Klarinet Archive - Posting 000042.txt from 1995/05

From: Neil Leupold <Neil_Leupold@-----.COM>
Subj: RE>Swabs
Date: Mon, 1 May 1995 17:33:05 -0400

intouch Reply 4/28/95
Subject:RE>Swabs 5:40 PM
Cheryl McClure wrote on the subject of clarinet swabs:

"What is being used, as well as recommended to students, by Klarinetists?"

I don't have an answer for you, Cheryl, for I too have encountered the problem
with these thick Buffet swabs which get stuck in the instrument. I've had
swabs get snagged on the register tube and rip at least 100 times because
they're so rigid and made with such thick cloth (I wonder if this could bend or
damage the register tube over time). They (the swabs) loosen up over time, but
it's a gamble in the beginning, where you hope you can get past that first week
& a half while the swab absorbs enough moisture to break down the rigidity a
little bit. Getting a silk swab doesn't seem to be the solution either, for
the same reason you cited (they're not really absorbant enough and don't pick
up all of the moisture which lines the bore).

Perhaps we could broaden this discussion a little bit, pull Clark Fobes into
the thread (as it were), and talk about the effect of these thick cloth swabs
on the bore of the instrument - and how they may alter the inner dimensions of
the instrument over time, thus changing the whole character of sound produced.
It certainly seems to make sense that the friction which exists between the
swab and the bore will wear away the wood on the inside over an extended period
(six to ten years) of dragging it through one's instrument. One might even
make an argument that this phenomenon is involved with the whole "blowout"
theory.

Given the likelihood that these rough & thick swabs are more than an
inconvenience - that they may very well have a harmful effect on my $3000 a
piece instruments - the desire for an alternative becomes that much more
pressing....

Neil