Klarinet Archive - Posting 000116.txt from 1996/11

From: Steve Prescott <mipresc@-----.EDU>
Subj: Swabs, moisture (was Water...etc.)
Date: Tue, 5 Nov 1996 12:14:29 -0500

>John Blegen wrote (in part):
>
>>To paraphrase an election-day dictum popular here in Chicago, swab early
>>and often. Someone pointed out on this list that the purpose of pulling
>>the swab through the horn is not so much to dry it as to distribute the
>>moisture evenly so that it does not accumlate at the tone holes and cause
>>one to gurgle. Since I've heeded this principle, I haven't had the problem.

Some oboists hold to the principle of distributing the moisture with a
feather. This is pure bunk. Instruments crack for 2 reasons (apart from
flaws in the wood):

1. The instrument is not dried on the inside properly. if wood is moist on
one side and dry on the other, it will crack. (period, end of story)

2. Extreme temperatures and changes of temperature will crack an
instrument. If you blow into a freezing cold clarinet, it will crack. The
temperature on the inside is warm, outside it's cold, it will crack. This
is, again, based in fact.

David wrote:

>So, on the subject of swabs, do we prefer cotton or silk, and which is
>more absorbent?
>
I believe silk is more absorbent...runners often wear silk shorts for this
reason.

Steve.

Steve Prescott
Instrument Rep.Tech./ Clarinetist
Indiana State University
mipresc@-----.edu