 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2008-06-29 17:26
Hi
Recently more people ask me about good swabs, and I just saw a clarinet ruined by a bad swab (the swab left fabric in the bottom of the tone holes that took some effort to clean). So I would like to know what is people's experience with good or bad swabs. I'm interested in swabs for both clarients and saxophones. I've read several older threads.
My favorite swab is the Vandoren Microfiber (red) which is only slightly big but being careful there is no problem, it is exellent and doesn't leave any fabric in the clarinet. From what I understand this is contantly out of stock here.
From what I remember (from some years ago) the regular Vandoren (maybe isn't made anymore?) and Buffet swabs are generally too big and not unlikely to get stuck.
I was told the silk swab from The Doctor is very good too, so I will try it. This is not comfortable for most people to buy, but I might order a few since I order stuff from him anyway. I have experience with a different silk swab (I think it was GEM) which isn't good at all.
One type that is often in stock here is BG. I saw one and it looked and felt more "towly" than the Vandoren Microfiber or any silk swab. I can't know if it doesn't leave fabric in the clarinet or not. Does anyone have any experience with it?
I was also told by several the HW pad savers are excellent but people here prefer swabs and mostly wouldn't use pad savers.
Thanks!
Nitai
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2008-06-29 18:12
My favourite swab is an old t-shirt (or parts thereof, depending on the size of the horn), 100 times washed and thus nearly lint-free. And it dries in one go.
New swabs don't cut it. I have to wash them at least three times till they've lost their water-repellant finishing. :-(
--
Ben
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Author: pewd
Date: 2008-06-29 18:33
i prefer silk - they never get stuck, and they don't leave fibers behind.
you can find 2 types - those with a rubber coated drop weight, and those with exposed metal or chains for drop weights. i don't like the metal - it can scratch the bore or the mouthpiece for those that insist on swabbing the mouthpiece.
the best i've found is the Gem Brand (silk).
Google 'Gem Clarinet Swab' and you'll find some vendors.
HTH
- Paul Dods
Dallas, Texas
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Author: hans
Date: 2008-06-29 18:55
Padsavers don't save pads unless the clarinet is swabbed dry first. They have a better "reach" into the toneholes but should be used in addition to - not instead of - a swab.
Having tried a number of swabs over the 49 years that I've been trying to play clarinet, I like silk the least because it isn't absorbent enough. Other fabrics don't get stuck if they are pulled through correctly, with the pull string along the side away from the register tube.
Hans
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Author: Keith P
Date: 2008-06-29 18:58
I recommend the Doctor's swab, it does the job and does it well and is of high quality.
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Author: alanporter
Date: 2008-06-29 19:00
I must be a philistine, I use soft plastic foam or sponge on a pull-through.
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Author: Ryder
Date: 2008-06-29 19:05
Tictactux said:
"New swabs don't cut it. I have to wash them at least three times till they've lost their water-repellant finishing."
That got me thinking. How does one wash a swab properly? I'm sure everyone has some different variotion but there must be some concensous on the basic way to do it.
I have a Doctor's Lengend swab. It fills the instrument well, as advertised, but never gets stuck. Only once have I gotten it stuck and that was my own fault for not ensuring that there wasn't a wad in the fabric. Luckily it is long enough that if you do get it stuck, it is easily reached by taking the instrument apart. I have thought that it could do a better job by washing it out several times as tictactux mentioned, much like a brand new bathroom towel.
____________________
Ryder Naymik
San Antonio, Texas
"We pracice the way we want to perform, that way when we perform it's just like we practiced"
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Author: GBK
Date: 2008-06-29 19:11
Ryder wrote:
> That got me thinking. How does one wash a swab properly?
Either wash it by hand or throw it in the washing machine in a sealed laundry bag or pillow case.
It ain't rocket science...GBK
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Author: Ryder
Date: 2008-06-29 19:21
GBK
I asked because I wasn't 100% sure about the effect that fabric soap and softeners could have on my clarinet both on the wood and keys (ie tarnish).
