 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: 3dogmom
Date: 2004-10-08 01:12
After reading all the humorous and informative things you folks put out there, I thought I'd share this with you. Last week one of my fifth graders came to be in all seriousness and asked me, "Can I put my clarinet in the dishwasher?" (a nice Selmer wood student model). After I recovered, I explained all the reasons why this would be disastrous. She then insisted, "but I really want to clean it", so I then realized a more thorough lesson in maintenance was in order. So she then said she thought she could put the mouthpiece in the dishwasher. I really hope and pray I got through to this child. I need to send a note home to her Mom, but I really got a chuckle out of this. Since I never specifically said not to, I guess she thought it was a good idea...just imagine the things that go through their tiny minds that we never think of addressing.
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Author: sdr
Date: 2004-10-08 01:50
Better than disinfecting it in the microwave!
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Author: Bradley
Date: 2004-10-08 02:07
How about someone in one of my earlier bands boiling the school bass clarinet mouthpiece to "clean" it.
Bradley
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Author: Alseg
Date: 2004-10-08 02:48
Works for horse bridle bits.....so let's see what it will do for a Kaspar.
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Author: GBK
Date: 2004-10-08 03:12
I've experienced the mouthpiece in the dishwasher, first hand with one of my beginners.
I've posted this before, but here is what I wrote a few years ago:
Never assume you have explained something fully...especially to elementary instrumental students. After telling one of my beginning clarinet groups about the importance and proper way to clean a clarinet mouthpiece, I noticed the following day that one of my students' mouthpieces looked horribly misshapen. After questioning the student, she finally revealed to me that her mom had put the mouthpiece in the dishwasher (full cycle) to sanitize it. The student had told her mother how important it was to have a clean mouthpiece and to use cold water. The mother then figured if cold water was good, then hot water must even be better.
...GBK
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Author: pewd
Date: 2004-10-08 04:55
a local repair tech told one of my bass students to put the mpc in the dishwasher to clean it. this the largest music store chain in this city.
needless to say, i never send students there for repairs anymore.
sure makes you wonder sometimes.
- Paul Dods
Dallas, Texas
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Author: allencole
Date: 2004-10-08 05:28
>Never assume you have explained something fully...especially to >elementary instrumental students.
When examining the mind of a young child, I frequently find the brake lines cut, and the gas pedal glued to the floor.
Allen Cole
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Author: OpusII
Date: 2004-10-08 06:59
I just sealed my extra moutpieces and put them in a very save place. The washing machine was the safest place that I could find. I'm sure nobody is going to search there......
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Author: graham
Date: 2004-10-08 08:08
As long as you fill the rinse aid unit with linseed oil, it should be fine.
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2004-10-08 10:50
Make sure to tell her not to put it in the bathtub - there is a distinct possibility that it will or already has been there.
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Author: OpusII
Date: 2004-10-08 11:05
David,
A friend tried that already once, it's a beautiful purple clarinet now. Strange thing...the shape of the clarinet was also changed ![[grin]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie5.gif)
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2004-10-08 11:55
As a first year player I had started with the Trombone - played (more like held) it for 3 months and switched to Clarinet.
You know how they clean Trombones?
I had some sticky pads so I ran the Clarinet under the bathtub faucet rinsing it out quite well and then put baby powder under the pads (I had read that powder could help pads stop sticking).
Fortunately neither damaged my plastic bundy, but I sure was playing with fire. A little knowlege can be a dangerous thing........
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Author: Tom J.
Date: 2004-10-08 17:52
Hey, you know, the long upholstery attachment on a vacuum cleaner works great when cleaning the fuzz that collects under the keys.
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Author: GEM
Date: 2004-10-08 19:41
Then there was the guy who's horn always played a bit sharp.
He took it to the dry cleaner and had it pressed flat. Now it doesn't have the problem anymore.
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2004-10-08 20:43
Remember the M*A*S*H episode where the squashed Winchester's horn flat with a tank?
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2004-10-08 21:04
I read that the saxes which were given out in the military 60's-70's were all Mark VI's.
