 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Ken Rasmussen
Date: 2000-11-11 03:28
I'm very new to bass clarinet. What maintenance is recommended for the bell and neck? I'm accustomed to swabbing out the wooden part of the horn, but should the metal be swabbed too? I just got a swab, and it is long enough to fit through the entire horn, but when I tried to shake the weight through everything it didn't want to go through all the bends. When I took the neck off and tried to run the swab through it wouldn't fit, though there wouldn't be a bit of difficulty in running a soprano clarinet swab through the neck if there were any reason for doing so. The bass clarinet swab doesn't scrub the bell effectively enough to do anything of consequence, so if that were important to swab it would probably require a third swab. . . . So what matters?
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Author: Aaron
Date: 2000-11-11 08:06
Well I would definately use the swab on the bbody of the insturment. With the bell I would use the same swab, take off the ball and feed the swab through the large end of the bell making shure to get the moisture from the bend in the bell and from around the pad on that part of the insturment if there is one.
For the neck I would swab it. Even though it IS metal, it would help keep down on any excesssive grungy buildup in the neck, and also help cut down on corosion(check spelling). If you would ever see any high school or college bass of any age you would know what i mean. But a good silk swab for the bass is a definate and a smaller old Bb silk one for the neck. But note NEVER PULL THE SWAB THROUGH THE MOUTHPIECE! just me getting on my soap box again.
Aaron
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Author: Lelia
Date: 2000-11-11 13:07
From my experience with saxophones, I definitely recommend swabbing anything that can be swabbed! Metal tubes get nasty inside, the same as wood. I live in a humid climate. I restored a 1920s Conn stencil ("Grand Opera") C-Melody saxophone that had evidently been put away damp. A rubbery, fist-sized shelf fungus had grown in the curve of the bell. Eeeeewwww. For cleaning out old saxophone necks, you just about need a barf bag as part of the equipment. The stink can transfer itself to the reeds and the fabric inside the case, too. I swab the neck and bell of my alto clarinet without fail.
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