How to Clean a Flute

Flute is a very popular musical instrument, which when played in the right way, can produce the most soulful music. It is a reed-less wind instrument that makes use of the flow of air against an edge, for the purpose of producing sound. The person who plays a flute also needs to take good care of the instrument. This is because it is prone to moisture retention and if not cleaned at regular intervals, can distort the sound produced. For all those who are looking for some tips for cleaning flutes, this article is just perfect. Browse through it further and know how to clean a flute.

Easy Way To Clean A Flute

Items Needed

Flute-cleaning Rod
Lubricants
Cotton Sheets
Scissors
Small Chamois Cloth
Silver Polishing Cloth

Instructions

First of all, purchase a flute-cleaning rod from your local music store. Although any cleaning rods will do, the best choices would be of plastic or wooden as using these types of cleaning rods minimizes the chance of scratching.
Take a cotton sheet and with the help of scissors, cut a strip of cloth that is 2 inches wide and around 15 to 30 inches long.
Thread this cloth through the needle-like slot, which is at the end of the cleaning rod. The cloth needs to be wrapped very nicely to help you clean the flute properly.
Take the rod and push it inside the rod all the way. Twist the rod and move it in and out. However, you need to be very careful and gentle in order not to break it.
Keep the rod in and wipe the inside properly especially the head joint part as it is the part, which gets the most moisture.
Disengage the flute at the joints in such a way that the mouthpiece pipe, main body and foot joints get separated.
In order to remove the moisture from the flute, draw the cloth on the cleaning rod through each of the sections
Dab the lubricant on the chamois cloth and lubricate various parts of the flute.
You can silver polishing cloth for polishing the flute from the outside. You can also use microfiber for cleaning the flute from outside. You could use little damp microfiber to wipe the outside of the flute.
You also need to clean the head joint of the flute to sterilize it. It is always better to sterilize it after every use otherwise it may give infection. You can use isopropyl alcohol, which in simple terms is called as rubbing alcohol. Pour a little rubbing alcohol on the paper towel and wipe the head joint with it.
One more product, which you can use for cleaning the flute, is flute flag. You could buy it online and also from the music stores.
Your flute is ready to use. Remember to clean it every time after you play and once in a year you can take your flute to a flute repair technician. As a dirty flute can, not only give you infection but also can slow down your performance.

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