 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: bwilber
Date: 2005-12-17 12:05
I am new to the board so maybe it's already been covered a hundred times, but just wanted to let everyone know how I "fixed" a clarinet that had turned brown, probably because of the torch heating it up during pad installation. I got an old plastic clarinet from ebay and it sounded great but I couldn't stand the ugly brown on the 2 keyed sections, so using fine sand paper and steel wool, I sanded it off, going straight up and down, as if it were a grain from wood. I took most of the keys and posts off, but I got tired of that and I used a small paring knife and scraped a lot of it inside the posts with the paring knife. When I got all done, I went over it with my 3 inch paint brush that I use that has key oil on it, and the paint brush with the oil in it, brought back the dark black color. I wiped off the excess oil. Then I did the same thing with the barrel and bell to dull them down and to also make them look more like wood. Judging by the color of the pads (leather) that are in the clarinet, I would say that most of the life of that clarinet was ugly, but with a couple hours of time and elbow grease, I now have a really great looking clarinet.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2005-12-17 14:52
Ebonite (hard rubber) turns brown and even green with age, but it's only the exposed surfaces that do, sunlight and cleaning in hot water can cause this discolouration as well.
Old mouthpieces with decorative ligatures (like the old B&H ones which have the letters BH on them, or Hawkes&Son with just the H) also leave a dark image of the ligature pattern under the ligature where there's little exposure to light.
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