 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Roxann
Date: 2012-09-12 18:18
I just purchased a used Selmer Signet Soloist and played it for a couple of hours last night. I kept tasting a "burned wood" flavor and am wondering if this is common with wooden clarinets (I've only ever played a plastic Bundy). I thought maybe it was from the mouthpiece, but I don't think the mouthpiece is wooden. Are wooden clarinets "burned" to initially create the bore? Will the taste go away? Should I be concerned? Thanks for any information or advice you may give.
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2012-09-12 19:00
Some hard rubber mouthpieces may indeed emit a faint "burned" taste or smell, depending on brand and age.
(I have a brand-new Bundy Signature that indeed smelled (when wet) as if I'd been to a tyre burnout competition)
Edit: you sure that instrument came from a non-smoker home?
--
Ben
Post Edited (2012-09-12 19:07)
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2012-09-12 21:38
Some clarinets will smell more like burnt wood than others. When the bore and toneholes are drilled they expose fresh wood and heat is generated in the process so the smell will come from the bore and toneholes.
New instruments will smell more of fresh wood than older ones which will take on other smells - from the smell of the case, damp or if the player is a smoker. The smell of grenadilla varies from a sweet honey smell to a musty smell.
I used to stamp serial numbers into oboes by hand with hot number and letter stamps and definitely smelt all varieties of timbers - grenadilla is the best smell but cocobolo is more acrid. Rosewood and kingwood are like incence but not as strong.
Ebonite is the worst as it smells of sulphur - the same rotten egg smell some mouthpieces can have as they're made from ebonite.
Bore oils have their own fragrance depending what the manufacturer or repairer uses.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
Post Edited (2012-09-12 21:48)
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2012-09-12 22:44
I think you may be smelling old bore oil. Some bore oil products can become rancid with age and produce a wide range of smell, none of the pleasant. Try oiling it carefully with Almond oil, after thorough swabbing.
Tony F.
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Author: Roxann
Date: 2012-09-12 22:51
Hi Tony, Many thanks for your advice. I'm making a swab right now so I can start cleaning.
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Author: Roxann
Date: 2012-09-12 22:53
I have no idea about the history of the clarinet. I bought it at a pawn shop in a little town in Idaho on the Snake River. The owner of the pawn shop knew nothing about the instrument. I'm making a swab right now so I can start cleaning with alcohol and applying oil. I had no idea the wood could be harboring the next bubonic plague:)
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Author: Buster
Date: 2012-09-12 22:58
I'd think using alcohol to clean the wood would not be a wise choice....
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2012-09-12 23:00
I don't think grenadilla could harbour anything that nasty as wodd is naturally antiseptic.
Maybe it came from a home with a wood stove that had a leaky flue or an open fire with a damaged or blocked chimney.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: BobD
Date: 2012-09-14 21:13
It's the hard rubber mouthpiece.......
Bob Draznik
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Author: Roxann
Date: 2012-09-14 23:37
Two people have told me that it's most likely the mouthpiece. What a relief. Now I know to look for a new mouthpiece...not a new clarinet..
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Author: JHowell
Date: 2012-09-15 04:27
If the mouthpiece is good enough, I'd get used to the taste. I have an old Auguste Buffet mouthpiece that smells and tastes like barbecue. Kinda weird, but the only reason I don't play it is the pitch.
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2012-09-15 07:25
If the hard rubber mouthpiece smells, try soaking it in vinegar for a few hours. I've given a smelly hard rubber Selmer HS* a light rub with fine wire wool and it cleaned up beautifully, but gentleness is the key and you do it at your own risk. If you're contemplating buying a new mouthpiece anyway, what do you have to lose?
Tony F.
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2012-09-15 18:39
Although I agree that the mouthpiece is more likely to emit a "burned" or otherwise unpleasant smell, clean grenadilla does have an aroma for people with a good sense of smell. It's not a "burned" smell, though, at least not in my experiece. I remember when my dad brought home my new clarinet in 1957, the slight, incense-like scent delighted me even though I was still in a state of deep resentment over the band teacher telling me, "Girls don't play the trumpet." The smell was one of the things that eventually won me over to the clarinet.
I should add, though, that I was born with a freakish sense of smell. My stained glass instructor didn't believe me when, as her apprentice, I said I could tell the difference between zinc and tin framing by the smell. Nearly anybody can rub a piece of lead and a piece of copper or brass with a finger, sniff the finger and identify which metal is which, but conventional wisdom is that tin and zinc have no smell. Not true. I soon proved to her that I really could tell them apart. The ability came in handy when we restored antique windows.
The world of scent disappeared from me when I was hospitalized for 45 days in 1998. I came out of there with no sense of smell or taste whatsoever. Gradually, the sense did return, but I never did get back the ability to smell tin or zinc -- along with a lot of the other more subtle things. The stench of a dirty old used clarinet that's been stored damp, alas, comes through just fine! I think you're wise to clean it up, although I'd use bore oil, not alcohol, which could dry out the wood.
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
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