blackwoods, are much tougher than most Delrin owners believe, was my actual point. They are simply not that delicate.
Lastly, IF the worst possible scenario plays out in dramatic technicolor, and a crack does develop or occur, flutes can (in fact!) be repaired, to no ill-effect on sound and in most cases very little loss of value. Like many things blown (out of proportion), the dreaded “it may crack” is an over-blown worry. It may. It may not, particularly if not abused.. If it does, it can be fixed.
Not necessarily my last word,
Gordon
One place where newbie flutists get the impression
that blackwood is delicate may be from
makers, who tend to emphasize how
very important it is to take very
good care, etc. Of course these folks deal
routinely with the worst case scenario,
and wish to avoid it for all concerned;
prudent and well meant. Probably nobody
means to give the wrong impression,
but it’s kind of understandable that
newbies get it.
The thing is, wood is a mystery. It will take the greatest abuse with pride and applomb, and then crack for no reason at all. But blackwood is pretty durable. Check out Terry McGee’s graphic descriptions of flute torture. Warning, may contain material inappropriate for the younger reders! It may help set you at ease.
Well, hmm. I feel like being defensive even though I’m not brawling.
Gordon, your point is well taken about makers stockpiling old timber vs. waiting for years for a greenstick flute. However, I stand by my assertion that even well-seasoned strategically-stockpiled timber probably ought to take months to turn into a flute.
Looking back into the thread . . . isn’t Loren arguing with me, and not you, Gordon? It’s wacky. I can’t tell.
Well, hopefully, none of us are really arguing. Loren’s right to not want anyone to become overly cavalier with a prized instrument, but I still feel that the fear of cracking far outweighs the likelihood of it occurring and that a flute cared-for but not babied will serve you better than one coddled beyond usefulness.
As for your patience theory, you’re probably more right than not about the better makers, but if you follow some of Terry’s and other’s forays into the Masters – Rudall, Rose, Boosey, etc. – their flutes, many still around and quite a few uncracked, were made in days, not weeks or months. Still, logic says you have a valid point, and – as glauber says – wood is pretty mysterious stuff. There may be other reasons why a patient maker’s flutes are less likely to crack than merely prolonged seasoning or whatever voodoo is worked on the flutes while we wait.
Jim’s point’s good as well – no maker wants THEIR flute to crack, so they fill us with warnings both useful and sane. But it was Hammy who first told me not to worry so much when I bought one of his flutes; the care he advises is routine, logical and useful, but the flute is made to be played, not fretted over. (that’s guitars, I guess..). He has a reasonable break-in period, and then it’s off to the tunes.
Anyway, I gotta walk the dogs…
Gordon
Phil Bleazey, who appears to make very good flutes
(my boxwood g being an instance), sent with
the flute an instruction page that strongly advises
against storing the flute in a damp place. Rather the instrument
should be stored in a cool, dry, place.
This conflicts with the advice of other flutesmiths,
who strongly advise storing wooden flutes
in some sort of humidified container.
I wonder what this all means.
Three thoughts:
First, maybe boxwood is different from
blackwood, etc, in that it shouldn’t be
humidified?
Second, maybenobody know much about this sort of
thing. There’s just lore, and it differs
from maker to maker, continent
to continent…
It may help set you at ease.
