How long does it take you before your flute gets so wet it doesn't play. Am I particularly spit bound or does this happen easily with everyone?

Well, it typically depends on what kind of wood your flute and its bird/block are made of, and how you're playing it (lots of tonguing faster notes vs. smoother, "airier" playing). Denser woods, like ebony, tend to promote condensation moreso than softer woods, like cedar, for example. The climate can have an effect on wetting out, too. As for me, I have some flutes that wet out relatively quickly, while some of my flutes seem to never wet out no matter how much I play them.

It all depends upon your own level of saliva, how long and/or how hard you play, humidity, and the flute itself. With some flutes and a given level of playing, they can water out in a half an hour. With other flutes, much longer. And I have some flutes that I've never gotten to water out. These are flutes made by Ed Kort and they have their flue lined with some special material that absorbs moisture. Very nice.

Karnalis, I've seen you play and your flutes don't wet out because of the heat your fingers generate from moving so fast

Kally,

My favorite flute to play wets out in less than 10 minutes. I can take the bird off, wipe everything down and play a little longer until there is just too much moisture in the wood. Then, I pick up my plastic PF flute from Ken Light and keep on playin'.
dd

Hi Kally,

Mike Oitzman has written an excellent article, along with some comments by Scott August, on preventing watering out of the flute. You can read it about it here:

Watering Out[/post"]

Dave

I see that one of Mike's tips is to wax the flue under the bird, but only with a wax designed for woodwind instruments. Does anyone recommend a brand or source, or is Clapham's beeswax polish okay?

Kally,
I've found that the longer I've been playing (in terms of months/years not minutes on a flute) the less moisture I generate, even though I'm not consciencely trying. Flutes that wet out in 10 minutes when I'd only been playing a few months, now can go 30 minutes or so. According to Odell Borg's beginer CD its a matter of conditioning the mouth muscles. I don't know if that's true but it seems after playing a year or so, the wet out time for all my flutes increased a lot.

So take heart, for me at least, it got better.

The answer to all wet out problems, is changing flutes when you change songs. Never have wet out problems that way.

It happens to me alot. I believe its mostly condensation. Depending on the weather, I have had flutes wet out in a few minutes. I just go to another flute. I have a flute that plays well it seems even when wet. Its difficult in the winter here in the Midwest. If I was a serious NAF recording artist, I would move to a warm dry climate to reduce wet out problems.

There are a few makers using ceramic parts for the same reason. I got a sample of the stuff from Bob G. I made my first flute (just today...) containing a ceramic section that makes up the flue floor and ramp into the SAC, and I haven't had any problems yet. The first maker I ever heard of using ceramic to control wetting out was Werner John about 10 years ago or so. The stuff I used was sort of like a fine grade terra cotta. It shapes fairly well with sandpaper and diamond tools, but the corners tend to crumble if you're not careful. Maybe that's where the polymer material starts to look promisng...

Mike

A very cold dry climate like ours (Lapland) works also well as long as you don't play outdoors
But seriously, Rick has the solution: change flutes. Thats the advantage of having more flutes. I also feel wet out time dends on both weather conditions and in fact, experience as someone here noted. I had a small problem the other day when performing a song in a church the other week... I had been practising too much just before. At least it gave everyone a laugh and went well after forcing out the water. But in other circumstances I would just wait.
Gerard

Here's a tip for drying a wet-out flue between songs, or even, if you do it discreetly, during a pause in a song. Cut a few narrow strips of card stock paper and keep them handy. To quickly dry out the flue simply insert the paper wick into the flue from the sound hole end and remove. Voila! Dry flue!

Jon