Klarinet Archive - Posting 000841.txt from 1998/09

From: CmdrHerel@-----.com
Subj: [kl] My graduate thesis on swabs... (was: SWAB GOT STUCK !)
Date: Wed, 23 Sep 1998 18:18:16 -0400

In a message dated 9/23/98 8:43:36 AM Eastern Daylight Time, kwolman@-----.com
writes:

<< But I still don't understand, seriously, what can cause this. >>

A few things that I can think of:

If the swab goes in bunched wrong - like the bottom being curled up into the
middle, so that it becomes too thick as it goes through - it gets caught
usually on the register tube. This is the way it's happened to me the most.
I know, I know: Pay more attention as you put it in... Well I do now. :)

Cotton tends to bunch more than silk, especially new cotton that's stiffer
than swabs that are more used. Even if it goes in un-bunched, it can still
get caught up around the register tube.

Also, if any of the stiching holding the string to the swab part is loose, the
register tube can get caught between the string and the swab.

Solutions:

Don't fold your swab neatly... Leave it in the shape that it goes through the
horn with.
I just wrap it up around my fingers and wrap the string around it and stuff it
in the case. Folding it into a little square will actually give it more of a
chance to go in the wrong way.

I haven't had a problem since I've switched to silk, but I've pulled out many
cotton swabs for my students. I've found the best way is to first separate
the joint it's stuck in, so all you are holding is that joint in one hand.
Then what I do is gently pull on "inner" parts of the swab where it's on it's
way out of the horn... (take a look next time you get a stuck one, and I think
you'll know what I mean by that) I keep pulling on those inner folds until I
get one that moves... I pull that until it stops moving, then I begin the
search for another inner fold that moves... Usually after one to three of
those fold-pulls, the swab will un-bunch and come right out.

I've never had to stick any foreign object into a bore, nor will I ever.
(clarinet bores are much bigger to work with than oboes'.) Only once did I
have to rip a swab to get it out.

Teri Herel
Queen of Swab

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