An inherent and annoying issue for Native American flutes is the “Wet out”, where the sound of the flute gets obstructed by moisture from your breath and eventually stops playing altogether, usually after 10-15 minutes. Luckily there are ways to deal with this.
What is wet out and what causes it?
Wet out on the native American flute is normal because of its double air chamber design. It is caused by buildup of moisture in the first air chamber and eventually underneath the "totem" of your flute, because of your breath condensating in the relatively colder flute.
After some time, the moisture will form little droplets of water that enter and obstruct the airflow underneath the block, and your flute will feel "choked" and lose its clarity. This problem will get worse until the flute eventually stops playing all together.
Wet out is mostly influenced by wood type and temperature:
– Wood types with open pores (Padauk, Walnut...) have longer playing time before wet out happens, while closed pore woods (Pine, Cherry...) have a more limited playing time.
How to deal with wet out
The first thing you can do when your flutes starts to wet out, is place your finger at the sound hole (carefully not to damage this fragile part), and blow your flute really really hard. In this way there will be no sound and the strong airflow will (temporarily) clear out the moisture below the totem.
But, since at this point the first air chamber is already saturated with moist, the wet out will return relatively quickly. Your next option is to unbind and remove your totem and gently wipe away the moisture from underneath the totem, and out of the small air track. This will give you more playing time.
However, at this point the only way to really make your flute play like new again is to set it aside and let it rest for a couple of hours. The flute will dry by itself (even without unbinding the totem). Please make sure not to dry your flute next to a stove, in the direct sun, or close any other heat source. This might dry out the flute completely and can cause damage to your instrument.
Wet out protection: forever flowing music
The most effective solution to your Native American Flute suffering from wet out, is by installing "Wet out protection". This is done by the precise placement of a microscopic absorbent material in the "track" of your flute, where the moisture causes trouble:
Flutes that have this wet-out protection can absorb the tiny droplets of water that otherwise will start to “choke” the sound of your flute. These flutes can therefore keep on playing almost without limits, without affecting the sound nor the looks of your flute, with the wet out protection hidden beneath the totem.
The Concert Flutes in my flute store all have Wet out protection built in as standard. Also my Elite flutes can be ordered with the wet out protection option for extra long playing times.