I figured it would be minimal at most, so i guess i'll just toss it in the wash a few times to soften it up so it'll absorb more.
____________________
Ryder Naymik
San Antonio, Texas
"We pracice the way we want to perform, that way when we perform it's just like we practiced"
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2008-06-29 19:24
GEM Silk all the way!!!
I spent years being obsessed with the highly absorbant models that felt tighter going through the bore, but now after several years of using these light weight GEMS I have found many advantages:
They dry the bore fine enough
Being thin silk they go through any bore, and as said above NEVER STICK
They DON'T leave any residue
Silk (and this is a BIGGY) dries VERY quickly, therefore are ready to go sooner than any other design styles.
You can run them through the mouthpiece as well with NO PROBLEM (just don't run the cord against the inner rails or tip rail).
Good swabbing !!!!
................Paul Aviles
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Author: Tobin
Date: 2008-06-29 19:36
I Second Paul's opinions on the matter.
But the next time I buy I'm going to try the Doctor's product!
James
Gnothi Seauton
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2008-06-29 19:39
> fabric soap and softeners
softeners? SOFTENERS? Who on earth still uses them?
--
Ben
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Author: Ryder
Date: 2008-06-29 19:59
I don't, heck I only seperate my clothes into two catagories before a wash. Some liquid soaps have softeners in them as do dryer sheets (besides the mountain spring smell).
____________________
Ryder Naymik
San Antonio, Texas
"We pracice the way we want to perform, that way when we perform it's just like we practiced"
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2008-06-29 20:27
Gem swabs are great. I agree with some others, they do the job great, never get stuck if you spread them out first and are not expensive. Maybe it's just me, but I almost never clean my swab. I guess I would if it had an odor of looked dirty but it doesn't. Silk is the way to go but not one with a bare metal weight. ESP
www.peabody.jhu.edu/457 (Listen to a little Mozart, live performance)
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Author: JJAlbrecht
Date: 2008-06-29 21:31
I prefer the Dorcor's Black Legend silk swab. Never had one get caught in a clarinet, yet. My daughter uses hers in a Bb, and A and an Eefer, it never gets vaught in any of the three. I used to use a Buffet cotton swab until one got stuck when it hung up on my register tube in my Bb. I ordered a Legend right after that and have never looked back.
Plus, the Doctor is a joy to deal with and stands behind all his products 100%. I spoke with him personally about the swabs, and they are a small-scale, hand-made operation. It's always a good thing to support a small, independent business!
Jeff
“Everyone discovers their own way of destroying themselves, and some people choose the clarinet.” Kalman Opperman, 1919-2010
"A drummer is a musician's best friend."
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Author: Lynn
Date: 2008-06-29 23:30
I, too, prefer the Doctor's "Black Legend." It seems to soak up residual water with only one pass through the horn, and an occasional wash job keeps it working like new. Now Doc..........would you please make one for BASS CLARINETS?
Lynn
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Author: swkeess
Date: 2008-06-30 01:26
I'll second that request! I love my Black Legend swab for soprano clarinet and would love to see one for bass clarinet, as well. It would be fantastic if it's long enough to pass through the entire bass clarinet (minus the neck and the bell) so I don't have to disassemble it entirely at rehearsal break to swab it out thoroughly.
Susan Keess
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Author: weberfan
Date: 2008-06-30 02:18
Favorites, for a wood Bb clarinet:
The Doctor's Black Legend silk swab. Other silk swabs I've used seem less substantial. I also still use the Vandoren microfiber swab, but carefully.
For a plastic/Resonite Bb clarinet:
Vandoren microfiber and, occasionally, a cotton swab. The moisture isn't absorbed in a plastic clarinet and pools in the barrel and around the side-key tone holes in particular. The cotton swab is the most absorbent. I sometimes start with that and then rely on the Vandoren swab for a final pass through. The less absorbent silk seems merely to redistribute some of the moisture.
