Just got my very first alto for €20 (after selling my German-fingering plastic Yamaha)! It's a vintage one from the Netherlands. It has the bear and star engraved logo on the back in its original old Bärenreiter paper box. It looks like it's a wooden(?) version of the alto from this post by /BeardedLady81 https://www.reddit.com/r/Recorder/comments/1lilzns/a_tale_of_two_recorders/

When doing a bit of research about Bärenreiter, I found this from its Wiki page:

Between 1929 and 1950, the publisher also commissioned the production of a unique series of recorders ranging from sopranino to large bass, as well as solo flutes in alto and soprano sizes, and even school flutes. The first models were built by Max Hüller. New models that followed from the year of 1936 were designed by Manfred Ruetz, built in cooperation with Max Hüller and Rudolf Otto. By 1945 the Hüller and Otto partnership dissolved and from 1950 Conrad Mollenhauer company, based in Fulda, had taken over instrument production.

Can anyone identify what kind of wood is it - if it's wood at all? It seems like pear wood to me but since it's my first wooden recorder and I just about to start my recorder journey, so I don't know much about them yet besides reading from the internet and some basic playing on plastic soprano when I was a kid (classic).

Here's some photos before cleaning.

I'm waiting to receive the Mollenhauer oil and going to give this alto a proper cleaning and oiling. The seller said it needs to be re-oiled. The inside/bore is quite dry and doesn't seem to be the paraffin/wax impregnated type(?).

The wind way is not arched, but I like the warm sound a lot already :))

I also got a few questions regarding cleaning this vintage recorder:

1. The recorder is easily a few decades old and it's been in a musty-smelling dirty ancient paper box. Can I safely do a quick rinse of the entire inside including the wind way while having the block in, with warm water/vinegar etc.? (I did read other posts regarding this subject, watched both Sarah Jeffery and Tom Prescott's videos and read BeardedLady's opinion on it. But I'm not sure yet which way to go.) thinking to gently wipe the inside with either alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, or vinegar. Which of these 3 solution is the best for presumably pear wood, dry old recorder?
2. Which lint-free cloth is recommended to use for cleaning and oiling the bore? I saw that Sarah was using a sock, but wouldn't socks have lints and tiny loose short fibres coming off?
3. Can you wash the oiling cloth with soap and reuse it in the future, or does it have to be disposed? (I'll be using the Mollenhauer oil which may contain linseed oil?). I read that many use sweet almond oil or other types of vegetable oil. My concern is that all pure vegetable oil including vitamin E oil will oxidise, that's why I'm going to try the recorder-specific oil first since it seems to have certain formulation made for this purpose(?).

I have small hands (17.2cm span) + very short pinkies. Alto's right hand finger position is not easy for the moment! Any tips for playing an alto with small hands are welcomed. I'm currently having a bit of tennis elbow (by using too much mouse/phone and occasionally playing tennis as a beginner... which means my right hand's ring finger and pinky are feeing strained at times/ not at its best flexibility.)

So this is my first wooden recorder and first reddit post. Thanks for reading ha.

I keep finding music written for other instruments that I'd love to try on recorder, but the range gets in the way. So I tried shifting a scanned flute study with Solfa, a tool I built.

This is just the first three bars of Köhler's Op. 33, No. 1. I moved them down a whole step, from C to B-flat; a low G becomes F, right at the bottom of an alto recorder's range. The image shows the original scan above and the actual result below. I haven't checked the rest of the study yet.

Do you ever do this with music written for another instrument? What would you like to play if getting it into range were easier?

Solfa: https://solfa-music.com/en/transpose-pdf-sheet-music

Original scan: https://imslp.org/wiki/Der_Fortschritt_im_Fl%C3%B6tenspiel,_Op.33_(K%C3%B6hler,_Ernesto)) (Book I, IMSLP #331991)

Has anyone had any experience modding the keys on the YRT-304B to make them less stiff? I absolutely love this recorder except the keys are so stiff I just hate playing any kind of music on this flute that requires a lot out of my pinky finger. I'm used to the key on my traverso which is very smooth and light to the touch. I'm planning on taking apart the key mechanism on my tenor to mod the keys to make them less stiff. I just wanted to ask the community if anyone had any advice before I begin.

I know that the springs are leaf springs in the bottom half of the mechanism and I know how to pull the mechanism apart. I was initially thinking I want to bend the springs past the point where they don't quite return to their original shape in the hope that they will press less firmly on the body of the flute but then I worry that the springs might not hold the keys sufficiently open. The current plan, then, is to go in there and use a file to make the spring thinner so that it will become more flexible.

Thanks in advance for anyone with advice. I'll update when I do the mod to report what I did and if it worked well or not.