Second-hand wooden flutes from smokers?

[drewr]

I don't think I've ever seen this topic addressed here before.

So far, my flute experience has been limited to new flutes made from delrin, although I've been looking at some second-hand wooden flutes on eBay lately. Does it make much of a difference if the previous owner was a smoker? Do wooden flutes hold any remnants of tobacco odor? How bad can it get, if it's noticeable at all?

I'm sure someone here must have had some experience with this. I'd really rather not get stuck with a smelly flute. I'm not a smoker and I think this would really turn me off.

[Aanvil]

Smoke smell should be the least of your worries!

Flutes are literally soaked in a persons vile mouthy fluids and fondled with greasy, filthy, germ caked fingers.

Lord knows where they have been!

You could catch anything!

T.B., Influenza, Smallpox, Cholera, Ebola, The Trots!

You might as well get down and try to play tune on the lip of a urinal.

Blech!




























Blackwood and Cocus have a natural stink of their own you know.

Nothing a real serious cleaning couldn't fix up.

You most people that smoke don't play with a cigarette in their mouth at the same time.


Just give a good scrub... you'll be fine.

[jemtheflute]

Like anything from a tobacco smokey environment, they'll have a residual pong for a while - even if it wasn't a smoker who played them. With cleaning (nothing out of the ordinary) and being left open to the air, it will soon go off. I acquired a silver Gemeinhardt Boehm flute from a fellow chiffer earlier this year and when it arrived both it and its case smelled very strongly of tobacco smoke. I just left it out with the case open, and by the time I came to start work on overhauling it the smell was barely noticeable. Now it has been stripped, cleaned and repadded it doesn't smell at all, nor does the plush-lined case, and I haven't even vacuumed that out yet.

In other words, it is only a temporary problem if it is one at all - can be obnoxious at first, but won't last, even without cleaning but with plenty of fresh air.

[Cubitt]

You might as well get down and try to play tune on the lip of a urinal.

Blech!

Can you tell me how to get a good reedy tone when I flush?

[deisman]

Anvil - just what are you trying to say?

Deisman

[Aanvil]

Anvil - just what are you trying to say?

Deisman

Advocate of the Infectious Disease Defamation League now are ya?

[Aanvil]

You might as well get down and try to play tune on the lip of a urinal.

Blech!

Can you tell me how to get a good reedy tone when I flush?

That's easy Alan... since you can't turn the lip of the porcelain in you'll have to rotate your head far forward.

The tone will get quite deep and sonorous I assure you.

[azw]

Aanvil, do you have a lot of trouble with moisture with that technique?

I love this wacky sense of humor.

[Doc Jones]

I occasionally get instruments in the store from heavy smokers. The tobacco residue will about knock you over. I put them under a blanket with one of those ozone-blasting air freshener machines for a half hour or so and they're good as new. Just mae sure the air-intake part of the machine is't covered with the blanket so fresh air can go through it.

Doc

[Cubitt]

You might as well get down and try to play tune on the lip of a urinal.

Blech!

Can you tell me how to get a good reedy tone when I flush?

That's easy Alan... since you can't turn the lip of the porcelain in you'll have to rotate your head far forward.

The tone will get quite deep and sonorous I assure you.

I tried your suggestion, but the tone sounded like sh*t.

[Aanvil]

Can you tell me how to get a good reedy tone when I flush?

That's easy Alan... since you can't turn the lip of the porcelain in you'll have to rotate your head far forward.

The tone will get quite deep and sonorous I assure you.

I tried your suggestion, but the tone sounded like sh*t.

LOL!

Its not a very sound reflective substance after all. You might improve it if you increase your meat and hard cheese intake.

Everyone is different though so your mileage may vary.

(This thread is going down the tubes fast ain't it? )

Aanvil, do you have a lot of trouble with moisture with that technique?

No. I keep my flute at the bottom of a rain barrel and that seems to keep the moisture at equilibrium.

[Cubitt]

That's easy Alan... since you can't turn the lip of the porcelain in you'll have to rotate your head far forward.

The tone will get quite deep and sonorous I assure you.

I tried your suggestion, but the tone sounded like sh*t.

LOL!

Its not a very sound reflective substance after all. You might improve it if you increase your meat and hard cheese intake.

Well, I have to admit that it does deliver that sought-after "dark" tone.

[Lyn D]

I bought a whistle in African Blackwood and it smelled awful cigarrette smell. I just put a coffee bag in the whistle overnight, and the smell was almost gone. I repeated the process and the smell never came back.

This suggestion was given to me by Kevin Krell. Thanks, Kevin!

[LimuHead]

You might as well get down and try to play tune on the lip of a urinal.

Blech!

Can you tell me how to get a good reedy tone when I flush?

[G1]

Looks like good arguments for sticking with Delrin!

I love the commentary here. A lot of good folks with a great sense of humor. I've got my chuckle for the day - thanks!