Also have a look at central heating/desert!

 

Care

The first usage of your traverso.

The first week do not play more than twice per day a quarter of an hour. Then per week, increase each playing period with five minutes. Six weeks suffice to play as one wishes.

 

Maintenance of the traverso.

Suppose for instance five hours or more playing is intended. Then it is a good idea to stop after two hours. Dry the flute and before starting again follow the oiling advice below.

I should make a remark that for me is not logical but it seems that sometimes there is a misunderstang. When talking about oiling it means oiling the inside. That needs to be oiled as discussed below. Whether you oil the outside for beauty purposes is fine but not necessary. There even is a danger if you do, the danger is oil gettin in the key slot. If that happens the key will stop functioning. It will get stuck. So if you oil the outside forget about the foot, it only gives problems.

The topic of oiling should be discussed before anything else. If oiling is done well the flute will stay as new. For my flutes I advise almond oil.
First of all one really only needs to oil the three top parts, the foot does not need to be oiled.
Suppose the flute was oiled before playing. After playing you dry the flute. However, unintentionally also most of the oil is wiped out.
You could have two glass jars or if you are traveling two plastic bags for the following. Use two sticks with cloth, one dry to be used after playing one oily moist to be used every time before playing. However, use only a just moist cloth. The cork should not be removed, it has no problem with oil. However, it does have a problem with the point of the oiling stick. So the oiling cloth should always be wrapped around the top of the oiling stick! "Over oiling" is possible, so moist is essential. Simply feel and look inside the flute parts.

The inside of the flute should always be just slightly oily to the touch of the finger!

Never leave the instrument assembled lying about after playing. Never leave the instrument in the sun or on the heating or at any other hot place. The instrument does not like pouring rain either.
In principle there are two types of oil that can be used for the traverso, almond oil or linseed oil. I advise almond oil as mentioned above. Linseed oil, if used at all should be used sparingly. If used too much it will form a crust. Excess should always be wiped out after a few hours. So it is a bit dangerous.
Oil creeps. Therefore there may be oil on the keypad eventhough you do not oil the foot. The least leakage of air will make for instance d1 useless. A sticky key is often repaired by simply putting a piece of normal paper under the key seat and pressing the key seat on it by putting the finger on top of it. Maybe it needs to be done a few times.
My flutes are impregnated with linseed oil before I deliver them. As mentioned I advise to use almond oil afterwards.

The thread on the tenons should be such that the fitting is snug. The slogan with respect to tenons is: NO WOBBLE NO FORCE. If there is wobble the tenon leaks air and the first thing that happens is the low d is no longer nice. But not only that, the whole playing no longer is as it should be. But if force is necessary the flute may crack or at least the wood under the thread deforms because it is pushed in. All original flutes have this. The wood regularly changes a bit and therefore it may regularly happen that thread has to be added or taken off. Especially if one plays longer this needs attention. But it may also simply be the moisture or temperature that makes thread changes necessary. If one wants to use a well playing traverso it is really important to pay attention to the thread on the tenon. Therefore a traverso player always has to be a thread juggler. For taking off the end of the thread can be found by scratching with the nail over the tenon. It is also good to use cork grease liberally to ensure a snug fit. I use cork grease of the brand La Tromba. I have tried all kinds of thread but I am afraid I am not very historical here. I think it best to use modern thin polyester thread because it does not absorb moisture. I have still rolls of silk in my workshop and found it nice to be able to say I use real silk but in practice I found the modern thin polyester much better. It has to be thin to be able to do a precise job.

It apears that it is not always clear why there would be a problem at all. So let me explain. It is wood! So if you play an hour the tenons swell, if you play two hours the tenons (and especially the top tenon) really swell. So possibly it becomes difficult to take apart. So thread should be taken off. FORCE is needed. However, if then you do not play a day the wood shrinks again and if you put the flute together there is WOBBLE in the tenon. That means leaking air and the flute does not really play any more. So add thread. NO WOBBLE NO FORCE. This is why.

The lower two tenons are conical, 1 degree. So they only do not wobble when inserted completely! If you think they should be without wobble while not completely inserted you are adding to much thread and have a good chance of cracking the outside tenon!!!

The temperature and relative moisture of the air when keeping the flute is important for keeping the flute safe from warping and cracking. This is not extremely sensitive in the sense that 58% relative moisture or 62% relative moisture wiill make the difference between staying sound and cracking or warping. However, the general issue is that very dry is very bad. Warp and crack danger. Very moist is not good because of mold and also warp. So safe values are 52% or around that and 20 C (68F) or around that. But if you are in the winter in a house with central heating the moisture easily is 25%. That is an attack on a boxwood flute and it will easily curve or go oval. A humidifier is of course a logical solution and anybody with a harpsichord has one of course. But there is a simple solution although not very elegant. You can have a large bowl of water, put the flute pieces verical next to the bowl of water and place a bucket over it. That will be fine and if you have an already non straight flute piece it may go straight again. If you are in a winter house with central heating it is absolutely essential to take care of this.

Never, never oil the pin or hinge of the key with any oil !!!! It will cause swelling of the wood of the key seat and the small leather block in the hinge in particular. This may cause the key to become dysfunctional.A seperate issue is cleaning the holes every now and then.

A seperate issue is cleaning the holes every now and then. If you are a professional, so playing very much once every three four months is not strange. However, for the normal amteur once a year should be enough. I do that with a womens eyelash brush (but a cotton swap is also usable) that I bend and dip in almond oil. Be really, really careful with the embouchure edge! Simply never push against it, it is so vulnarable.

The position of the cork is of crucial importance. In a separate cork page you will find some reasoning but the cork should be such that d2-d3 is an exact octave on my flutes.
Removing the cork should be done via the top of the head, not via the bottom.
When the cork has been removed it has to be repositioned rather accurately. A 1 mm. shift does make a notable difference both on tone quality and on tuning. The flutes are delivered with a cork gauge. However the line on that gauge has a certain width. It is therefore advisable to use the gauge as first guide to positioning the cork. Then the d2-d3 should be accurately brought in tune. Everything else should be optimal with this position for my flutes. Note that d1 on baroque flutes often has to be compensated up a bit such that d1-d2 is not a good guide.

I wrote a guide to replacing key leather. You can find it here.

 

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