Klarinet Archive - Posting 000111.txt from 1996/10

From: Brad Behn <BradBehn@-----.com>
Subj: mouthpiece cleaning
Date: Sat, 5 Oct 1996 14:18:02 -0400

I sometimes soak the mouthpieces in lemon juice from concentrate. You klow,
the stuff that sits on the top shelf at the grocery store and it comes in a
green bottle with a yellow plastic cap.

Just soak the Mpc for a few minutes and I guarentee that any white calcium
deposites, dead lip and any other vile infectious nasties will simply wipe
away with a cue tip.

One word of warning. I don't know if it is bad for the mouthpieces to soak
it in the lemon juice. It may actually deteriorate the rubber. So, I don't
do this but once. Usually when the mouthpiece is just acquired and is really
disgusting because it has been sitting in the pawn shop for forty years and
before that some little kid had been playing it in the seventh grade band and
felt it necessary for some undetermined reason to spit, hack, puke and do
whatever else is disgusting in the mpc.

Once I have cleaned and refaced the "old gem" I may buff the mouthpiece to
create a nice smooth and laminar surface for the nasties to more easeily wipe
clean on a daily basis.

Brad