The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: johnsonfromwisconsin
Date: 2008-11-09 02:57
When you take out your Noblet 40 and get read to play and notice something tickling your hand. It ends up being nothing but an ant. You go to finish constructing the clarinet when you notice that light doesn't show through the other end of the lower section as you think it should. You look down the tube and notice a lot of wierd foriegn matter, and it's...gulp... moving!
Both upper and lower sections are filled with ants! and the queen aparently made her private chambers in the barrel!
Pardon my frency, but.. !!#$@#%@#!
I go to the sink an blow them out. Workers, a few eggs, winged-drones, and entire colony! Probably about a hundred and twenty ants living in my wooden clarinet.
there is a lot of residue left over. I will have to dissasemble and clean. I checked my other clarinets (plastic) and no ants.
I'm guessing there was something in the bore oil I used.
Ack.
:-/
-JfW
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Author: GBK
Date: 2008-11-09 03:05
"...You know it's been too long since you last practiced when....."
You can't remember whether it's right or left hand on top.
...GBK
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Author: mrn
Date: 2008-11-09 03:25
Hmm.... Could be carpenter ants. They build their nests in moist wood. They don't eat wood, but they do often chew tunnels through it (giving an entirely new meaning to the term "polycylindrical bore"). Grenadilla's probably hard stuff to chew, but a wooden clarinet complete with toneholes would seem like it was ready for move-in.
I wonder if anyone's ever had a problem with termites in their instrument. That would bring a whole new meaning to the term "all you can eat Buffet," now wouldn't it?
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Author: skygardener
Date: 2008-11-09 04:36
Once I picked up my case from the corner of the room where I always leave it and an roach ran out from behind it. I thought, "I really need to practice more".
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Author: johnsonfromwisconsin
Date: 2008-11-09 20:36
I don't know what you mean Nobert.....yes, there's something very particularily wrong!
Looking at it, there's no damage to the wood that I can see and it plays just fine, just most of the closed pads are full of gunk, as they aparently used these as their cesspools for whatnot, or food....you can't really tell with ants.
I'm going to go check my Bari and I'll let you all know if I find an armadillo.
-JfW
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2008-11-09 21:46
Watch out for rattlesnakes - they can hide in the top coil on your bari. If you hear the keywork rattling more than normal, put the bari down calmly and leave the room (very quickly).
Remember - rattlesnakes are more scared of you than you are of them.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: pewd
Date: 2008-11-10 00:43
i once had a sax student we used to call 'cockroach boy....'
- Paul Dods
Dallas, Texas
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Author: mrn
Date: 2008-11-10 00:43
Borrowed from a signature in another thread (sorry, but I just couldn't resist):
"I look at my clarinet sometimes and I think, I wonder what's going to come out of there tonight? You never know. -- Acker Bilk"
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Author: William
Date: 2008-11-10 15:05
My Mother once made me play for my aunts......but I guess that's another story..................
[it don't mean a thing if it "ants" got that swing ;.]
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Author: Alphie
Date: 2008-11-10 21:40
Reminds me about what a californian violin player replayed to me when I told him there is a restaurant in Amsterdam that serves insects: "Sounds great, can I bring my a(u)nt."
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2008-11-17 11:24
...you get ready to start playing, but the clarinet bites you on the nose and then slithers back into its case and snaps the lid shut.
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