How to Clean a Flute
Everything you need to know about cleaning a flute.
Tarnish control; links to flute cleaning videos; caring for a flute.
Questions:
Answer:
Dear Young Flutist,
If you want a flute that's VERY clean, you must take it to a flute repair person and they will properly clean it for you (remove all the moving parts, clean each part individually, take all tarnish off, and re-oil all the moving parts before reassembling). It is normal for a flute to be oiled once a year, so the cleaning can be done at this time. The cost of a C.O.A. (clean-oil-adjust) is about $60 to $100 a year. This is part of the normal cost of maintaining a working flute.
Ask your flute teacher who they recommend to do this work.
Cleaning the flute yourself is covered in the following information:
---------------------
Cleaning a flute:
You have several choices about levels of 'clean':
1. You can wipe the flute very gently with a micro-fibre polishing cloth. These are light blue and sold in most hardware stores and music shops. They're lint-free and wick up oil and fingerprints. This is a cosmetic cleaning only, just for keeping the fingerprints and caked-on grunge to a minimum.
Over zealous (too hard) cleaning can lead to problems.
Thin gold plating on a lip-plate can be wiped off over time, so be careful.
Most importantly: Please avoid letting the cloth swipe the underside of the keys accidentally; abraded or roughed-up pad surfaces turn into pad leaks (pads are covered with a thin membrane that is easy to accidentally abrade during finger print removal. Avoid this.)
2. Wipe the headjoint with isopropyl alcohol if you want to sterilize it. The alcohol is also called "rubbing alcohol" and is very cheap at the drugstore. A small bottle is handy to have for removing adhesive from fine surfaces (price tags, scotch tape etc.) It's use on a flute's lip plate is simply to kill germs if the flute is being played by several children, or unknown former flute-testers.
3. If the flute is used, old, has tarnish, and hasn't been for a "clean, oil and adjust" yet, take it to a reputable flute repair technician. Flutes that do not go in for repair once a year can slow down the young player's development, as flutes normally develop leaks in the pads through wear and tear and general use.
Flutes also have a complex set of mechanical adjustments to keep multiple keys closing together precisely.
Playing a flute that unbeknownst to the student, happens to have a pad leaking, forces the student to gradually press harder on one or more of the keys to make the notes sound well. This in turn slows down the student's progress, and can lead to eventual hand and arm strain.
Special lubricating oil in the moving parts (applied by a qualified technician) is required once a year to keep the flute in good mechanical shape. Lack of oil causes wear in the finely machined connections in the mechanic, and can eventually lead to slop or "play" in the mechanism.
Make sure the parents understand that annual maintenance visits are part of owning a flute.
A full flute care information webpage is here:
http://www.jennifercluff.com/care.htm
Caveats:
Avoid WASHING the flute. Running water over a headjoint can eventually shrink/saturate the cork (inside headjoint) and water is very bad for the pads.
Avoid using household silver polish; it removes too much silver plating, and gums up the moving parts, as well as creates sticky noises from off-gassing onto pad surfaces.
A chemically treated flute polishing cloth (made to remove tarnish) is to be used minimally; once a year at most.
A trained flute technician (flute repair-person) will fully clean and service a flute inexpensively and correct any mechanical adjustments. Ask your private flute teacher for recommendations for a reliable technician.
Best,
Jen
An additional question came in just now:
Answer: Here's the thing about tarnish; it's NORMAL to have a slight patina of brown/black or gold coloured tarnish on a flute.
There's no realistic way to stay 100% tarnish-free.
Those who try to keep their flutes looking like new usually hurt the flute's playability in one way or another (wreck the pads, polish off the plating, destroy the fine edge that you blow over by rubbing, break springs, bend rods, bend keys etc.)
Professional full time flutists usually have tarnish all over their flutes if you look closely.
I saw for myself how Jean Pierre Rampal (world-class flute player from 1950-1970s) had a flute that was almost completely pitch black, especially between the keys. Same with London Symphony Principal flutist Paul Edmund Davies; black flutes. Some people have too much acid in their skin and tarnish a flute within weeks just by touching it.
