Klarinet Archive - Posting 000087.txt from 2001/10

From: "Jim Hobby" <jhobby@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Wet instrument
Date: Fri, 5 Oct 2001 03:27:22 -0400

The first clarinet in the HS band was involved in an automobile accident.
Her clarinet, a wooden Buffet, was thrown out of her Jeep into a creek. It
had little damage, beyond the fact that it was waterlogged. When asked, I
suggested as a stop-gap measure:

1. Wipe the wood dry, inside and out, with a soft cloth.
2. Dry the pads by placing pieces of felt under them, changing until no
water showed up on the felt.
3. Use a hair drier at the screw posts, low heat, low speed, to clear water
out of them.
4. Leave it exposed to normal room temperature until completely dry.
5. Try to get it to a shop as soon as possible. (or)
6. If you can't get it to a shop, use a drop of key oil at each point of
movement and bore oil the inside, immediately wiping out any excess.

(The girl was in hospital for several days with a severly damaged spleen.
There was no time for the parents to get her clarinet to the shop right
away.)

(Other than people who don't believe in use of bore oil) are there any
suggestions that I should have given -- or for that matter, not given. I've
never run into a situation where a clarinet was retrieved from the bottom of
a creek before! I saw it today, and it appears to have not suffered any
noticable damage from the incident. The case, however, appears to be beyond
repair.

Jim Hobby

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