Chiff and Fipple Forums

Any opinions on how long is it OK to leave a wooden flute assembled after you've played it? I'm in the habit of taking my wood flutes apart and putting them back in the case if its going to be a couple of hours before I get back to playing, but I'm wondering if I'm being too paranoid...

Cheers,

Michael

Michael, I'll offer an opinion, but not one based on any data. I believe that the main reason for the advice to dis-assemble the flute after playing is so that it can be swabbed out. Leaving water in the flute is considered to be bad practice since it could cause local swelling of the wood and maybe distortion and cracking. If you subscribe to this reasoning, then you would probably want to take the flute apart and swab it right after you finish playing.

Or we could try to settle the question by asking half of the C&F flute-players to leave their flutes assembled and un-swabbed, and the other half to swab theirs diligently each time they play; results to be reported in a year or so. Of course, Mr. Migoya may have to hire a few more people to take care of the increase in repair work.

Dave Copley
Loveland, Ohio

It was my impression from non-wood instruments that leaving the instrument assembled will mean rewrapping or recorking tenons more often. I figure that must hold for wood instruments as well, but I don't know if there are any <i>additional</i> concerns because of the wood.

<ul>-Rich</ul>

The key reason to disassemble the flute parts is to ensure the tenon wraps - be it cork or thread - also dry out. I can't tell you how many flutes have come my way with the tenons (and slides!) fozen together, stuck beyond all efforts to separate.
With cork, it tends to dry out over time and then "adhere" to the socket, sticking in place. or swelling too much that you can't even turn the parts.
Then there is thread wrap, which expands quite a bit (for the hemp variety....I use nylon-based that won't swell) when wet. If the flute is laid flat, the condensation inside eventually "puddles" to its lowest point. Now, since the bores are usually conical, that means they are sloped. And we remember our basic rules of physics: Water runs downhill!
So, what you have eventually (for long idle periods) is a slow migration of the condensate along the bore and....eventually seeping into a joint.
This is precisely why I store my flutes vertically on either a single stand that I have made, or the multiple for all my instruments. And it coats the flute more evenly.
After all, who wants to keep assembling/disassembling their flute day after day! I disassemble to swab it, then reassemble to stand dry. The Damp-It goes inside during long periods in the case.
Anyway, this is a long-winded way of saying to be sure your tenons are well greased.....and take the slide apart and swab that too from time to time! You can't imagine how difficult it is to "decrust" a frozen slide!

I don't have a wood flute yet but in my silver flute I have a thingy called a pad saver. It is a long metal rod covered with mutli colored (cotton strings?). you Leave it in after use and it asorbs the moisture. I have seen much longer ones that can go into an Obo or other long instrument that might fit into an assembled flute. Of course I don't know how it would affect wood seeing how I don't have one. Yet!

Your pad saver's intent is to keep excessive moisture away from the pads of the Boehm system flute. Those pads generally are covered in a very thin skin (like onion skin) and any moisture will "warp" it and affect the seal between pad and the lips of the tone holes.
While absolute removal of moisture on a Boehm flute is fine, it's not a good thing on wood flutes, where the goal is to strike a balance between too dry (cracks) and too wet (cracks), which is the ultimate challenge.
And most pads on wood flutes are kid leather, although more of them now are going synthetic.

"Oh I see," Said the blind man. So it is not a good idea to use a pad saver for a wooden flute. I'll remember that. Thanks.

Goddess

It's not that the Pad Saver wouldn't be good for the pads of a wood flute.....it would not be good for the wood itself as its aim is to remove moisture....a very bad thing for wood flutes in storage

I use a swab like the pad saver for my wooden whistle. I don't leave it in though I just swab out the whistle after heavy use. Do you think it would hurt the whistle?

Lady Whistler

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Lady Whistler on 2002-01-10 09:48 ]</font>

Btw, I would like to ask if flinging the moisture out is a viable alternative to swabbing?

not if you don't have a good grip, Eldarion!
and don't assume those around you appreciate being "blessed" by the flute-playing pope

and lady whistler, no, I don't suppose it hurts it at all if used as a swab....although I'd wonder about any "chemicals" imbedded into the save suddenly going onto the wood bore.....nonetheless, if it's not in the instrument or the case with it, then all is fine I would think
_________________
David Migoya
Fyfer Restorations
http://www.fyfer-restorations.com
"Bringing Yesterday's Flutes to Today's Players"

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: David Migoya on 2002-01-11 02:13 ]</font>