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hi I'm bla Chastain I'm an Irish flute
player and educator today we're going to
take a look at how to maintain your
wooden flute after playing swab the
board to get rid of any excess moisture
I use a silk flute swab guided through
with a wooden cleaning Rod it's okay if
the board is slightly damp we just want
to get rid of the larger drops of cont
condensation for the head joint I make a
bundle out of the swab on the end of the
cleaning rod and twist it around a few
times for keyed flutes you want to make
sure that you don't get oil on the key
pads I prefer to take all the keys off
as it makes working with the flute less
cumbersome alternatively you can cover
the pads with plastic
wrap consult the maker of your flute as
to what oil they recommend and whether
or not you should apply it to the outer
surfaces here I'm using almond oil with
a bit of vitamin E to help keep it from
spoiling avoid areas such as corked or
threaded tenons sockets and repaired
cracks as the oil could compromise the
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repair cotton swabs are handy for for
applying oil to the tone holes and
Ure if you have time let the flute
absorb the oil for a few hours before
removing the excess I like to use my
silk swab to clear the excess oil from
the bore the oil left on the swab AIDS
in conditioning the bore during future
swabbing for the exterior I use an old
cotton
t-shirt using a clean cotton swab remove
the excess oil from the tone holes and
obure when reassembling Keys the end of
your wooden clean Rod can assist in
gently pushing pins back into
place if your slide needs grease first
clean both the inside of the barrel end
and the outside of the head joint end
with a clean paper towel using a small
amount of slide grease coat the inside
of the barrel end evenly this method
allows for any excess grease to be
pushed out into the inside of the barrel
upon assembly and can be easily wiped
away
apply grease to corked tenons whenever
they feel dry this keeps the cork from
absorbing excess moisture and swelling
while
playing the distance between the face of
the head joint Cork and the center of
the amuser should be equal to the inner
diameter of the head joint bore correct
placement of the head joint cork is
critical for both intonation and tone
placing the cork a bit Upstream can
strengthen the lower register slightly
but go too far and your second register
will play stay relatively
flat I like to keep my flutes in an
environment with a relative humidity
level of 45 to
55% as I live in a dry climate I store
them in an airtight container with a
damp sponge that functions as a passive
humidifier for Passive humidification on
the go poke holes in a small plastic bag
with a damp sponge inside and place it
in a case that is relatively airtight
the
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