I wonder if they were required back then to crush the instruments upon the retirement or discharge of the soldier? (once instrument is in the system it can't leave it I've been told)
That would have been a real tragedy.
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2004-10-08 21:12
In the West Point Band in the mid-60s, all the saxes were silver-plated Mark VIs. However, this was a "Special Band" that got the best equipment. The saxes were beaten to death in parades, and I doubt that any of them would be in playable condition.
I don't know what became of old instruments. I have a silver H. Bettoney Eb clarinet marked U.S. Navy on the bell, so at least some of them were sold off.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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Author: bkmorton
Date: 2004-10-08 21:41
I saw a clarinet - JUST LAST WEEK- that was BOILED in order to be cleaned. The clarinet was plastic and was slightly bent in several places. The other funny thing is that it was a school-owned instrument. I kid you not.
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2004-10-08 22:13
Ken - I was told a while back by Merlin Petroff (friend of mine took a lesson w/him and I got to watch) about the "can't leave the system" policy. To me that's an amazing waste. Strip off the keys and crush the body was what I was told.
Maybe your Silver Clarinet was made (and sold) before that policy was in effect. No idea if it even still remains as what I was told was back in the late 80's.
BOILED? I wonder how many instruments they go through per year?
Here's another funny but o' so true. A Clarinet student of Ron Reuben (not me) in college ended up putting his mouthpiece in the oven and it melted.
Reason?
Reuben was kicking around the theory that a Mouthpiece could possibly be Galvanized more with heat after it was made (thus making it better?). So his student put it in an oven at 300 to try it out - ended up ruining his best mouthpiece.
Now that's just dumb.....
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2004-10-08 22:36
Great Guns, it hard to believe all of these "cl horror stories", but I'm afraid they are very true ! It sure is hard to forsee unbelievabal stupidity, isn't it ?? I just finished an enlightening discussion with a student, she knew quite a bit about our prime subject, but, sounding out her depth of knowledge, lets hope I added to it, re: registers, diff from sax/oboes, basic [101] care of cl, etc. Hope I dont run afoul of her teachers !! Don
great Guns
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: Igloo Bob
Date: 2004-10-08 23:33
In 8th grade, I had a pad sticking, and there were fingerprints all over the "shiny parts" of the school-owned Bass. Thought I'd kill two birds with one stone and left it in the bathtub for half an hour. Amazingly, over the next year, only one pad ever fell out.
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Author: Dori
Date: 2004-10-09 00:55
Don't let my mother near an instrument. My brother's trumpet hadn't been played in years. Before sending it to my nephew, my mother felt it "wasn't shiny enough" and cleaned it with steel wool (shudder!). This took off all the finish so the "shiny" horn soon tarnished worse than before. My brother bought his son a new trumpet.
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Author: psychotic lil clarinet girl (don't as
Date: 2004-10-10 17:29
CLARINET HORROR STORIES! MAKE IT STOP! AH!!!!! Those poor poor clarinets! I mean THE HORROR!!!! AH!!!!! Don't even put a clarinet in someone's hands until they completely understand proper maintenance... AH! THAT'S JUST TERRIBLE!
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Author: avandiver
Date: 2004-10-10 17:32
Bet it would clean up real nice in an autoclave!!! Just kidding. Scares me to think what would happen to my Buffet R-13 Prestige in a dishwasher. .....Inner Screaming........... 
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2004-10-11 14:01
David -
I've also heard of the "can't leave the system" policy. I think it was instituted to prevent the underpaid enlisted personnel from being bribed to let go of good (or even worn out) federal property go at a bargain price. That doesn't explain all the "army surplus" stuff, though.
It does explain why when we were in high school we could never find any of the "brand new army jeeps packed in cosmoline" (whatever that was) that carless teens dreamed about.
At the end of WWII, Liberty ships were being turned out at the rate of one a day, and lots were left over. They were moored in various places -- for example, in the Tappan Zee area of the Hudson River, a few miles below West Point. They were never used, yet were sold off for scrap in the late 60s because of the "can't leave the system" policy. It's probably just as well, since they were undoubtedly full of asbestos.
Still, the thought of Mark VI saxes going into the crusher is very sad.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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