Chiff and Fipple Forums

I've purchased a few vintage recorders recently, and I'm following the practice of playing them in a little at a time over the first few weeks. Should I be using bore oil or something else as well during this time?

Hi I play clarinet as well as the recorder. I read in a clarinet care article by a well known teacher/player that all that was needed was a swab through the instrument with a pure chamois cloth.....he apparently never used any bore oil...I tried it and it appears to work.

It depends on the wood type and also how/if the wood was treated before being turned into a recorder.
Often makers like Moeck and Mollenhauer impregnate woods like Maple and Pear with paraffin wax. These pretreated wood don't require oiling (supposedly).

For other woods or untreated maple or pearwoods I would follow directions such as found here:
http://www.moeck.com/en/recorders/pract ... rders.html
or this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFjdHWnNrZo

One thing is for sure - don't oil the block or windway this can damage the instrument.

I treat my recorder like a blackwood clarinet or cocuswood flute - a run through with bore oil (sweet almond oil) once every 6 months and also once a year the outside gets a good wipedown too.

V

Dubrosa22 is spot on. For more information, and perhaps some help identifying whether or not your recorders have been, you should pardon the expression, "impregnated" you should check out www.lazarsearlymusic.com.

Great early music shop in the Bay Area. Nice folks, and extremely helpful. I bought a couple of recorders from them last year, and they were nice enough to send several for me to try out.

JD

Hi...I just want to add that with the wax-impregnated wood recorders, especially vintage ones, I will still check the bores using a flashlight to make sure there is no dryness or cracking, or, if I can fit my pinky finger into the bore, will just physically touch inside the recorder. I have lightly oiled the one I do have, simply because I had bought it used, and it felt a little "dry" to me.

I also love http://www.lazarsearlymusic.com. He's local to me, and though I don't visit often because I'll end up buying something there each time, I did a "pilgrimage" recently to look over some other used instruments, and to upgrade some of my instruments. Bill is really nice, and really patient.