As for cleaning swabs, I tend to let at least two weeks go by, even though I play for up to two hours a day. My early attempts at washing them together in the machine ended up with the swab strings entwined in a Gordian knot. Now, I slosh them in a plastic tub with a small amount of Woolite and hang them on the shower rod to dry.
Post Edited (2008-06-30 15:26)
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2008-06-30 03:28
Thanks. I'll try the Dcotor swab when I get a chance. Interesting that several like the GEM silk swab since as I mentioned in the first post that's exactly the one I didn't like.
Ben, sorry to be a little gross, but I never washed my (current) swab and it doesn't even look dirty. It has always been lint free so that's not a problem.
So no one has any experience with the BG swabs? That's what I'm most inetersted in since these are usually in stock here.
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Author: bmcgar ★2017
Date: 2008-06-30 04:17
I have it from the mouth (or rather, keyboard) of a well-known maker of fine clarinets that he's going to be including the BG microfiber swab with his clarinets now because, unlike the swab he has included in the past, the BG leaves nothing behind.
That said, I use the Doctor's silk swab on all three of the clarinets I've bought from the clarinet maker.
B.
Post Edited (2008-06-30 08:18)
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Author: BobD
Date: 2008-06-30 11:03
I dislike the word "swab" because back when I began the only "thing" used for cleaning the bore was the twisted wire thing with the cotton strings attached. THAT was called a SWAB. Today it seems common to refer to them as Pad Savers which confuses the issue since some still also call them swabs.
"I like silk the least because it isn't absorbent enough"
Evidently the writer comes from the school that believes it's an advantage to remove ALL the condensate. It's my belief that the "Pull Through" is supposed to spread the condensate around and remove most of it.
Hans....I use softener..especially on my shorts....Who still wears T-shirts? ....or washes them 100 times.
(but of course, you Swiss eat cheese with holes in it....)
Bob Draznik
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2008-06-30 11:30
> Who still wears T-shirts?
In my earlier job I got a lot of merchandise wear (I still have a Logitech AudioMan Tee that is now 16 years old). However I prefer plain ones over those with an oh-so-funny message or some stupid avertising.
> ....or washes them 100 times.
I don't really count, but I think after two two four years most of my often-worn garments have gone through 100 washing cycles. Same goes for my hankies. I still have some back from scool, and that was a quarter century ago...
> (but of course, you Swiss eat cheese with holes in it....)
A great way to save on calories! ![[tongue]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie6.gif)
--
Ben
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2008-06-30 11:51
I prefer a silk swab. It's easy to hand-wash it in room-temperature water with Woolite and let the swab air-dry. It dries quickly.
Sometimes when a lightweight cotton garment gets too shabby to wear any more, I think about using some of that fabric for swabs. Even though these types of clothes (summer nightgowns and shirts) have gone through the washer enough to be lint-free, I think loose threads could snag inside the clarinet. Hemming the edges makes the swab too bulky--and most of this fabric is so old that I suspect the register key tube could stab through the fabric and snag it. Therefore I've stuck with good old black silk.
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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Author: BobD
Date: 2008-06-30 22:44
Ben....sorry for the misnomer, Hans is another good guy.
Lelia...I agree, silk is best and I think black gives the clarinet a more sensuous sound.Although I do think the lint thing is not as serious as some make it out to be.
Bob Draznik
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2008-07-01 05:18
Hi Bob
I wrote "swab" because that's how I've seen them called but since it's my second langauge I have no how it really "sounds" like. I don't think it removes all the water but I like that it removes a lot of it fast. I rarely need to do more than one pass and never more than two with my swab/pull through. But pad saver is something different. It's mostly similar to a pipe or bottle brush but with soft and absorbant bristles.
>> do think the lint thing is not as serious as some make it out to be.
