Can you buy too advanced a flute for a young girl?

[cflutist]

The best thing to use on it is a microfiber cloth.

Should not use a cloth with polishing compound imbedded in it or silver polish itself as this can gum up the mechanism.

[fluteguy18]

If you're anxious to get it cleaned and in her hands quickly, a microfiber eyeglass cloth from your local general store (walmart for example) should be sufficient for now.

[TWerner]

I have those. I already used a soft lint free cloth with some distilled water and alcohol on a q-tip. It looks really nice. We'll get it checked out by a pro, but I can't spot anything wrong with it or many signs it was played. There are faint indentations in the pads from the metal rim of the holes, but that's about it. I'll go with the eyeglass cloths from now on.
Thanks
Todd

[pied_piper]

The seller didn't include the cleaning kit, so I'll order one on ebay or amazon unless there's some very loved seller on the board I should buy from.

Thanks,
Todd

The previous suggestions are fine for keeping the flute exterior clean, but she will also need a flute cleaning rod to dry the interior of the flute when she is finished playing. Avoid the metal cleaning rods because they can scratch the bore of the flute. I also suggest avoiding the fuzzy flute swabs (sometimes called pad savers) that look like a cat o nine tails because they tend to leave lint inside the flute and on the pads. Students tend to leave them inside the flute in the case and that's bad because it will keep moisture next to the pads. That's bad because the moisture causes the pads to deteriorate and the moisture tends to be hospitible to bacteria. What she needs is a plastic or wood cleaning rod. Those will not scratch then inside of the flute. Use a soft piece of cotton cloth or cheesecloth about the size of a handkerchief to cover the cleaning rod. Plastic or wood cleaning rods are often available at local music stores or can be ordered from almost any online music store. Some possiblilites are Flute World, JL Smith, Carolyn Nusbaum, or even Amazon.
See the first four rods on this page. Any of these are suitable.
http://www.fluteworld.com/index.php?act ... 4&ppk=cacs

After cleaning the moisture from the flute, don't keep the rod and damp cloth inside the flute case. Again, moisture is the enemy of flute pads. If the Pearl 505 came with the zip up carry bag, Keep the rod and cloth in there where it's away from the flute and pads. If it didn't come with one, something like this is suitable for a student flute case with a handle.
http://www.fluteworld.com/index.php?act ... 6&ppk=ccab

[jefkearns]

delete

[TWerner]

The reach doesn't seem to be a problem for her. Her friend who plays came over and found my daughter's flute much easier to play than her own. She is only a little bit bigger than my daughter, although she's much stronger being a swimmer.

I think I got very lucky with an honest ebay seller. $200 for a like new Pearl 505 is not bad. I did pay $4 for a plastic cleaning rod since I thought the seller had left it out, but it was actually in the outer case where Pied Piper said we should keep it.