I live in the good old American Northwest and it can get a bit dry up here. The maker of my flute suggested keeping it around 70% humidity and I did pretty good with that for a while, but recently my flute has been stored closer to 50% humidity. A fellow player recently suggested placing orange peals in the case, so I tried that and it increased the humidity by around 40%. So basically my flute was in 50% humidity for a while, was placed in to a 70-80% humidity environment, and now the fit between the joints is different. It's a bit tighter around the wooden bits on the very end (just peripheral to the cork wrapping). I took some of the orange peals out in hopes the humidity would decrease a little and allow the fit between the joints to relax some, but I'm worried about the long term affects.
Does anybody know i this is a serious issue or just something that will repair itself with gradual a return to lower humidity?
It also depends what timber the flute is made of.
I play a boxwood flute and if I don't play it, even for a day or two all the joints are loose, but after even a half hour playing they are all comfortably tight.
This is down to different shrinkage of different timbers and how much moisture they absorb particularly when playing. Oh and I do oil it regularly.
But also, as llig said the cork itself does shrink and expand a lot more than the wood.
Moisture is your flute's friend. But why don't you get in touch with your maker? I mean your flute's maker.
I keep my flutes between 40 and 60% with never a problem. Are you greasing your joints?
I thought that playing the music well was a way of keeping in touch with your maker ! Or at least, a little bit closer ?
We don't have this problem in London, which is basically dank.
Many years ago we moved from a centrally-heated house to this ( at that time ) very damp flat, and within a year the bridges fell off both my good guitars......
hey, I'm not too far from you [Spokane] and have kept my wood flutes in a plastic tupperware type box over the winter. I erred on the side of too much humidity at first but have adjusted it down now so it's only a little more than ambient. I figure if my son's blackwood clarinet can survive, then the flutes should be o.k. too. don
Really? Spokane eh? I don't suppose you know of any weekend sessions in the area? I come home on the weekends and would love to find one that played on saturday or sunday.
Humidity Yur the Devil
Humidity Yur the Devil
Hey everyone,
I live in the good old American Northwest and it can get a bit dry up here. The maker of my flute suggested keeping it around 70% humidity and I did pretty good with that for a while, but recently my flute has been stored closer to 50% humidity. A fellow player recently suggested placing orange peals in the case, so I tried that and it increased the humidity by around 40%. So basically my flute was in 50% humidity for a while, was placed in to a 70-80% humidity environment, and now the fit between the joints is different. It's a bit tighter around the wooden bits on the very end (just peripheral to the cork wrapping). I took some of the orange peals out in hopes the humidity would decrease a little and allow the fit between the joints to relax some, but I'm worried about the long term affects.
Does anybody know i this is a serious issue or just something that will repair itself with gradual a return to lower humidity?
# Posted on April 10th 2009 by ThomasT.
Re: Humidity Yur the Devil
It could the cork, not the flute itself
# Posted on April 10th 2009 by ...
Re: Humidity Yur the Devil
It also depends what timber the flute is made of.
I play a boxwood flute and if I don't play it, even for a day or two all the joints are loose, but after even a half hour playing they are all comfortably tight.
This is down to different shrinkage of different timbers and how much moisture they absorb particularly when playing. Oh and I do oil it regularly.
But also, as llig said the cork itself does shrink and expand a lot more than the wood.
# Posted on April 10th 2009 by banjoburger
Re: Humidity Yur the Devil
Moisture is your flute's friend. But why don't you get in touch with your maker? I mean your flute's maker.
I keep my flutes between 40 and 60% with never a problem. Are you greasing your joints?
# Posted on April 10th 2009 by David Levine
Re: Humidity Yur the Devil
I thought that playing the music well was a way of keeping in touch with your maker ! Or at least, a little bit closer ?
We don't have this problem in London, which is basically dank.
Many years ago we moved from a centrally-heated house to this ( at that time ) very damp flat, and within a year the bridges fell off both my good guitars......
# Posted on April 10th 2009 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Humidity Yur the Devil
i agree w/ cocus... 70% sounds a bit high. 40~60 should be grand.
# Posted on April 10th 2009 by browndog
Re: Humidity Yur the Devil
You must be east of the Cascades because here in the Seattle area we've had 6 months of soggy drizzle/rain. Plenty of humidity.
# Posted on April 10th 2009 by CW
Re: Humidity Yur the Devil
hey, I'm not too far from you [Spokane] and have kept my wood flutes in a plastic tupperware type box over the winter. I erred on the side of too much humidity at first but have adjusted it down now so it's only a little more than ambient. I figure if my son's blackwood clarinet can survive, then the flutes should be o.k. too. don
# Posted on April 11th 2009 by Dont
Re: Humidity Yur the Devil
Really? Spokane eh? I don't suppose you know of any weekend sessions in the area? I come home on the weekends and would love to find one that played on saturday or sunday.
# Posted on April 11th 2009 by ThomasT.