Others, like me, do not tarnish their flutes very quickly, but the flute tarnishes by itself just through oxidation and time.
Additionally: most of the darkest tarnish occurs where you cannot safely or easily reach it, between the keys.
There is no way for the flute player to clean between the keys and remove tarnish without taking it to a flute technician and have them remove all the moving parts and dip the body in silver cleaner.
And if you try to be all handy and take the keys and mechanism off yourself, you're in for a horrible surprise; you can't put it back together and have all the pads still meet all the tone holes to make it playable. This takes years of training.
If you try to use home-use silver cleaner yourself here are some of the typical results:
- the between-the-keys area will still be black because you can't reach them.
- if you try to reach the tarnished areas (with Q-tips, small brushes etc.) you will undoubtedly catch some of the needles and springs betwen the keys and possibly break or bend them (or leave fuzz and lint behind which is anathema to a cleanly working mechanic.)
- since the mechanism's enemy is fibres or fuzz, it's very bad to have any loose fibres or fuzz collecting near the mechanism (as left behind by lint cloths or Q-tips.) See videos below.
- the silver cleaning chemicals are slowly, invisibly able to eat through the flute's pad membranes, causing pad leaks which cost about $50+ per pad for replacement pads. Any chemical off-gassing onto the pad surfaces lead to necessary pad replacements, just from closing the lid on a flute that is offgassing silver polish.
- silver cleaning chemicals also can leave a sticky residue on pads, which leads to keys sticking down, and making noises as they open and close. This also leads to eventually having to replace all the pads to get rid of the "tick tack" noises.
- the silver cleaning chemicals can work their way into the inside of the moving parts and remove the metal from the inside of the tiny tubes and levers. Over time this can remove layers of metal, creating "play" in the mechanism as it wears from the inside out.
What you really want to do is protect the inside of the rods from being worn out.
So, leave it to the professionals who know what they're doing. Have the flute professionally cleaned by a reputable repair person (ask the flute teachers in town which shop is best) and then later put 3M anti-tarnish strips inside the case to absorb future sulfur gases, so that the flute does not tarnish as quickly NEXT time.
It will stay white-silver-coloured for about 3-10 months depending on how much sulfur you have in your environment.
To reduce tarnish, keep the flute in its case whenever it's not in use. But remember Tarnish is NORMAL, and professional flutists have tarnish all over their flutes until their once-per-year or twice-per-year cleaning.
Students are the only people who seem to want shiny white-silver flutes.
But to keep a flute in that condition you'd have to seal it away and never play it.
So, the student, once studying with a real flute teacher, soon gives up that notion, especially when they see what a professional flute looks like when it's played 3-8 hrs. a day, and tarnish cannot be controlled when that's going on.
Anti-tarnish 3M strips are about $6 for a ten year supply at Fluteworld.
What your grandaughter REALLY needs is a flute teacher to help her understand these things.
Find one with this help:
http://www.jennifercluff.com/finding.htm
One more pointer, if you'll allow it:
A used Artley flute, or any used older flute, MUST go to repair before the student starts to use it. This is KEY to the whole process. I'm not just trying to put money into the flute repair person's pocket.
Honestly. :>)
Here's why:
As a flute teacher, the saddest thing I see every September is a new student trying to play a flute that is malfunctioning, because no new flute player seems to know that the instrument needs to go to repair once a year at the minimum.
What happens then is we send it to repair (because it is unplayable in its current condition) and the flute student ends up not having it for 2-3 weeks, and falling behind at flute lessons and at school because the repair shops are all backed up in September, and they can't seem to find a replacement flute. What a frustrating way to start the first flute lesson: three missed lessons because flute is at the shop!
So I suggest that you jump the queue and take your student flute into the repair shop for a Clean/Oil/Adjust now (!), and don't wait until September. Especially if it's for a beginner who's never played before. They have to start on a working flute!
