I had a question from a potential buyer for the Sweet flute I’m selling.(clever little pitch here) I’m not yet an expert on wood instruments altohough I have now acquired a growing number of wood whistles.(reason I’m selling the Sweet flute) I gave my best understanding on the subject but I thought I would pose the question on this forum to get the collective wisdom of those wiser in the ways of wood. The question is, " How well would it (the Sweet flute I amd selling) react to sudden changes in climate; say maybe today it’s in eastern England and tomorrow it’s in Afghanistan?" Can some of you help me with this?
By the way -did I mention I’m selling a Sweet flute?
If you’re going to be subjecting it to sudden changes like that (or keeping it in a dry climate at all), you’d do well to make a simple humidifier. This could be just a ziploc baggie and a sponge, but I’d recommend a Tupperware/Rubbermaid box, a cigar humidifier, and an inexpensive hygrometer. If you go for a decent digital hygrometer, you’re looking at a total of about $30; a cheap cigar hygrometer, and it’s less than $20.
It beats the hell out of a cracked or moldy flute.
A good friend of mine has a Murray that was taken from the Amazon basin to the Andes without any special treatment. It’s fine today. So occasionally you can get lucky.
Also, bear in mind that that particular flute, (which I know well), has no tuning slide. It’s very unlikely that it will suffer cracks due to environmental issues alone. Of course, it should be treated with care, oiled, etc… But it’s not a fragile flute.
Thnks for all the good info here. I knew you guys would have some answers. BTW the Sweet Flute has been sold. I will use your info now on my growing collection of wood whistles and someday another wood flute.