Klarinet Archive - Posting 000852.txt from 1998/09

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] SWAB GOT STUCK !
Date: Wed, 23 Sep 1998 19:35:25 -0400

At 08:42 AM 9/23/98 -0400, Ken Wolman wrote:
>Is this sort of thing a common occurrence?? Someone mentioned a stuck swab
>the other day, but this sounds like a nightmare tantamount to a violinist
>breaking a string during a recital.
>
>When I was a kid I used those swabs-on-a-stick, the big plushy ones. Now I
>use silk swabs on weighted strings. Two different horns, a cheapy and a
>real good one, and I've never run into this. My first though is "What was
>on the swab, Krazy Glu??"
>
>But I still don't understand, seriously, what can cause this.
>
You'd be surprised how often this happens. It is caused mostly by people
who don't un-wad the swab before they start, and then when it does not pull
through easily, they figure, "If I just pull a LITTLE HARDER it will come
through." It's that last yank that does them in. They forget that, even
though a clarinet is basically cylindrical, it is smaller at the top than
the very bottom, and it has that little tube sticking up, too. As for
oboes, their conical bore is just an invitation to this disaster. Of
course, I've never seen a FEATHER get stuck in one! :-)

Bill Hausmann bhausman@-----.com
451 Old Orchard Drive http://www.concentric.net/~bhausman
Essexville, MI 48732 http://members.wbs.net/homepages/z/o/o/zoot14.html
ICQ UIN 4862265

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is too loud.

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