 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: ClariBone
Date: 2005-10-20 14:52
Hello!!
I will be playing an A clarinet in a church orchestra soon. The clarinet was pulled from the depths of locker 125 at my high school, and hasn't been used in years. It smells really bad. Is that because its old (and wooden)?? The orchestra director, a clarinet player, said thwat they have smelled like that for years. It kinda smells like urine. Can this smell be eliminated?? Please Help.
Clayton
P.S. I searched the BBoard and couldn't find any relevant information.
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2005-10-20 15:03
I'd flush it.
Take it to a repair shop and have them clean it out completely and replace the case with a $35 replacement case (wwbw.com has several). You can expect to have to replace all of the pads too.
You could easily spend over $150 getting it cleaned up, maybe even over $200. The case holds a TON of odor so that would be the first thing to get rid of.
Good repair tech will really get it clean both inside and out. Have the director foot the bill if it's a school instrument as it will be "usable" once again.
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Author: L. Omar Henderson
Date: 2005-10-20 15:10
(Disclaimer - I sell a wood cleaner and case odor eliminator)
The problems may be multiple for the smell - some can be fixed, others require a little more fixing. The smell can come from mold growth either in the case or in particulates (skin debris or food particles) left in the clarinet and mouthpiece. The wood of the clarinet can be cleaned with a solution designed for woodwind instruments. Often however the "smell" has gotten into the pads and they will have to be replaced because merely cleaning the pads often does not remove odors which seep into the pad backing. The case can be cleaned and dodorized too to kill mold and mold spores - most often this is successful, sometimes a new case is required. Since the wood is so dense in clarinets they rarely retain odors that surface cleaning does not eliminate - even smoke odors can be eliminated by throughly cleaning the wood. So, clean the wood, mouthpiece thoroughly, clean the case and then see if the smell has gone away. As a last resort get new pads.
L. Omar Henderson
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2005-10-20 15:46
Certain odours do penetrate the wood - my old Centered Tones still retain their old smell which was released when I bushed and recut the toneholes (and that was going into about 3-4mm into the wood for the bushes), not an unpleasant smell but a fragrant one that I can live with.
And when I refitted the bell rings I turned down the bottom part of the bell below the bell ring to refit them, the wood dust produced and the fresh wood still had the same smell the original case had, but with probably more intensity, like I said, it isn't an unpleasant smell at all. Imagine an old Buescher or similar sax still in it's original purple velvet lined case, and the smell is similar - rather sweet smelling - and non-descript, just an old smell.
Whereas the 1962 Buffet Eb I've just rebuilt still has some of the less pleasant old smell from the case, which I've binned - I assume it belonged to a marching band so the chances are it wasn't all that well maintained by player after player.
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Author: Bassie
Date: 2005-11-14 09:39
Old hard-rubber mouthpieces have a particularly remarkable smell - just age, sulphur and chemistry. As far as I know, they're safe to play on.
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Author: pewd
Date: 2005-11-14 15:01
in addition to the case, replace the cork grease and swab cloth
- Paul Dods
Dallas, Texas
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Author: ClariBone
Date: 2005-11-14 21:19
Thanks to all who have responded! I'm currently airing out the case. Will report back...
Clayton
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2005-11-15 04:34
I would air the clarinet and get a new case. Like David said, I'm pretty sure the case is where the smell comes from, and as long as the clarinet is in that case the smell will get to the clarinet too.
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Author: FrankM
Date: 2005-11-15 14:39
I remember reading a comment by Pete Fountain about Irving Fazola's clarinet, which he inherited.....evidently Irving liked garlic, and Pete said after a few minutes of playing Irving's clarinet the garlic smell would "reek" havoc !
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Author: DougR
Date: 2005-11-16 14:23
I think the case is THE major culprit, and having used the Doctor's case deodorizer I can tell you that it works really well. And it might be worthwhile to see if you can gently pry the case interior out of the case shell (my 1950s-era Noblet case came apart this way all by itself) and give it a good spritz with the deodorizer (I suppose Febrize--or however it's spelled--would work too, costume shops keep a lot of Febrize around to deodorize period costumes, which as you can imagine pick up lots of odors in their long lives). I think case-blocking material is usually wood, and usually tacked together as a unit before it's inserted in the case, and then it's usually (again, based on my ancient Noblet) glued into the case shell. It helps if the glue deteriorates to the point where a little careful prying with a spatula or thin screwdriver will break what's left of the bond between the case shell and the blocking insert, so that the insert pops right out.
good luck--if you find any "treasures" or under the case blocking, let us know!
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