When the flute comes back from the repair shop it will look white, shiny, and like new for about $80 or so, which is a mandatory expense annually anyway.
You can't play on a flute that doesn't fully work properly; Despite what it looks like, it's all in how it WORKS.
Non-musicians usually go by looks (they see the silver like "jewelry" but remember a flute is created out of sound-creating silver, not a decorative silver to be looked at).
Real musicians actually judge by mechanical action and stability, not by looks.
Have a look at my flute teaching youtube videos for flute students:
How to care for your band-flute
How to assemble your flute to avoid repair problems in future.
How to clean your flute after practising and playing
How to align your headjoint to make the flute balance in your hands
You'll see in those videos what a professional flute actually looks like. (I have wooden extensions and other grips actually glued to my flute, so by comparison, your grandaughter may well think her flute looks even BETTER! :>)
Best,
Jen
Tarnish control; links to flute cleaning videos; caring for a flute.
Questions:
I want to know how to clean my flute. I know how to clean it , but I want that my flute to be very clean can you please to answer me.
Answer:
Dear Young Flutist,
If you want a flute that's VERY clean, you must take it to a flute repair person and they will properly clean it for you (remove all the moving parts, clean each part individually, take all tarnish off, and re-oil all the moving parts before reassembling). It is normal for a flute to be oiled once a year, so the cleaning can be done at this time. The cost of a C.O.A. (clean-oil-adjust) is about $60 to $100 a year. This is part of the normal cost of maintaining a working flute.
Ask your flute teacher who they recommend to do this work.
Cleaning the flute yourself is covered in the following information:
---------------------
Cleaning a flute:
You have several choices about levels of 'clean':
1. You can wipe the flute very gently with a micro-fibre polishing cloth. These are light blue and sold in most hardware stores and music shops. They're lint-free and wick up oil and fingerprints. This is a cosmetic cleaning only, just for keeping the fingerprints and caked-on grunge to a minimum.
Over zealous (too hard) cleaning can lead to problems.
Thin gold plating on a lip-plate can be wiped off over time, so be careful.
Most importantly: Please avoid letting the cloth swipe the underside of the keys accidentally; abraded or roughed-up pad surfaces turn into pad leaks (pads are covered with a thin membrane that is easy to accidentally abrade during finger print removal. Avoid this.)
2. Wipe the headjoint with isopropyl alcohol if you want to sterilize it. The alcohol is also called "rubbing alcohol" and is very cheap at the drugstore. A small bottle is handy to have for removing adhesive from fine surfaces (price tags, scotch tape etc.) It's use on a flute's lip plate is simply to kill germs if the flute is being played by several children, or unknown former flute-testers.
3. If the flute is used, old, has tarnish, and hasn't been for a "clean, oil and adjust" yet, take it to a reputable flute repair technician. Flutes that do not go in for repair once a year can slow down the young player's development, as flutes normally develop leaks in the pads through wear and tear and general use.
Flutes also have a complex set of mechanical adjustments to keep multiple keys closing together precisely.
Playing a flute that unbeknownst to the student, happens to have a pad leaking, forces the student to gradually press harder on one or more of the keys to make the notes sound well. This in turn slows down the student's progress, and can lead to eventual hand and arm strain.
Special lubricating oil in the moving parts (applied by a qualified technician) is required once a year to keep the flute in good mechanical shape. Lack of oil causes wear in the finely machined connections in the mechanic, and can eventually lead to slop or "play" in the mechanism.
Make sure the parents understand that annual maintenance visits are part of owning a flute.
A full flute care information webpage is here:
http://www.jennifercluff.com/care.htm
Caveats:
Avoid WASHING the flute. Running water over a headjoint can eventually shrink/saturate the cork (inside headjoint) and water is very bad for the pads.
Avoid using household silver polish; it removes too much silver plating, and gums up the moving parts, as well as creates sticky noises from off-gassing onto pad surfaces.
A chemically treated flute polishing cloth (made to remove tarnish) is to be used minimally; once a year at most.
