Metal Side Blown Sweat

[Shaun-Patrick Young]

Now that I'm making copper side blown flutes (use to make them out of wood and PVC), I've noticed a lot more condensation in and around the embouchure. It builds up quickly, and sometimes interferes with the sound. Have to shake out the head piece a lot until it warms up.

Aside from eating a lot of crackers or holding the embouchure head in my armpit for a few minutes, is there anything else I can do to keep that "sweating" down?

[peeplj]

You've discovered one of the vexations that plague silver flute players the world over.

You can gently warm the flute before playing, that will help.

Some flutists both warm the flute and "pre-wet" it by gently blowing warm air through the flute for a few minutes before playing.

By the way, this problem isn't unique to metal flutes; all flutes share it to some degree.

--James

[fearfaoin]

I remember reading in Wanderer's O'Brien whistle review
that copper whistles "clog like nobody's business". So,
perhaps the material is a big part of the problem. Could
Duponol be used for flute like it is for whistle?

[Wormdiet]

I've heard a professional player recommend drinking hot tea while warming up or before playing. "It warms it right up!" or words to that effect.

[GaryKelly]

The best ordinary metallic thermal conductors are (in decreasing order) silver, copper, gold, aluminum, beryllium, and tungsten.

In other words, a silver pipe on the hob would be more efficient at conducting heat than a copper one, but copper is better than gold or aluminium.

It's why you often see copper-bottomed cooking pots, and it's why condensation forms so quickly in a silver (or silver-lined) or copper flute.

In the case of an all-copper flute, you're going to have to do a lot of warming up, because the large surface area of the copper pipe will act as a radiator, rapidly conducting the heat of your breath away from the point of contact at the embouchure, leaving condensation behind.

[Loren]

The best ordinary metallic thermal conductors are (in decreasing order) silver, copper, gold, aluminum, beryllium, and tungsten.

In other words, a silver pipe on the hob would be more efficient at conducting heat than a copper one, but copper is better than gold or aluminium.

It's why you often see copper-bottomed cooking pots, and it's why condensation forms so quickly in a silver (or silver-lined) or copper flute.

In the case of an all-copper flute, you're going to have to do a lot of warming up, because the large surface area of the copper pipe will act as a radiator, rapidly conducting the heat of your breath away from the point of contact at the embouchure, leaving condensation behind.

Wow Gary, and I was simply going to suggest covering the whole thing with an external wooden sleeve......

Loren

[GaryKelly]

Well yeah, you could do that I suppose. Wood being an insulator and all, it'd allow the metal lining to warm up fairly quickly and dramatically reduce radiation.

But it'll never catch on. Why? Well, for one thing, with metal's high co-efficient of thermal expansion, the wood would eventually split...

[fearfaoin]

You are the devil.

[Jack Bradshaw]

Of course!!! Why didn't we think of that before...the ideal flute lining metal is INVAR !

[Loren]

Well yeah, you could do that I suppose. Wood being an insulator and all, it'd allow the metal lining to warm up fairly quickly and dramatically reduce radiation.

But it'll never catch on. Why? Well, for one thing, with metal's high co-efficient of thermal expansion, the wood would eventually split...

Bah, doesn't matter: I suspect people would still buy them, for at least a couple of hundred years. Takes a while for folks to catch on.

Loren

[GaryKelly]

Of course!!! Why didn't we think of that before...the ideal flute lining metal is INVAR !

OMG! And if we made the body out of high-temperature reusable surface insulation like wot they use for the Space Shuttle....

[fearfaoin]

...and coat it with teflon so the condensation would never stick (not to
mention that fried egg)!

[GaryKelly]

..And outsourced production to China or India to keep manufacturing costs down....!!

[Jack Bradshaw]

Nah...I've got one of those....the cork just slips right out the end...have to add "O" rings...(I think NASA's been there).....

[GaryKelly]

Ah pants... And I was just about to come up with a decent name for it too.

Along the lines of the "Bradshaw Thermally Improved, with Fearfoin Perfected Smooth-Flow™ Tuning-Slide"...