Ok..... when ever i see fingerprints on my flute i freak out and i grab my cealning cloth and polish my flute... i cant get though a day without useing it like a millon times.... how can i get over that????

Sit on your hands. Just wondering..are you using a treated or untreated cloth everytime you are doing this? A treated cloth can do quite a bit of damage on your flute.

Just think about this, if you take the time to practice instead of shining it you will get that much better.

OMG!!!I do that a lot in class when our section isnt playing or when I just get it out.
people just see me sitting there,furiously cleaning my flute,wondering whats wrong with me.....
I think it actually annoys people...
But It annoys me that there are so many fongerprints on it!!!!*angry face*

thats kinda like me.... my friend looks at me then shacks his head..... but i think im useing an untreated the treated ones im allergic to

One gal in our community band sits and plays with her open flute case on her lap, so she can use pad paper to get all the moisture off the pad anytime it might possibly stick. I can't help but think that this zealous use of pad paper ALL THE TIME ( well, at least every 15 minutes) might wear out her pads about 6 years too early.

I must confess that I never clean the outside of my Yamaha. With the exception of the lip plate and the tenons.

I have noticed that nevertheless, it remains clean and relatively shiny. I suppose it has some surface treatment to stay so. Of course I play with clean hands (and clean mouth) and I am lucky not to suffer from unusual hand perspiration.

The reason for this decision is not laziness, buy my concern that if I clean the surface too often, it might lose this treatment and at long term the results could be worst than if I kept it permanently "sterilized"...

Your opinions are welcome...

<Added>

I worded it wrongly. Sorry.
I meant, my concern is that if I clean it too often, at long term the result could be worst than not cleaning it.

yeah..... but i will sit there and clean my flute even if i see even one.... i freak out and all my friends laugh at.......

I always wipe down my flute with a soft cotton lint free cloth before putting it away. I only polish it with a treated cloth when it is disassembled for its annual COA. Excessive wiping and shining of the keys can be hard on the mechanism after a while and therefor I would not recommend. Hope my opinion is valid.

Play more.. polish less!

Or maybe to satisfy the obsessive/compulsive part you could get one of those pink or green eBay flutes and just keep polishing until all the color plating is gone!

If you want to break the habit, why not put your cloth in its case, and put it somewhere other than your lap/under your chair so that it is not immediately available for you to polish with all the time?

I wear surgical gloves when I play...

I wear surgical gloves when I play...

XD that would be kind of awkward with an open holed flute..dontcha think?
I can only imagine that right now...geebus XD

also forgot to mention that I wear wax lips as well...

also forgot to mention that I wear wax lips as well...

NNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Patrick is turning inot a robot!!!!!!!!!!!NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!
YAY!!!A robot!!!w00t!!!LoL

that sounds like what one of my friends would say

ROFL....But I seriously do think he is a robot....