Yeah, that’s the ticket!
I read the first posts early yesterday and was out all day on appointments thinking about it. I did’t catch that last sentence in Dave’s post… and it was the most significant thing.
Dave might have this answer then…
Is there a right and wrong time to oil the bore?
If I understand Mr. Copley right, he
advocates oiling the bore when it is dry,i.e., not right after you have finished playing it. I have had my Copley flute long enough to where I oil it once a month…a pleasant task I relegate to a Saturday morning.
If I understand Mr. Copley right, he
advocates oiling the bore when it is dry,i.e., not right after you have finished playing it. I have had my Copley flute long enough to where I oil it once a month…a pleasant task I relegate to a Saturday morning.
I wonder why his Abell’s tuning slide is sticking . . . it’s silver on silver, as Loren mentioned.
Anyway, I live in a very humid climate (Texas/Gulf coast) and have never worried about the humidity thing. Even with air conditioning going full blast, I don’t think the ambient humidity indoors gets much below 50%. Outside it’s often 90%+.
I suppose this might turn into one of those To Oil or Not To Oil debates, but they’re so tiresome. I think I agree with the folks who’ve eschewed the idea of putting flute and case into hermetically sealed containers . . . what’s the point, and I think it could cause more trouble than benefit by encouraging rot or mold.
The only point I’d make is that it is absolutely impossible to prevent our instruments from experiencing a HUGE swing in humidity. Your breath is going to be darn near 100% no matter what you do; I think this idea that exists in Highland piping of the “wet blower” vs. the “dry blower” is malarchy. I put tubes in people’s tracheas on a daily basis, and one of the ways (among many other things) to know you’re in the right place is by seeing the fog/condensation on the inside of the tube. So, we all exhale air and water.
So, coming around to my point . . . what was it . . . oh yeah! I think one of the most important things to safeguard an instrument is to get it warm before you play it. Meaning, for example, put the headjoint under your arm and warm it up a bit before you even begin to blow. The warmer the timber, the less moisture will condense on it. I feel like when I first start to play, the instrument seems to get waterlogged quite easily, and then as the whole thing warms up, it happens less frequently. Then I shake everything out before putting things away in the case, and the moisture that remains can evaporate into the surrounding air. Actually, if the instrument’s really wet, I try to leave the case open overnight and close it up the next morning.
I suppose I’d have to be more careful if I lived in a drier climate, since then the difference between my breath and the ambient humidity would be greater. What about folks who live in the western US, or even the desert Southwest? You folks have more trouble with cracking than those of us in the swamp?
Even though I’m a staunch proponent of oiling, I think it really all comes down to how well seasoned the timber was when it became the flute or whistle. All the oiling in the world isn’t going to help the green twig that’s been turned before its time into a flute or whistle: it’ll move and possibly crack as it seasons ex post facto. I’ve seen really well-seasoned temperamental timbers, like boxwood, rock stable after being turned, and even less-temperamental timbers (like the beloved blackwood) crack in the first six months of flutehood.
Terry McGee used to have a long passage on his website which mentioned something about how the waiting list is only part of the wait: he roughs out flutes when the order is placed so the timber can stabilize for the maximum possible time before becoming an instrument.
Sorry this was so long!