 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Bob
Date: 2002-09-17 14:16
I acquired an older Kohlert's clarinet on eBay recently that came with the original Kohlert's wood mouthpiece including the former owner's teeth marks and considerable internal tobacco juice type crud. After cleaning the mouthpiece with Doc's stuff and sanitizing it I finally got the nerve to give it a try. Wow, what a great mouthpiece it turned out to be. Now I'm wondering what the proper maintenance should be...i.e. bore oiling or what? Also...opinions as to whether I should fill the teeth marks with,say,epoxy and/or put a pad over them. Would appreciate some advice.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2002-09-17 19:56
TKS, Bob, for bringing up the subject. I have 2 wood?? mps from old Albert/Muller clars and, as a consequence of this thread, have started investigating them. The only book-mention of wood mps [of interest so far] is by Rendall in Chap II, speaking of "hard well-seasoned cocus {Brya ebenus}" as being the only suitable wood. The use of Ebonite [hard rubber?] began in the 1850's per R. I hope Al Rice may read and give us his expert comments. Back to my 2, each has an area, top of beak, of lighter brown with "indication" of grain/fiber structure, with some lip/tooth wear, also the palate/roof shows light brown. Trying to identify, I put each into water, where they both sank, so it was inconclusive [dense wood?]. I played on the best one, good, not great??, and then lightly coated it with almond oil and will assess its "take-up" later and report. Interesting "research" aint it?? Don
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Author: David Spiegelthal
Date: 2002-09-17 20:34
I'd recommend oiling the mouthpiece occasionally with almond oil (the pure oil, not the extract which has alcohol added) -- a bit hard to find but most "gourmet" or larger grocery stores should have it. I'd cover the toothmarks on the beak with a patch (I use patches on every mouthpiece anyway). If you feel the need to fill the gouges, mix some grenadilla dust up with some epoxy and spread the resulting paste into the gouge, overfilling slightly. After the filler has completely hardened (and shrunk somewhat), sand and buff.
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Author: Bob
Date: 2002-09-17 21:14
Thanks Don and Dave...I respect your opinons. I do have the "real" almond oil and G dust. As an aside I have great results cleaning wood with Formby's Lemon Oil and it also seems to remove tarnish to a degree. Doc's mouthpiece stuff really did a job on this mp..I couldn't believe the stuff in there.
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Author: David Spiegelthal
Date: 2002-09-18 15:07
By the way, I didn't invent the almond oil idea, it was recommended by Pomarico when I asked them how to care for one of the their wood mouthpieces (which is currently my #1 Bb clarinet mouthpiece).
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Author: Bob
Date: 2002-09-18 15:18
Sweet almond oil is wonderful stuff that I first heard about on this BB. If you accidently get a little on the bore of your wood horn just rub it in...
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2002-09-18 22:39
A good friend [old cl'ist] gave me a couple hundred cc of almond and ?50 cc of apricot oil from an "exotic" oil supplier [lifetime supplies?], both of which I keep in a refrig., not knowing the stability thereof. Back to mps, the al. oil "take-up" was slow on the one mp, will try # 2, had to "repair" a gouge in the palate/roof with nail polish, hope it plays!! Don
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Author: Jean
Date: 2002-09-19 02:47
I have seen almond oil in the health food store in the refrigerated section.
Jean
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Author: brenda siewert
Date: 2002-09-19 22:12
I'd recommend a mouthpiece patch for the tooth marks. Just a thin one will do the trick. It may not fill in all the holes, but it will make the mouthpiece more adaptable to your own teeth. I have a wooden Greg Smith and don't oil it at all. However, if it were old that might make a difference. I really, really love the creamy tone of the wooden mouthpieces. Compared to my Kaspar, the wood Smith is a lot better mouthpiece.
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Author: Bob
Date: 2002-09-19 22:35
Thanks Brenda and nice to see you are up and about. I double-lip so the marks don't bother me. I will be patching it.
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Author: Jack Kissinger
Date: 2002-09-20 13:52
Formby's contains petroleum distillates and is, therefore, poisonous. I've had at least one well-respected repair tech advise me that it is not a good idea to use it or similar products on clarinets for that reason. Whether you could take in enough of the distillates from a mouthpiece that had been cleaned with Formby's to make you sick, I can't say, but I personally wouldn't want to try it and anyone who does probably ought to be aware of the risk.
Best regards,
jnk
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Author: Bob
Date: 2002-09-20 20:52
Thanks for your concern and advice, Jack. Personally I'm inclined to feel that your repair tech is a little overcautious...maybe he is just trying to avoid potential customer problems.
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