 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Windy Dreamer
Date: 2018-11-05 17:57
Over the years I have bought several old clarinets with fine grenadilla dust in soçkets and toneholes. I assume that it is a product of previous owners playing them rarely and dry. Looking down the bore tubes you see uneven surfaces that do not reflect light well with heavy oil applied and the clarinets play muffled tones. So far this combination has only been seen on low value clarinets so I sanded out the center bores with 600 grit sandpaper mounted on sponge on a dowel. In each case I sanded until I achieved clean bright tones and a mirror smooth oiled surface in the bores.Very little material is removed by sanding . Micrometer measurements after sanding verify that the center bores ended up with the correct diameter after sanding so I do not believe I harmed them by sanding.
My recently acquired Jupiter Jcl-731 had a scattering of grenadilla dust in the toneholes under the pads. The center bores look rough even with application of excess oil. My drop cloth seems to bind a bit while pulling it through. Despite the appearance of things the horn sounds great
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Author: jdbassplayer
Date: 2018-11-05 18:17
Noooooooooooooo!!!!!
Never use sandpaper on the inside of a clarinet!!! Even removing a tiny amount of material can ruin the intonation of the instrument.
What you see is not Grenadilla dust. It is actually dried Grenadilla oil. Generally a good soaking in oil will take this away. Worst case scenario you can use 99 percent IPA, but I only do this in extreme cases. For finishing bores I use beeswax to bring back the smooth finish, but you should never remove material from the bore.
-Jdbassplayer
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2018-11-05 18:34
jdbassplayer wrote:
"Never use sandpaper on the inside of a clarinet!!! Even removing a tiny amount of material can ruin the intonation of the instrument"
Especially something as coarse as 600 grit!
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Kalashnikirby
Date: 2018-11-05 19:25
Attachment: IMG_20181102_152608.jpg (1390k)
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An instrument I acquired recently had some very weird dirt on inside and around the tone holes and many parts of the instrument, not the bore however. Some tone holes had an actual film in them that could be pulled of. What I did was to use isopropyl, but most of the dirt remained. I eventually rounded the edge of a plastic spudger and removed some of it.
I'm not sure how to go on, but this certainly didn't belong to the clarinet itself, but it might've been resinified oil or dried saliva, yuck.
Post Edited (2018-11-05 19:29)
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Author: Windy Dreamer
Date: 2018-11-05 19:26
So far I only did that to each of my old Armstrong and Artley clarinets They were my first clarinets. Each of them had at least one broken tenon and outer body cracks. I learned to play them by ear after crudely repairing them.
I assumed the grains were grenadilla dust because they did not dissolve in either mineral oil or olive oil. I suppose it is possible that neither oil is capable of dissolving grenadilla crystals.
The JCL-731 is going to become my everyday horn. I love its sound and clarity but it does not seem to ever come clean in the center bore. I have applied a heavy layer of oil that was removed after half an hour at least 10 times. My drop cloths come out tarry and blackened after each swabbing whether it is oil or play residue. Every night I wash out the swab cloths. After 3 or 4 weeks of play and cleaning it still produces blackened tarry swab cloths. I suppose I will have to continue with oiling and cleaning until it eventually becomes clean.
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Author: Luuk ★2017
Date: 2018-11-05 20:20
'Grenadilla crystals'?
Regards,
Luuk
Philips Symphonic Band
The Netherlands
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2018-11-05 21:17
Wood contains resin and some can leech out from end grain and harden which can be scraped off with a plastic or wood scraper. I've seen this far more on cocobolo and kingwood instruments than blackwood/grenadilla ones.
Oil won't dissolve any of this residue and alcohol or solvents will take time to remove it, so you're best easing it off with a plastic or wooden scraper (or an old reed) so it won't damage the tonehole.
Grenadilla has a natural brown stain which will also stain pads and pullthroughs in contact with it, so don't bother trying to remove this stain from the wood as it's not going to happen. If you don't like seeing the stained pads or pullthroughs, then have black pads installed and use a black pullthrough.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Windy Dreamer
Date: 2018-11-11 18:15
After a week of swabbing in beween a few oilings and playing the center bore is looking less gritty. Swab cloths are no longer sticky and gummy. Tones are becoming muffled so I assume that the swab cloths are building residues in the tone holes. In a month or two I plan to change all of the pads so I will vigorously reclean the toneholes at that time.The moisture swabbing cloths now come out stain free once the excess oil is removed. The oiled cloth no longer binds to gummy residues.
Given that I purchased this grimy clarinet with two accompanying new sealed swab cloths I wonder if the previous owner ever oiled, cleaned or swabbed it. I also wonder how they got it so gummy inside. I assume they may have sucked hard candy while playing. The light bright yellow cloths it came with also show staining more than a darker red one would.Once the cleang is complete I will switch to darker cloths.
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2018-11-12 04:54
I've found that instruments played by kids are often sticky, due to the sugary drinks they consume. I get a number of school band instruments with sticky pads due to coca-cola and such. Sugar isn't soluble in alcohol, so they respond best to warm water.
Tony F.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2018-11-12 21:23
When the Buffet B10 was first launched in the late '90s, they were in essence a rationalised or utilitarian B12 with fewer keywork pieces and fitted with Valentino Greenback pads and synthetic key corks to make them easier for anyone to do their own running repairs.
Unfortunately the majority that were sold or rented out came back with very sticky pads. Valentino pads being soft and with a shiny surface layer didn't take to well to any contamination and stuck against the shiny plastic toneholes. They could be cleaned with alcohol and work well, but some players or even teachers thought it would be a good idea to use key oil on them to free them up and that made things even worse. The last thing you want to put on any pads on any instrument whether it be plastic, wood or metal is oil of any kind.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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The Clarinet Pages
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