A trained flute technician (flute repair-person) will fully clean and service a flute inexpensively and correct any mechanical adjustments. Ask your private flute teacher for recommendations for a reliable technician.
Best,
Jen
An additional question came in just now:
Dear Jen, we bought an Artley flute for our grandaughter, and I have been reading over what you say about how to clean it up for her, but my question is: Are we to understand that once a flute is tarnished you're not supposed to use silver polish or TarnX, etc. to bring back a shine?
Answer: Here's the thing about tarnish; it's NORMAL to have a slight patina of brown/black or gold coloured tarnish on a flute.
There's no realistic way to stay 100% tarnish-free.
Those who try to keep their flutes looking like new usually hurt the flute's playability in one way or another (wreck the pads, polish off the plating, destroy the fine edge that you blow over by rubbing, break springs, bend rods, bend keys etc.)
Professional full time flutists usually have tarnish all over their flutes if you look closely.
I saw for myself how Jean Pierre Rampal (world-class flute player from 1950-1970s) had a flute that was almost completely pitch black, especially between the keys. Same with London Symphony Principal flutist Paul Edmund Davies; black flutes. Some people have too much acid in their skin and tarnish a flute within weeks just by touching it.
Others, like me, do not tarnish their flutes very quickly, but the flute tarnishes by itself just through oxidation and time.
Additionally: most of the darkest tarnish occurs where you cannot safely or easily reach it, between the keys.
There is no way for the flute player to clean between the keys and remove tarnish without taking it to a flute technician and have them remove all the moving parts and dip the body in silver cleaner.
And if you try to be all handy and take the keys and mechanism off yourself, you're in for a horrible surprise; you can't put it back together and have all the pads still meet all the tone holes to make it playable. This takes years of training.
If you try to use home-use silver cleaner yourself here are some of the typical results:
- the between-the-keys area will still be black because you can't reach them.
- if you try to reach the tarnished areas (with Q-tips, small brushes etc.) you will undoubtedly catch some of the needles and springs betwen the keys and possibly break or bend them (or leave fuzz and lint behind which is anathema to a cleanly working mechanic.)
- since the mechanism's enemy is fibres or fuzz, it's very bad to have any loose fibres or fuzz collecting near the mechanism (as left behind by lint cloths or Q-tips.) See videos below.
- the silver cleaning chemicals are slowly, invisibly able to eat through the flute's pad membranes, causing pad leaks which cost about $50+ per pad for replacement pads. Any chemical off-gassing onto the pad surfaces lead to necessary pad replacements, just from closing the lid on a flute that is offgassing silver polish.
- silver cleaning chemicals also can leave a sticky residue on pads, which leads to keys sticking down, and making noises as they open and close. This also leads to eventually having to replace all the pads to get rid of the "tick tack" noises.
- the silver cleaning chemicals can work their way into the inside of the moving parts and remove the metal from the inside of the tiny tubes and levers. Over time this can remove layers of metal, creating "play" in the mechanism as it wears from the inside out.
What you really want to do is protect the inside of the rods from being worn out.
So, leave it to the professionals who know what they're doing. Have the flute professionally cleaned by a reputable repair person (ask the flute teachers in town which shop is best) and then later put 3M anti-tarnish strips inside the case to absorb future sulfur gases, so that the flute does not tarnish as quickly NEXT time.
It will stay white-silver-coloured for about 3-10 months depending on how much sulfur you have in your environment.
To reduce tarnish, keep the flute in its case whenever it's not in use. But remember Tarnish is NORMAL, and professional flutists have tarnish all over their flutes until their once-per-year or twice-per-year cleaning.
Students are the only people who seem to want shiny white-silver flutes.
But to keep a flute in that condition you'd have to seal it away and never play it.
So, the student, once studying with a real flute teacher, soon gives up that notion, especially when they see what a professional flute looks like when it's played 3-8 hrs. a day, and tarnish cannot be controlled when that's going on.
