Quantz swore by almond oil, and if Fritz's flute had suffered by it it would perhaps show in the historical record....
One problem is the speed of sound in nitrogen is not the same as in air. A way of coaxing the extra few cents out of a flat chanter would be to hook a nitrogen cylinder up to the bellows. Or helium if that isn't enough. John -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Francis Wood Sent: 14 January 2011 15:16 To: [email protected] Cc: Northumbrian Small Pipes Subject: [NSP] Re: [nsp] re-conditioning ... On 14 Jan 2011, at 11:31, Julia Say replied: >> ( a while ago i remember there was some discussion of oils. . .) > > And then another one, and then another one. Its one of the > recurrent topics. It's one of those things that has no definitive answer. Almost every option has a possible disadvantage as Dorothy Parker pointed out.: 'Résumé' Razors pain you; Rivers are damp; Acids stain you; And drugs cause cramp. Guns aren't lawful; Nooses give; Gas smells awful; You might as well live. I haven't found the beginning of this thread so I don't know what actual use is being proposed for the oil. Is it for use in the bore? There are historical sources mentioning the use of bore oil (almond, I think) but these are for flutes and recorders as I remember, where an oxidised coating (in a comparatively large bore) will cause virtually no problem and may actually be beneficial. The only historical treatise relevant to the present discussion is Hotteterre's Méthode pour la Musette containing comprehensive maintenance instructions for this smallpipe, all of which are directly applicable to NSPs. He makes no mention of oiling either bore or key-pads. I don't think this is likely to be an accidental omission from such comprehensive instructions. More likely perhaps, it was thought that the oils then available then were likely to bring more problems than benefit in a very narrow bore. I don't know whether anyone has tried playing in an oxygen-free environment. Nobody has yet commented on this. Francis To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
