Klarinet Archive - Posting 000211.txt from 2000/02

From: LeliaLoban@-----.com
Subj: [kl] mpc cleaning
Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2000 09:28:38 -0500

"Dodgshun family" <dodgshun@-----.nz> writes,
>Vinegar works well to get the white crud off mouthpieces - I use it on my
crystal b-cl mouthpiece which seems to collect crud more easily than my Bb
mp, don't know why. Just make sure you rinse it off properly. I don't know
about using hydrogen peroxide to clean reeds - after some of the chemistry
experiments I've done, I wouldn't tend to use this method! I find if I dry
them off thoroughly after I've been playing, they're fine.>

That's been my experience, too. I rinse and dry the mouthpiece and reed
every time I play on them. Drying the mouthpiece inside and out physically
removes the desolved minerals and prevents them from calcifying on the
mouthpiece. Keeping mouthpieces clean all the time prevents the crud buildup
from ever happening in the first place. Above all, I never put a mouthpiece
away with a reed still on it.

Once a week, I wash all the mouthpieces in the sink with dish detergent,
rinse them under the tap, then rinse them again in a bowl with about 50-50
water and a mouthwash that contains alcohol. I dry them outside with a towel
and inside with a "mouthpiece saver" that I don't leave in. I also dip all
my reeds in that mouthwash rinse once a week, when I'm washing the
mouthpieces.

I carry Sterisol on flea market junkets now, in case I find something I can't
resist trying. However, my husband, Kevin Lee, who works for the US-EPA
Pesticides Div., has studied recent industry tests showing that while most
cold sterilants *reduce* the germ count, they don't work nearly as well as
the labels indicate. These tests show that *none* of the cold sterilants,
including the strongest ones used by dentists, will actually sterilize, even
when the user follows directions with care. Increasing the length of soaking
improves the performance only slightly. None of the cold sterilants come
anywhere near the effectiveness of autoclaving (boiling and steaming at a
very high temperature), which obviously can't be done to a mouthpiece. In
addition, many germs have now developed resistance, and will continue to do
so, due to inappropriate and excessive use of antibacterials. There is
currently *no* method of sterilizing a mouthpiece without damaging it. Since
we don't live in a sterile environment anyway and I have an active immune
system, I don't care that my methods can't sterilize my mouthpieces -- in
fact, I wouldn't want to use such methods because they would contribute to
the growing problem of drug-resistant "super-bugs" -- but as a matter of
common sense, the use of Sterisol or any other product would not be enough to
induce me to try out a mouthpiece right after someone who was obviously sick.
If I owned a store, to protect the public health, I would not allow an
obviously sick person to try mouthpieces.

When I bring home an old, used mouthpiece, I've found that plain white
vinegar and a mouthpiece brush will usually take off the accumulated grunge,
though I don't soak a mouthpiece in vinegar for more than a few minutes, for
fear of damaging it. I've got one very old rubber mpc with stains that
apparently penetrate into the rubber, from a deposit that must have sat there
for many years while the clarinet languished unplayed. I got the deposit out
with vinegar, but the discoloration appears to be permanent. Seeing that
stain grosses me out, even though there's actually nothing there that could
transfer to me! -- I hope....

When I see a grubby mouthpiece, I never can make myself imagine some nice,
clean, normal person using it, even though I know perfectly well that the
former owner probably *was* some nice, clean, normal person who just got a
little careless with the equipment. But no, I imagine some filthy, reeking,
slobbering orc, with hair on its tongue, rotted fangs, a runny nose,
yellow-green spit with bubbles and clots in it, a deep chest cough, and
breath that could knock down a conductor. Guess that's what living with an
EPA-Pest. employee does to ya....

Lelia

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