cleaning your flute

[garyfitz123]

I have recently noticed that my keyless blackwood murray flute has become quite "gunky" inside the headjoint. When i shine a light through the blowhole i can see alot of rough crusty stuff. (it actually reminds me of nearly calcium deposits)

What i was wondering is what is the best way to remove this gunk. It cant be doing the wood, or the tone any good!

[Cathy Wilde]

I'll be curious to hear some more intelligent replies, but !hey, what the heck! here's mine ... on the occasions I've "degunked" I smear some almond oil around the blowhole edge & any other gunky areas, let it sit for a bit in hope of softening some of the crud up, and then use the end of a matchstick a wooden chopstick wrapped in a layer of almond-oil soaked paper towel to verrrrrry gently but persistently scrape at the stuff.

[jemtheflute]

A recent and not long-encrusted deposit will probably shift with a bit of spit on a cloth wrapped around a dowel or some such non abrasive or sharp-edged probe. If it is too crusty for that, try a dab of meths on your cloth. If you have a metal lined head, removing the stopper and pulling a jewellery polishing cloth through a few times may be a good idea, and if there are stubborn deposits, Brasso or Silvo (depending on what metal the tube is made of) on a cotton rag pushed through by your drying rod........ just make sure you remove any metal polish that gets onto the wood fairly promptly and clean it all out thoroughly. If the head is unlined, the meths method will serve and you'll need to oil the wooden bore afterwards. In any case, remember to oil the wood surface in the embouchure chimney.

[celticmodes]

I almost hate to ask but what is the crud? What is it's chemical make-up? Animal, vegetable, or mineral?

[MTGuru]

try a dab of meths on your cloth

What is meths in American-speak?

[s1m0n]

Rubbing alcohol. Or more accurately, methyl hydrate. AKA methylated spirits.

~~

But this thread title really should be a euphemism for something.

[Terry McGee]

Do you perhaps use the expression "de-natured alcohol"? Essentially methylated spirits is ethyl alcohol (ie Jamisons) plus some wood alcohol (methyl alcohol) to make it poisonous, and pyradine to make it smell and taste bad. This enables them to sell it without incurring liquor taxes.

Terry

[Terry McGee]

Sometimes, despite all the soaking, it's still impossible to get the crud off the inside of the embouchure hole. (Perhaps it is mineral in nature!) You can sharpen a paddle pop stick to look like a chisel, and use that to dislodge really hard stuff. Never use anything harder than soft wood unless you really know what you are doing (ie you're capable of cutting an embouchure from scratch). Even with a softwood chisel, be especially careful of the blowing "edge" you don't want to increase the rate of wear there. Just concentrate on following the existing curves.

Terry

[MTGuru]

Do you perhaps use the expression "de-natured alcohol"?

Yes, that's it. Thanks, Terry (and Simon).

[s1m0n]

You know, anonymous encrusted goo on a flute embouchure is a thought I have successfully avoided until just now. Yuck.

[Cork]

I have recently noticed that my keyless blackwood murray flute has become quite "gunky" inside the headjoint. When i shine a light through the blowhole i can see alot of rough crusty stuff. (it actually reminds me of nearly calcium deposits)...

Actually, you're quite right, in that the deposits you could be seeing indeed could be calcium. It's been a discovery that antique flutes sometimes do have a calcium deposit, especially on the lower part of the bore, or on the "bottom channel", as when such flutes have not been regularly swabbed out and have been rested with the keys upwards, or, in your keyless case, with the tone holes upwards.

Yet, be careful about removing the calcium. It's tough stuff, and as Cathy Wilde suggested, try using the slow approach, to use a gentle solvent such as an oil and over time, to help loosen the muck.

[jemtheflute]

Terry, S1m0n, thanks for "translating" the meths thing while I was asleep! (Why oh why do the Yanks always have to have a different name for everyday stuff????? ) FWIW, I thought "rubbing alcohol" was what we Brits call "surgical spirit" (also a methanol/ethanol combination, but without the purple dye used in meths) or alternatively isopropyl alcohol. Also FWIW, I have used isoprop when cleaning flutes, but find it tends to leave wood feeling greasy/not do as good a job as meths.

As to what the gunk is.... well, I suspect a fair bit of it is dead skin - cells off our lips - plus any tiny fragments of food and any other solids that may come up in microscopic droplets or chemicals (salts etc.) in solution in our breath/the moisture in our exhalations. On a flute with a lined head, there is also likely to be an element of metal corrosion or electrolytic leaching products around the metal edge in the embouchure chimney. The grain-end wood in the chimney could also leach waxy matter, especially in newer instruments.

[Julia Delaney]

If you clean your flute regularly this won't be a problem. I use a paper towel on a 1/2' wide, 1/8" thick, 8" long stick to clean the metal head joint tube. After running an oily silk cloth through the bore I use it to carefully oil the inside edges of the blow hole.

[jemtheflute]

If you clean your flute regularly this won't be a problem.

Quite! Well said JD!

[I.D.10-t]

Why oh why do the Yanks always have to have a different name for everyday stuff?????

I would much rather we stick to IUPAC nomenclature.