How to Wash a Flute
Cleaning a flute is not a task that just about anyone can do. However, great care should be taken to avoid clogging the parts of the flute with dust or polish. There are many different types of cloths and polishes on the market, so be sure to select high quality brands so you don’t scratch your flute. If you get polish or debris in the wrong places, you’ll have to disassemble your flute. Washing a flute and cleaning a flute are the same thing.
Things You'll Need
- Soft cloth
- Polish
- Cotton swab or cotton pipe cleaner
- Denatured alcohol
- Toothpicks
Instructions
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Wipe down your flute with a cloth that is absorbent and won’t scratch the flute. A microfiber or cotton cleaning cloth works well. You can buy an appropriate cloth at any music store.
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Moisten a cotton swab or all-cotton pipe cleaner with denatured alcohol. Cleanse carefully around the tone holes and keys. For an open-hole flute, clean inside the open keycup holes. The embouchure riser should be cleaned as well.
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3
Clean any grime from inside the flute’s tone holes, crevices and rings using wooden toothpicks. The toothpicks can be square or round. Put denatured alcohol on facial tissue and cleanse the flute's connecting points. Also clean inside the footjoint, footjoint tenon, barrel, headjoint tenon and inside the barrel.
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Get rid of tarnish using a soft cloth permeated with polishing agents. Any major brand will do. Avoid red polishing cloths as they sometimes leave a residue. Store your rag in a wooden box or plastic bag to extend its life.
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Shine the headjoint with a high quality polish such as Hagerty or Brasso. Liquid polish can be used on the headjoint if you’re careful not to get it on other parts of the flute. Be sure to buff off the polish with a cotton cloth using circular motions.
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Tips & Warnings
If polish gets into the mechanisms, you’ll have to completely disassembled the flute and clean the oil.
