Dize treatment

[Pekkos]

Hello, I havn't introduced me here, my name is Anders, living in Sweden, playing Swedish bagpipe and the fiddle, and working as a PhD student in acoustics.

Yesterday I got a gift from a friend who have been travelling in China, a very nicly made Chinese bamboo flute, a "Dize" a 6-hole flute with a membrane that gives a buzzing sound. It is not the cheapest one, it has tuning slide and some kind of horn moutnts, tuned in D says the label, but that is the 3-finger note, so it is what is called A (even if swedish bagpipes is nemed in the same way ).

Now for the question; how should i treat the bamboo, it doesn't look like it has any treatment in the bore, but the outside is varnished. Should I oil the bore, or just leave it as it is? Even if it only costed $20 it would be a pity to ruin it.

best wishes, Anders

[Azathoth]

Hi Pekkos,

I have a bamboo Dizi too. The only care recommendation I have is to avoid extremes of heat and cold, and always to replace it in a plastic bag after use (mine came with a long thin plastic bag which is ideal for this).

It was not suggested that one should oil it or otherwise treat it. Even cleaning the bore after playing, to remove moisture was not recommended.

Your Dizi may however require something mine doesn't, I'm not by any means an expert, only just started out learning the thing. Mine is a G/C Dizi (anbd yes, they are usually named after the note which sounds with the top three fingers down).

[Pekkos]

Hmm, then I've only made two mistakes so far, I cleaned the bore and didn't put in the plastic bag after playing , well, now i know better, thank you!

/Anders