Possible Bore Scratches? Please HELP!

JackFeeney · Post by **JackFeeney** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 4:25 pm

In another thread, Jim Stone asked for advice about flute swabs. And some of the responses he received caused me to rethink the way I swab by Casey Burns FF (and I thought I was being very careful in this area, however...).

Over the past four months, using a rubber-coated clothes hanger with two centimeters of the end bent over to form "an eye of a needle," I would thread a narrow patch of clean T-shirt fabric through that to swab the top and bottom halves of my CBFF. The "eye of the needle" is formed in such a way that no scratching is possible.

The problem is with the other end of the swab and the bottom half of the CBFF. To pull through the swab, I would drop the straight end of the coated hanger through (which has a sharp metal tip), until a few inches of the hanger appeared. Then I'd pull it through. (I know how bad that sounds. Forgive me, Casey Burns, if you're reading this.)

Of course, I'll completely change that routine henceforth, following the advice offered in Jim Stone's thread. At any rate, as a result of doing what I just described, I noticed today the inside of my flute's bore has a few light scratches. Not grooves. Just fine scratches.

I'm still working on developing a resonant sound, so I'm in no position to assess damage, tonewise. Any recommendations?

Jumbuk · Post by **Jumbuk** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 4:40 pm

Jack,

Looking down the barrel of my fairly new FF, I can see a few light scratches and what appears to be a straight groove on one side. I am pretty sure they were there when I got it. I don't think you should be too worried. I don't know enough about the physics of flute design, but intuitively it doesn't seem a big cause for concern.

... but I would be more careful in future. You would hope that the same flute will still be played by someone when you are long gone.

JackFeeney · Post by **JackFeeney** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 4:53 pm

Very true, indeed. I've been so careful with this flute -- oiling, carrying case, thread tension of the tenon joint, and so on -- that I assumed this flute would outlive me.

Cathy Wilde · Post by **Cathy Wilde** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 5:16 pm

My guess is that you're fine. It's far, far safer to use wood or plastic, but scratches happen sometimes (you should see my old warhorse! Between the grain of the wood and the scratches, it looks almost corrugated inside!).

Anyway, if it really bothers you in the future, Casey or someone in the fine- woodwind repair biz can probably pop the thing onto a reamer and polish the bore for you a bit.

Denny · Post by **Denny** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 5:25 pm

"Don't Panic"
Douglas Adams

...and you can get a plastic stick with an eye in one end at any band type music store for a few bucks...

Blackbeer · Post by **Blackbeer** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 5:31 pm

Hey Jack why not make yourself a nice cleaning rod and forget worring about that bore. Mine was quite simple, I use a long piece of dowl. One end I drilled a hole down the center of the dowl about an inch or two. Then cut a hole on the side of the dowl to meet up with the hole I drilled. So what I do is feed my tee shirt piece through the hole I drilled in the end of the dowl and pull it out of the hole I cut in the side and there you have it. The tee shirt protects the cork from getting messed up from the end of the rod, I can pull the rod through the broken down flute and swab out those parts and I marked the other side of the dowl with the correct measurment for placing the cork in most of my flutes. I think we aubsess a bit with our flutes when we first start out but they are not that fragile. Heck one of mine was made in 1830 and I`m sure its getting better care now then it has ever gotten. Anyway give this a try, I think you`ll like it and it will give you a little less to worry about.

Take care

Tom

jim stone · Post by **jim stone** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 5:39 pm

Rt, I don't think it has made an acoustic difference.
Casey does repolish his flute's bores as a matter of
course after you have one a couple of years; I don't
know if the FF is included in this, but he's a swell
fellow and would doubtless do it.

JackFeeney · Post by **JackFeeney** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 7:01 pm

Great advice. I feel much better (any tone problems are my own!) -- and I'll start making a less evasive ramrod right away.

fluti31415 · Post by **fluti31415** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 7:07 pm

If you're not handy enough to do the dowel thing, you can purchase a plastic flute cleaning rod for less than $2 at most music stores. I bought a boat load of them, so that I'd always have a rod in every flute case.

Denny · Post by **Denny** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 7:17 pm

fluti31415 wrote:If you're not handy enough to do the dowel thing, you can purchase a plastic flute cleaning rod for less than $2 at most music stores. I bought a boat load of them, so that I'd always have a rod in every flute case.

rama · Post by **rama** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 8:56 pm

JackFeeney wrote:The problem is with the other end of the swab and the bottom half of the CBFF. To pull through the swab, I would drop the straight end of the coated hanger through (which has a sharp metal tip),

what i did...

fold over that end of the rod (with pliers) and wrap in duct tape to cushion it. never scratches.

jim stone · Post by **jim stone** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 9:12 pm

I got a long very skinny stick from the hardware store, where
such things are sold cheap. I rounded the ends with a nail file,
then smoothed the whole stick with steel wool. I use this to
push a piece of silk through the bore. The cloth is wrapped around
the end of the stick. I can do the headjoint this way by just wrapping the
corner (more or less) of the cloth round the stick, this
means enough of the cloth remains outside the headjoint
that I can pull it out.

Craig Stuntz · Post by **Craig Stuntz** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 1:00 pm

jim stone wrote:Casey does repolish his flute's bores as a matter of
course after you have one a couple of years; I don't
know if the FF is included in this, but he's a swell
fellow and would doubtless do it.

It costs $40 for the folk flute, but is free for Casey's other flutes.

Hoovorff · Post by **Hoovorff** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 3:37 pm

I use the plastic cleaning rod that came with a soprano recorder. A silk piccolo or flute swab works great with it. I just make sure to cover the entire stick with the rag so that there's no chance of the plastic rod nicking the flute.

Jeanie

Nelson · Post by **Nelson** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 7:53 pm

Each time the subject of swabs comes up I explain why a 2 foot closeline does the best job, I think. Yet no one has ever commented, "yeah, that works great" or "I don't like to use that" , or anything. i can't imagen doing without one, in a session when you are waiting and you give it a quick swipe, or on a train, or around the house, or when you go out riding your horse, or what not. Never a reaction,on what I think is so common sense.

Nelson

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Possible Bore Scratches? Please HELP!

Possible Bore Scratches? Please HELP!

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