Anti-tarnish 3M strips are about $6 for a ten year supply at Fluteworld.
What your grandaughter REALLY needs is a flute teacher to help her understand these things.
Find one with this help:
http://www.jennifercluff.com/finding.htm
One more pointer, if you'll allow it:
A used Artley flute, or any used older flute, MUST go to repair before the student starts to use it. This is KEY to the whole process. I'm not just trying to put money into the flute repair person's pocket.
Honestly. :>)
Here's why:
As a flute teacher, the saddest thing I see every September is a new student trying to play a flute that is malfunctioning, because no new flute player seems to know that the instrument needs to go to repair once a year at the minimum.
What happens then is we send it to repair (because it is unplayable in its current condition) and the flute student ends up not having it for 2-3 weeks, and falling behind at flute lessons and at school because the repair shops are all backed up in September, and they can't seem to find a replacement flute. What a frustrating way to start the first flute lesson: three missed lessons because flute is at the shop!
So I suggest that you jump the queue and take your student flute into the repair shop for a Clean/Oil/Adjust now (!), and don't wait until September. Especially if it's for a beginner who's never played before. They have to start on a working flute!
When the flute comes back from the repair shop it will look white, shiny, and like new for about $80 or so, which is a mandatory expense annually anyway.
You can't play on a flute that doesn't fully work properly; Despite what it looks like, it's all in how it WORKS.
Non-musicians usually go by looks (they see the silver like "jewelry" but remember a flute is created out of sound-creating silver, not a decorative silver to be looked at).
Real musicians actually judge by mechanical action and stability, not by looks.
Have a look at my flute teaching youtube videos for flute students:
How to care for your band-flute
How to assemble your flute to avoid repair problems in future.
How to clean your flute after practising and playing
How to align your headjoint to make the flute balance in your hands
You'll see in those videos what a professional flute actually looks like. (I have wooden extensions and other grips actually glued to my flute, so by comparison, your grandaughter may well think her flute looks even BETTER! :>)
Best,
Jen
posted by jen at 9:59 AM
permalink
Comments (12)
Um, i have a question. I got a geminhardt flute this summer, to start band. My flute gets quite fingerprtint-y, and grime-y. I clean the outside of it after i play, but it only stays grime free for 2 days? is there nany way to clean it by myself, at home?
Dear Maia,
Scroll up and read no. 1 above. Micro-fibre (light blue) cleaning cloth takes off fingerprints. Cost is about $5 in a music store.
J.
I haven't played my flute for over two years and it is getting rusty. I didn't know the right way to clean it so I just wiped it with a t-shirt. Now I know it is wrong. My question is how much will it cost to have it all cleaned again?
How much does it cost?
Between $40 and $120 depending on:
a) which repair shop you take it to
b) whether it just needs to be cleaned and oiled, or whether the pads need replacing, and other mechanical adjustments made
c)whether you just want it cleaned or you want it in tip-top working order.
Why not just call up the local flute teacher (the best one) and ask for the name and number of the most reputable repair person, and then call them for an estimate visit.
Who knows, you could be looking at only $40.
Best,
Jen
Question. I just got my geminhardt flute off Craigslist for $80, and it has ALOT of tarnish ider or in-between the keys. Im not sure how to clean it, and we can't afford for the professional's to do it. Help?
Dear Alina,
A professional "clean, oil and adjust" is absolutely manditory because of the "oil and adjust" part.
You can't play a flute easily unless all the adjustments have been made by a trained flute repair person.
So you'll have to raise about $50 to $80 (or more if pads need to be replaced) by some of the typical "poor flute student" methods like babysitting, car-washing, dog-walking, garage cleaning" method.
Why? Because you can't clean tarnish using household silver cleaners and you can't clean under the keywork without removing the keys, which protects the moving parts from being dipped in acid-baths that the repair people use to clean the tube.
So, it's up to you. You can play a flute that's tarnished and has no oil, and possibly is very hard to play, or you can raise the funds to have it properly serviced.
