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The Flute has not significantly changed for many years, materials are largely the same, pads are still delicate and vulnerable to damage. The two main areas of greatest concern are Moisture and Perspiration.
Moisture left inside the Flute head-joint, or foot-joint may well cause the pads to hydrate and swell losing their correct seal on the tone-holes. The head-joint tuning cork will eventually shrink and leak air, and fail to keep its correct position inside the tube. Either way,this will have a detrmental effect on the Flutes performance. Trevor James &Co makes every effort to ensure that damp cleaning cloths are stored in an outer pocket away from the Flute itself.
In order to remove condensation, all Flutes come with a wooden (Less damage to the inside of the tube) or plastic cleaning rod. This is used with a lint-free gauze cloth to absorb the maximum moisture, dry quickly, and leave no dust or residue inside the tube. Pads which have become tacky during play can be dried quickly with a cigarette paper placed over the tone hole and then the key closed. Allow the paper to fully soak up the moisture and open the key before removing. If possible allow the pads to dry for 10 minutes or so before putting back into the case. This is especially useful for wooden bodied instruments such as Piccolos.
Try to avoid the use of talc, as a quick measure; it actually promotes pad stick when wet. Perspiration is always detrmental to silver and silver-plating, some people are more detrmental than others, having a naturally acidic effect.
Whether this applies or not the advice is to remove fingerprints after each session or do so on a weekly basis. This need not be done with abrasive type cleaning cloths but with a handkerchief or gauze cloth, thus protecting the plating.
Take a few moments to also clean the surface of the keys themselves.
Also use the same cloth to clean the joints too, this will help prevent a build up of residue inside the sockets and on the tenons which could lead to the joints becoming too tight or worse still, attracting dust and grit.
The above list is by no means exhaustive, however it is reassuring to see that many of the major problems experienced by repairers can be totally avoided by following a few simple maintenance routines and by understanding and respecting the delicacy of the engineering involved.
A final thought on Maintenance and servicing
If every flute continued to play as it should, scales would be easier, notes would speak properly. Exam results would be higher.......
Courtesy of http://www.worldwind.co.uk/
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