Flute Maintenance 101
I often get the question from new players (and seasoned players) about flute maintenance. After all, it’s quite a large investment that you’re taking care of, and you want to make it last, right? So, how often should you be cleaning your flute? What’s the best way to clean it? How often should you have maintenance done to your flute? All will be answered below.
Regular Flute Cleaning
In a perfect world, you’re playing your flute daily between practice, lessons, and ensembles. So, in that world, it’s important that you’re wiping out excess water after each session with a swap like the Valentino Flute Wand or the regular cleaning rod that came with your flute, paired with a silk cleaning swab, and wiping it down with a clean microfiber cloth such as the Beaumont Cleaning Cloth. Doing so after every practice session will cut down on maintenance costs, increase the longevity of your pads, and overall just keep your flute looking nice. I also highly recommend using a Pad Saver for your flute while it’s in the case.
Deeper Cleaning
You can do small amounts of deeper cleaning on your flute, but I would caution you. Never, ever submerge your flute body or head joint into water or cleaner. If you want to get a little bit deeper clean on your head joint, you can purchase some mild silver polish (I like Music Nomad) and a separate microfiber cloth. Before you get going with the silver polish, you can take ammonia-free glass cleaner, spray it lightly on a paper towel, and wipe down your flute. Be very careful not to get your pads wet, as cleaners are abrasive to the pad material. Next, you can take a dab of silver polish and clean JUST the head joint with it. Rub the silver polish all over the head joint in a thin later, and then take a clean side of the cloth and rub it until all of the polish comes off. You’ll see an immediate difference. Please note: DO NOT do this to the body of your flute. You run the risk of getting cleaner on your pads and requiring pad replacement later.
Another spot that you can and should periodically clean would be your riser. If you’re unaware of what the riser on your flute is, it’s the metal tube that connects your lip plate down into the body of the head joint. In order to clean this, you’ll need a couple of q-tips and that same silver polish that you used to clean the rest of the head joint. Put a tiny dab of silver polish on the q-tip and rub it around the edge of the inside of the riser. Then, turn the q-tip to the clean and and wipe it all out. This should be done periodically in order to maintain your flute properly.
What NOT to do
Don’t use a silver polishing cloth - they’re simply too abrasive for your flute, especially if you have a nickel plated or silver plated flute.
Don’t use silver polish on the body of your flute or around the key mechanism.
Don’t submerge your flute in any liquids.
Don’t get any cleaner or polish on the keys and pads.
Maintenance
Yes, you should be having your flute periodically maintained. Regular maintenance should be done about every year and it’s called a COA, or Clean-Oil-Adjust. What a tech typically does during this process is take your flute apart, clean it in a sonic bath, polish the keys, replace any pads that need replacing, adjust any keys that have leaks, and oil the mechanism. This is a process for a skilled tech to complete, so be sure you do your research before taking it somewhere to have this process done. Your band director or teacher may know how to do minor repairs, but often don’t have all of the equipment necessary to complete a full COA. This is best left to a seasoned tech.
Professional flutes also often have specialty pads that require someone certified to work on them. For instance, Straubinger Pads (a staple in the pro flute world) require a special certification in order to change or work on them, so techs can’t even purchase them without the certification. Be sure if you own a professional flute to check and see what types of certifications are required for a tech to work on your flute. Straubinger Flutes is located in Indiana and they’re happy to do work and/or recommend someone to do the work if you give them a call.
Keep in mind that we flute players are amazing at making adjustments with our bodies to compensate for a malfunctioning instrument. You may not even know you have a leaky pad before you take it in for its annual service. You’ll be glad you did.
Key Takeaways
Clean your flute by wiping it out and down after ever practice session.
Periodically deeper clean your flute including your riser.
Don’t use a silver polishing cloth.
Don’t use silver polish on your flute body.
Leave repairs to the professionals.
Get routine maintenance done to your flute roughly once per year by a professional.
