I have developed a slight problem of late. A few months ago I purchased a Copley keyless, slideless in blackwood. So delighted by it I was, and still am, that I swore I would never buy another flute for years to come. Why would I?.. And then I discovered cheap ‘antique’ flutes on Ebay. I have been very pleased with one, a beat up old German…but then there are the others that havn’t arrived yet…and the others that I keep on seeing…and will continue to see. I don’t need these flutes, I play my Copley for at least three to four hours a day, I don’t have time to play anything else and right now I’m laid off from work after break-up. And really thats where the problem lies.
For nine or ten months of the year I live and work on remote location oil-rig camps. If I see my home for a week out of every month I am lucky. I don’t particularly wish to bring a treasured instrument out to camp with me to be looked after. I wouldn’t be able to play it without running the risk of being lynched and there would be plenty of risks to the instrument whether or not I play it. The family that have been forced to live with me have been looking after things while I’m away ( wetting the sponge in the box ) but they are no longer forced to live with me and will be going their own way in the near future. Alberta is very dry. I don’t know how I will be able to maintain a humid environment for my flutes. A sponge in a plastic box I doubt will cut it for periods of up to eight weeks.
I think us Limeys like to ramble, even the sober ones, so I guess the point to all of this is does anyone know how I can keep my flutes in a humid environment for long periods of time without being physically present and without assistance from someone else? Phew got there in the end. These damn flutes are worse than cats or kids.
Thanks
Nate
oops, wrong question. How about adapting a cigar humidor? I bet there’s a few white elephant humidors left over from the 90s cigar boom.
My flutes, are selfish, claw up the furniture, crap outside their humidors and never call.
They are actually just like cats and children.
How does a humidor work? and where can I get one? Will it stay humid for up to eight weeks without someone putting in water? Will one humidor house several flutes? Do they come in a variety of sizes? Will cats ands children survive in a humidor for any length of time? Okay I guess I’ll just google thermidors.
Thanks
Nate
…or even humidors…so exactly what is a thermidor? I believe it may have something to do with lobsters which, try as I might, I can’t relate to flutes whatsoever. I do know however that I enjoy some nice Dover soul Colbert whenever I can get my hands on it. So would my cats. But they have Temptations and very bad manners at table.
Thermidor is the french revolutionary name* for a month; (IIRC it coincides roughly with August) which also gave it’s name to lobster soup. Humidor is the word you want.
*French revolutionaries invented their own calendar.
I have found humidors on Wikipedia and unless I have misunderstood something ( which is more than likely ), a humidor is really a glorified sponge in a box. I imagine that the humidor itself is likely to dry out if left for any length of time. It does seem like a good way to go but can someone tell me for how long a humidor will stay humid?
Thanks again
Nate
ah, yep!
nope…too many variables
the closer the RH inside to the RH outside the longer
the less air in the box the longer
“I have always relied on the kindness of strangers.”
Blanche DuBois from On The Waterfront
Do you have any family or friends who can babysit your instruments while you are gone? If this isn’t possible, here is my plan B’s:
- Go to your local:
a. Music Store
b. High School with a Music Department
c. Local Church that is known for their music
Explain your situation to:
a. The store owner
b. The Music Department Chair
c. The Choir Director
who should have enough of a concern for your instrument (and you) that they will babysit your instruments. Our local music store has a museum of sorts of old instruments. If they were not willing to accept this responsibility they may know people who would be most suited to this task. I would sure get something in writing with photos and keep a log with signatures of when the instruments are in whose custodies if the situation needs to get tht complicated. Just to keep things on the up and up. I think everyone would understand. (Psst. I’m a schemer. I would try to hook-up with the person who was most inclined to cook me a home cooked meal once I got off the oil rig.)
My wife & I moved away from our families shortly after college and we moved around quite a lot. We learned to rely on each other but there were still times we had to ask other people for help. We always had good experiences.
i use these: http://www.humistat.com/ . yes, it is a glorified sponge, but it will loose moisture slower than a sponge.
i use the small one for my flute. it usually lasts me about a month or two, with the tupperware case cracked open. if you leave the case closed, it should last 8 weeks. if you’re worried, just put in two on the halfway setting and you should be more than fine.
The original Humistat. What a beautiful thing. I knew someone would have the answer and this definitely seems to be it. Hell I can buy ten of these things for the price of a humidor (but only four or five for the price of a good thermidor) and it looks like I can get up to eight weeks out of them which is the main thing. I’ll be buying mine right away and testing them before I go back to work Thanks so much Daiv for putting me onto this, most appreciated.
Thank you also Mutepoint for your very considerate and kind reply. The plan B’s will probably stay that way unless the Humistat doesn’t work out but it is always good to have plan B. The part about the cooked meal definitly got me thinking! Thanks again.
Nate
There are “Cigar/Pipe Smoking Clubs” in many cities that have Humidor space you can rent. I also suggest any antique book clubs. These people store thier antique books in “Hermetically sealed” containers or rooms. Once the container is sealed, the environment is static/unchanging.
They’ll want to smoke after serving the home cooked meal. That could be plan C.