hey
so, i'm a grade 12 student at my school.
i recently bought a a new used gemeinhardt V, and i ♥ it. it's so awesome.
recently being yesterday...
so, i want to sell my old flute.
it's a mirage. beginner. i bought it waaayyy back in grade 9.
the thing is, i haven't touched it since...june? i don't think i played it at all over the summer. or if i did, it was rarely.
and at the beginning of this year, my music teacher told me to use one of the open hole yamaha's that the school has, because i want to go to university for music, and he told me i should start using more advanced flutes.
so, like i said. haven't touched my mirage in a long time. i opened it on friday i think, to take a look for selling it. it had green stuff on it, and tarnished. and it stank. it was horrible.
so, i sat down with a pile of q-tips, a cloth and a jar of water and set to work.
i was very careful, damp cloth, damp q-tips. don't touch the pads. don't leave water everywhere.
but, it's still not nice and clean. i'd like to get all the brown/black stuff off (i'm assuming it's tarnish)
i know not to use silver polish; can't soak it.
i just need something easy that i can do at home. i don't want to put a couple hundred dollars into getting it cleaned, especially since it doesn't need new pads yet. the flute isn't worth paying a couple hundred to get the tarnish off. i'd be better off just keeping it.
so, can anyone help?
hm...i wanted to put some pictures of what it looks like, but i can't. if you would like some pictures so you could help me more, just reply with your e-mail and i'll e-mail them to you asap.
thankssss!!!!!

Don't bother.
It's too easy to break pins, ruin pads, get the flute out of adjustment, etc.
If you did want it cleaned up to sell, you would realistically have to send it in to the shop for a clean, oil, adjust service. Yes, these do cost generally somewhere in the $100 to $200 range, but they do keep a flute playable and repairable for a MUCH longer life in the long run. But that is more than the flute will likely sell for.

I'd guess that you would not get more than $50 for your old flute, and that would be if you were very lucky, and sold it to someone who didn't know better than to buy a name brand used flute that has already been reconditioned by a competent technician. And selling the flute to someone who doesn't know better is less than honest, in my opinion.

Keep the old stinker for marching band, if you do have to march. Or have it made into a lamp.

If you want to play flute at University, do NOT do what I did. I was first chair, and the band director did give me encouragement, but I never had any lessons. I had zero clue that my playing level was quite poor by high school standards- by graduation, I was really at the level of a very good middle school band, or an average 9th/10th grade level.

Go get some lessons. You will at the very least learn what you do need to practice, and what sorts of pieces are appropriate for auditions, and possibly what sort of university music program might suit your personality.

I'm not trying to be mean, I'm trying to point you in a direction that might get you somewhere. When I went to University (for a science, not a music degree) I auditioned for the concert band and was told that my audition pieces were inappropriate and that I was nowhere near the playing level to participate. I was NOT told that, gee, you need a lot more preparation for this group, and if you are serious, here are some teachers who might help you, and maybe we'll see you again next year.

Cleaning an assembled flute with water is a Grade A duff idea even if you've kept it off the pads - It is a 99% certainty that some has been drawn into the hinge tubes by capillary action & will start to rust the steels which will soon cause the keys to seize up.

NEVER put any liquid near the keywork on a flute. Use nothing more vicious than a silver polishing cloth.

Sorry to be so blunt but it might stop other people ruining their instruments.

i didn't use water -on- the keys.
i'm not that stupid.
i used water on the body of it. and like i said. the cloth was like...hardly wet. it was just enough to rub off any fingerprints.

i know what i need for university.
i'm starting flute lessons this week. but i've had a great music teacher/conductor. he knows what i want to do, and really helps me out. i'm in our concert band, marching band and i just recently auditioned for and got accepted to our region youth orchestra.

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also, it's not an old flute.
the thing is only like, 2 1/2 years old.
and i would never try to trick someone.
i'd sell it to someone in my school most likely.

No one here is trying to be mean. Everyone who has responded to your question is trying to be helpful.

Water on your flute is a bad idea. I am sure you were very careful.

It does cost a lot of money to have your flute cleaned, oiled and adjusted and is probably not worth the expense.

I suggest that you do some research about student model flutes before you jump all over Tibbiecow. She was not being mean. What she told you has come from her experience with flutes. We are not all young people here and some of us have lots of experience. I am still a newbie but I have been watching and reading this forum for about a year and a half. I have a lot of respect for some of the people who post here regularly.


You might be able to get all the way through college on a Gemeinhardt V flute depending on your major. I just doubt that a Gemeinhardt is going to be able to stand up to 5 to 8 hours of practice every day. I really hope that it does because you spent your hard earned money on it. Take care of it and spend the money to have a COA done on it to keep it in top shape.

You are going to have to stand up to a lot of hard criticism. I hope that you really don't think that those people are calling you stupid or that they think that you are stupid.

Your band director sounds like a nice person that want's to help you out. That's really great! I hope that he or she is giving you some good advice.

I wish you the best of luck and I hope that you are successful.

If you old flute is only 2 and half years old then how did it get green and gross? Did you not clean it? Just curious. I had an old Bundy flute back when I was young and first started off for about 10 years and this never happend to my flute. Just curious why and how this could have happened.

I don't think it is even worth trying to fix your old flute or even try to sell it. You may be able to get $10-$20 on ebay. Just not worth all the trouble to me.