 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: moolatte
Date: 2009-02-25 23:57
My director tells me that swabbing out the mouthpiece will warp the shape of the mouthpiece. Is this true? If so, are there any alternatives to a mouthpiece brush which I can use for this week only or so?
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Author: NBeaty
Date: 2009-02-26 02:02
It is a bad idea to swab your mouthpiece on any regular basis. It will gradually change the inside shape (minute changes have much larger impact on sound than you might think).
Q-Tips are best for cleaning mouthpieces. I usually take 4 or 5 of them once a week, wet the mouthpiece (trying to avoid getting the cork soaked in water) and lightly clean out the inside of the mouthpiece as well as the table.
When I put my clarinet away every day, i wipe off the table and rails (even if it's just a once-over with my hand) to remove any foreign debris that could hurt the mouthpiece.
If you do this regularly, you wont have to fuss with chemicals and such.
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Author: kdk
Date: 2009-02-26 02:55
I'm going to raise some players' hackles.
It's an odd thing that, although I've played the clarinet for about 50 years and studied at various times with several excellent players, I never heard any warnings about swabbing my mouthpiece out until I started reading them here on the BB and in other Internet discussion areas over the past 10 years or so. It may well be that constant swabbing, especially with a commercial clarinet swab that's large enough to make good contact with the sides of the clarinet, might over a lot of time end up removing material from the tighter bore and chamber of a mouthpiece, and I've backed off swabbing mine out more often than every few days, just to be safe. That said, though, the chances that you'll still be playing on the same mouthpiece long enough for swabbing to make a difference, if it does, are small - most players change mouthpieces at least once or twice in their lives as active players (amateur or pro), most more often.
I can imagine that any buildup of salivary mineral deposits (which don't evaporate with the water) would make at least as much difference as material loss caused by swabbing (which is why I soak my mouthpiece in vinegar every so often). I really think this is one of those ideas that some players are sure is real but which no one has really measured and demonstrated conclusively. Mouthpieces can seem to change over time for many reasons, not the least of which are changes in the player's approach or expectations. If you want to feel safe, minimize swabbing and find other ways (such as NB's Q-tips or just air drying before packing the mouthpiece up) to dry it. By all means, avoid carelessly dropping a metal weight through the mouthpiece carelessly so that the metal hits or in any way contacts the rails.
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Author: bmcgar ★2017
Date: 2009-02-26 07:15
If you do a search, you'll find this same subject in previous posts.
Summary:
- No real data presented proving that continual careful swabbing of a mouthpiece has any significant negative consequences over the long term (just lots of opinions).
- Despite the input of several excellent, high-profile mouthpiece makers and refacers here who say to go ahead and swab, many others still vociferously maintained that it hurts, but weren't able to providing real data, nor were they willing to listen to words of wisdom from those closest and most expert at working with mouthpiece dimensions.
Conclusion:
Swab or don't swab, according to your emotional reaction to the idea.
B.
Post Edited (2009-02-26 07:18)
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Author: Roger Aldridge
Date: 2009-02-26 16:22
Something that makes logical sense to me is to use a silk swab for mouthpieces that is smaller than the one designed for the bore of the particular instrument.
For swabbing my clarinet mouthpieces I use a piccolo silk swab. It takes several run-throughs to dry the inside of the mouthpiece. However, it works perfectly fine and I don't have a large amount of unnecessary swab material going through the mouthpiece.
In a similar way, I've found a clarinet swab to be a good size for swabbing tenor saxophone mouthpieces. For bass clarinet I use a silk bass clarinet swab for both the mouthpiece and the instrument. Works fine.
Roger
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Author: iloveclary
Date: 2009-02-26 23:56
I've only been playing clarinet for about four years now, but I've never heard that before. I've always swabbed the inside of my mouthpiece. I don't do it religiously, but enough to keep the inside of the mouthpiece sanitary. I would say that it's your decision.
high school clarinetist
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2009-02-27 02:18
Here we go again. I've been playing on the same clarinet mouthpiece now for about 20 years; I swab it out every time, maybe 20-30 times a week, never a problem. If you do it correctly it will never be a problem as long as you use a soft swab, silk preferred, nothing to thick and you go through the bore side and make sure you pull it through the flat side of the mouthpiece so you don't pull it over the facing by the tip. Of course make sure the weight is not metal so you don't scratch it. Good mouthpieces are made from very hard material and perhaps after the 2nd or 3rd million time you might so a minuscule difference but by that time you would have no idea how it played a hundred years before. I swab, you can swab, just use common sense when you do. I even swab my bass and Eb mouthpieces. ESP www.peabody.jhu.edu/457
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Author: Geirskogul
Date: 2009-02-27 03:38
Jesus, saying that swabbing out a mouthpiece will damage it is like saying running a cloth through a pvc pipe will eventually turn it inside out. Unless you cram a 2'x6' wool cloth through the thing, NOTHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN.
