Klarinet Archive - Posting 000223.txt from 2000/02

From: Frank Galiani <fgaliani@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] mpc cleaning
Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2000 13:18:32 -0500

Lelia, I will forever see grubby M/P owners as you describe them. My
nightmares
may now take on a new dimension. Anyway, well said. Thanks, Frank
Frank P. Galiani

LeliaLoban@-----.com wrote:

> "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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