You wouldn't think that if you saw the clarinet I recently saw. It had a nest of dirt at the bottom of most of the tone holes and was very stuffy and flat especially but not only in the throat note. If the player removed the keys to clean it (which can already be problematic for some players) they wouldn't be able to clean it with ear cleaners or pipe cleaners, which is probably how they would have tried. In this case a bad swab resulted in a player using an instrument in bad condition and not even knowing it, since it was supposedly repaired before (but really wasn't).
>> cheese with holes in it....
A couple of decades ago when I was very little I always asked my parents to buy the cheese with holes in it because I only wanted to eat the holes 
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Author: pewd
Date: 2008-07-01 05:50
>twisted wire thing with the cotton strings attached
bob, you just dated youself
thats all i had growing up - one of those 'twisted wire things'.
nasty beasts - my case always had a , hm, er, 'distinctive' odor when i was a kid.
i have one of the dr's swabs, but can't say i prefer it as its in my Forte' case, which I only play in summer concerts when its really hot ; so I don't use it often enough to have a final opinion - my limited experence with it is that the dr's swabs are very good.... i need to put it into daily use to see how well it holds up.
- Paul Dods
Dallas, Texas
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Author: mrn
Date: 2008-07-01 20:37
pewd wrote:
> >twisted wire thing with the cotton strings attached
>
> bob, you just dated youself
> thats all i had growing up - one of those 'twisted wire
> things'.
> nasty beasts - my case always had a , hm, er, 'distinctive'
> odor when i was a kid.
I had one of those, too. It was awfully gross! It came with my first clarinet (which I bought used). The first thing my teacher had me do was go out and buy a new handkerchief-style swab and a tube of chap-stick-style cork grease (as I recall, it came with some grease you had to dip your finger in to use). I don't have that instrument anymore, but from reading old posts on here I figured out it must have not only pre-dated me, but my teacher as well! :-) It's probably a collector's item by now...
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2008-07-01 21:12
> a tube of chap-stick-style cork grease (as I recall, it came with some grease
> you had to dip your finger in to use)
I still buy that kind of grease (but it's not the stinkin' white stuff). A finger does a better job of spreading the grease than a chapstick.
--
Ben
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Author: alanporter
Date: 2008-07-01 21:29
For my bass clarinet I use paint rollers, the small ones about four inches long and just over an inch in diameter. I thread a piece of plastic coated clothes hanger wire through them, with a loop at each end for connecting to the pull-through. They are quite absorbent, and if I use three of them in succession, the bore seems to be quite dry.
tiaroa@shaw.ca
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Author: Jameslyons
Date: 2008-07-02 17:18
I use a felt basic swab for my basic clarinet. My cousin who has been playing for several years and owns a professional grade LeBlanc uses silk. He swears by them.
But he also swabs every twenty or so minutes of playing. I don't want to give the impression that the silk swab absorbs less than the felt though. I was speaking with a clarinet technician about my cousin's swabbing habit and he commented that it sounded a bit obsessive.
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Author: Ryder
Date: 2008-07-02 20:54
Jameslyons,
I'm not to familiar with the anatomy of a Bass Clarinet, but I swab my Soprano as often as every 15 to 20 minutes. In my case I do it to prevent gurggling in the tone holes and sticking pads.
It's not that his swab doesn't absorb well, he just wants to make sure he has the least amount of condensation possible to prevent problems.
Some would even go as far to say that condensation affects the sound and response of the clarinet. You'd be surprised how fast condensation builds up. I have found that when my articulation starts to become labored swabbing seems to improve it. As far as tone goes though, I can't say wether or not it helps.
____________________
Ryder Naymik
San Antonio, Texas
"We pracice the way we want to perform, that way when we perform it's just like we practiced"
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2008-07-02 20:58
> I'm not to familiar with the anatomy of a Bass Clarinet
My low Eb doubles as a water key.
I always swab in the intermission or rehearsal break. Else the usual suspects are waterlogged worse than when you'd play without interruption.
--
Ben
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