Give it a rest and go back to watching out for black cats and broken mirrors, you superstitious people!
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Author: BobD
Date: 2009-02-27 11:50
"Lips that touch a dirty mouthpiece will never touch mine." Ophelia
Bob Draznik
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2009-02-28 16:06
We are led to believe that the interior diameter and shape of barrels is absolutely critical.
If people are worried about changing the shape inside the mouthpiece by swabbing, then they should be equally worried about the barrel.
I agree with Ed.
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Author: Old Geezer
Date: 2009-02-28 19:51
Swabbing out a clarinet mouthpiece, with a small chamois pull through, might change it's shape after a period of time; say in about 150 years.
Ths strictures against swabbing a mouthpiece are just another modern fad (abberation).
Clarinet Redux
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2009-02-28 20:12
> If people are worried about changing the shape inside the mouthpiece by
> swabbing, then they should be equally worried about the barrel.
...or their oral (and dental) cavities...
--
Ben
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Author: NBeaty
Date: 2009-02-28 21:54
Even if, for argument's sake, it can do absolutely nothing to the inside of the mouthpiece by swabbing it, there's one factor that hasn't been discussed.
If you swab the clarinet with the mouthpiece on it (in order to clean\dry the mouthpiece), what direction is the mouthpiece pointing? Towards the floor. Personally, I'd rather not have my mouthpiece pointed towards the floor (or music stand\chair for that matter).
With the mouthpiece apart from the rest of the clarinet, there's a chance the mouthpiece could fall during the swabbing process.
IMO, it's an unnecessary risk.
Perhaps others are less of a "Klutz" than me and don't need to worry about dropping irreplaceable items =)
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Author: jsc
Date: 2009-02-28 23:06
If you swab the clarinet while it's in piece, do you also wipe the excess at the joints when you take it apart? Remember, you want everything dry enough before storage. I did have a teacher that went step by step with me. Without going into detail, the key thing that I remember was to pull the swab in the direction of the air flow.
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Author: 78s2CD
Date: 2009-03-01 04:27
What I hear is that the argument against swabbing is that damage may occur due to stresses applied. The argument in favor is that leaving "condensation" in the mouthpiece may cause deposits to build up. I regularly insert the corner of a microfiber cleaning cloth into the bottom of the mouthpiece and dry the moisture without actually pulling the cloth through. No stress, no condensation.
Regards,
Jim
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Author: BobD
Date: 2009-03-01 11:29
It's probably not a good idea to swab the horn with the mp attached. "Which" direction to swab is a favorite discussion here......like which leg do you insert first into your trousers. Mouthpieces are like pets....we believe they are irreplaceable.
Bob Draznik
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2009-03-01 11:36
I just hold the clarinet bell-up, insert the swab rope/weight first and pull it through the still attached mouthpiece. The bell funnels the swab in a nice way so that it won't get stuck. Then I take the clarinet apart and dry sockets and tenons with kitchen paper. That's it. I see no harm in this procedure.
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Ben
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Author: skygardener
Date: 2009-03-01 12:05
I had a classmate in college that dropped the string from bell to mouthpiece and pulled it out in one quick, violent tug. In less than 2 semesters, her new mouthpiece had obvious erosion.
When I clean a mouthpiece I use an oboe swab or just water or q-tips for the grime in the corners. I only do this about once a month.
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2009-03-01 13:02
> quick, violent tug
Eww. If one tends to go berserk with delicate apparatuses, one better buys an anvil. There are even a few orchestra calls for it. ![[tongue]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie6.gif)
--
Ben
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Author: 78s2CD
Date: 2009-03-02 17:30
The most compelling argument, it seems to me, for swabbing in the direction of air flow is that the swab is most likely to get stuck a) on the register vent tube, and b) where the bore gets smaller. If you are pulling the swab toward the bell and it gets stuck on the vent tube, you can pull it back out. As stated previously, I prefer to wipe out, not swab out the mouthpiece.
Best regards,
Jim
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Author: BobD
Date: 2009-03-03 17:27
A neat adaptation some people use is to attach a "string" to the back end of the swab just in case it gets stuck. In my experience chamois swabs are especially prone to getting stuck. A violent tug from bell to mp carries the danger of pulling the mp off the horn and maybe sending it into outer space.
Bob Draznik
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Author: kdk
Date: 2009-03-04 00:49
Anthony Gigliotti actually marketed a silk swab that had pulls on both ends for just this reason. I haven't noticed that they're still being sold, but mayebe they are.
Karl
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