If you try to clean it yourself:
a) you'll still have tarnish under the keys and rods
b) you'll end up with sticky pads
c) you'll never know if there are mechanical problems that make the keys and pads hard to play
d) if left with no oil in the moving parts (which is far more important than removing tarnish) the flute will wear out the tight fit of its mechanical parts, and will start to break down from lack of lubrication.
We all try and save money when we're on tight budgets, but this is not an option when it comes to making a used ebay flute playable.
Good luck and please don't damage the flute by trying to clean under the mechanism; it's simply not possible to do.
Jen
I haven't played my flute in 4-5 years. I hardly ever played it in band class and only bought it because I needed to play an instrument as required study. I'm looking into selling my flute, but it has some brown spots on it and I can't advertise it as 'excellent condition' if it has spots on it. It's a cheap flute, the local $120 brand. I don't want to spend $100 on a cleaning at the music store, when I only plan to sell it for $100. I don't want it re-oiled and crap because there is no rust under the pads, I've rarely touched it, and only played it less than 20 times. I just need the stains gone so I can sell it. (If whoever owns it next wants to have it oiled and all that, I'll let them worry about that expense)
The pads are just fine, I had it taken to a music dealer and appraised, he said the pads were in perfect working order and looked brand new, and there is no damage to the flute.
The spots look like a light scorch mark would look like, faint and light brown, all over the flute. (I havn't touched it in 4 years, or taken it out of it's case).
What brand of polish can I buy to remove these stains? I think the flute is made of regular metal, or has more metal than silver.
Like I said, I'm not looking to have it repaired or oiled, just looking good enough to sell.
Dear Anon,
The "brown spots" you mention are from normal household air seeping into the flute case, during its four years of storage, and creating tarnish.
Silver tarnish starts as copper coloured, and then progresses through brown to black.
There is no possible way to remove this tarnish and NOT get silver polish on the flute's pads.
If you do use silver polish, and it gradually travels to the flute's pads they will make sticky noises (click, click, click) for the next person who plays this flute.
However since it is only $120 flute, that will be the least of its problems.
So its up to you what you do about it.
I merely want to advise people who really care about their flutes ability to play mechanically well over time not to ever use silver polish.
Ask any flute repair person; flute owners cannot use silver polish and NOT wreck the flute's pads.
A flute is cleaned by a repair person who removes the mechanical moving parts to clean the tube.
Any other method simply isn't worth it.
J.
I just got a new solid silver flute a week ago. I wipe of the fingerprints with the 'blue cloth' but i forgot to do so yesterday. NOw i cant rub them off! its like they are engraved into the headjoint. Any ideas?
Dear 'engraved fingerprints':
I have never heard of this before.
Have you tried dampening the cloth?
Have you tried isopropyl alcohol?
Perhaps you could consult an expert in flute repair; have them look at the flute with the un-removeable fingerprints, to see whether:
a) you have acid skin chemistry
or
b) the flute has a kind of unusual finish on it that doesn't resist corrosion.
J.
hey its me again, the people in the store had no idea why it happened and gave me a new one and a free shoulder case it. :D
They said they have never seen it on a 3 grand flute before
Dear Ruth,
If it's a good quality flute, the spots are tarnish, and they are reminding you to go for your yearly "Clean, Oil and Adjust".
During the annual maintenance visit the skilled flute technician removes tarnish, checks the pads for wear, tweaks the mechanism back into balance, and most importantly OILS the moving parts. Without this oil the flute will become too dry and will score the interior metal of the moving parts.
So let the tarnish be your reminder to get this all important oil.
Keeping the flute in its case, with anti-tarnish strips, will slow tarnish buildup. Leaving the flute out will hasten tarnish buildup.
If the flute is really cheap, the cleaning might not help. Some under $150 cheapo flutes have such thin silver plating that it completely wears off where your hands touch it, showing the cheaper metals underneathe.
What brand of flute is it?
Has it had its annual cleaning?
Your technician will tell you what's going on with it.
Hope this helps.
Best, J.