Correctly Swabbing a Flute

[maddietortellini]

So, after playing, I always swab out my flute, like a good little girl. I usually use my BG brand body cloth, which you slide over the cleaning rod. I have always been taught to simply pull the cloth/rod combo through each part (foot joint, body and a separate cloth for the head joint), but a friend recently warned me against that. She claimed that you should always depress the keys which remain closed without activation (for example, the D# tone hole on the foot joint) to raise the pad away from the cleaning cloth in order to avoid abrasion of the pads. Is this a necessary precaution? Never really thought about it before!

[fluteguy18]

It wouldn't hurt to do that because it technically COULD happen, but honestly... I've swabbed my flute out thousands of times and haven't ever had that problem. BG cloths are extremely soft, so I wouldn't worry about it. You'd practically have to be using sandpaper and jamming it inside the toneholes for there to be pad skin damage from swabbing. IMO, this idea is much more myth than fact.

Swab away dearie! Though, I do recommend that you gently drop the swab rod through the body/foot and pull the cloth through that way. It will guarantee that you get all of the moisture in the first go around. Just be gentle so you don't dent anything.