Maintenance Issues
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Maintenance Issues
Hi everyone, this is my first time on the forums, I've been self-teaching myself flute for 8 months and now I have a question. What is the cause of sticky pads, because honestly I clean out my flute after every practice session, inside and out. Also, does this just go away? It's such an annoying problem. Just in case this matters my flute is an Emerson EF1 model and it has been about a month since I've had it.
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Re: Maintenance Issues
Most of the time it is moisture on the key pads. This is a problem that is worse on new pads than older pads -at least for me. When my flute was new I frequently had this problem. After a number of months the problem seemed to go away. It is of course important that you clean your flute after every use, swabbing out the tube and headjoint with a cotton cloth. I also try to leave my case lid open for 30 min or more after I clean my flute to dry out any missed moisture. This seems to be a pretty common problem as there are a number of posts on different flute boards regarding this problem. Good luckJoaquin wrote:Hi everyone, this is my first time on the forums, I've been self-teaching myself flute for 8 months and now I have a question. What is the cause of sticky pads, because honestly I clean out my flute after every practice session, inside and out. Also, does this just go away? It's such an annoying problem. Just in case this matters my flute is an Emerson EF1 model and it has been about a month since I've had it.
Joaquin,
To help alleviate this problem, get some cigarette papers (can be bought anywhere you buy cigarettes). They are very cheap. The papers are very thin and excellent to help with the sticky pads. All you do is take one paper, place it under the key, depress the key once or twice, and take the paper out (do not pull the paper out while the key is down--this is bad for the pads). Also make sure you don't use the sticky part of the paper. Since the paper is so thin it forms to the shape of the pad and absorbs the moisture. This is also very useful for when you play for an extended period of time and little "spit bubbles" get trapped under the keys and make your notes sound weird.
Eventually, after many years, you may need to have the pads replaced as they wear out. It's good to have your flute checked every year or two by a reputable flute repair person (or the company you bought the flute from) to keep up on maintenance and catch any problems before they get out of hand.
Hope that helps! Good luck with everything.
To help alleviate this problem, get some cigarette papers (can be bought anywhere you buy cigarettes). They are very cheap. The papers are very thin and excellent to help with the sticky pads. All you do is take one paper, place it under the key, depress the key once or twice, and take the paper out (do not pull the paper out while the key is down--this is bad for the pads). Also make sure you don't use the sticky part of the paper. Since the paper is so thin it forms to the shape of the pad and absorbs the moisture. This is also very useful for when you play for an extended period of time and little "spit bubbles" get trapped under the keys and make your notes sound weird.
Eventually, after many years, you may need to have the pads replaced as they wear out. It's good to have your flute checked every year or two by a reputable flute repair person (or the company you bought the flute from) to keep up on maintenance and catch any problems before they get out of hand.
Hope that helps! Good luck with everything.
Cheers,
Emily
Emily
Hello, I'm Collin, and I have been self teaching myself on the flute, too! I often run into the same problem. 
For temprary relief of this problem, I use regular computer paper to dab the keys with, but I have also heard that the cigarette papers work much better, like Embum79 said. Hope it helps! Bye 
For temprary relief of this problem, I use regular computer paper to dab the keys with, but I have also heard that the cigarette papers work much better, like Embum79 said. Hope it helps! Bye