 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: stuper1
Date: 2010-06-05 02:02
I'm an adult beginner. Been playing about 6 months on a Buffet B12 plastic clarinet and having a great time. I'm starting to think about getting a wood clarinet. However, I read somewhere that it's not good to leave a wood clarinet assembled between practice sessions. I'm a busy family man, so I just leave my B12 set up all the time, except when I go to my lessons. I do take off the mouthpiece and dry the reed and mouthpiece and swab the body after each session. This saves me a precious few minutes at the beginning and end of my usually too brief practice sessions.
So, here's my question: is this true what I read somewhere that a wood clarinet should be fully dissassembled after each practice session?
Thanks!
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Author: JJAlbrecht
Date: 2010-06-05 02:52
Al clarinets should be disassembled after playing. Especially wooden ones! If moisture collects in the sockets and you don't address the problem, you could damage the wood.
Jeff
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2010-06-05 02:54
Ideally yes, because wood swells when wet............problem..........the cork will compress and then not provide a firm enough assembly after awhile. Not a problem you'd be familiar with using a plastic horn.
.............Paul Aviles
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Author: chris moffatt
Date: 2010-06-05 03:18
You may also get another problem - if the wood swells you might not be able to get the horn apart easily and this can lead to bent keywork when you try to muscle it apart
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Author: jasperbay
Date: 2010-06-05 05:04
While all the problems listed by previous posters can occur,I leave several wood Bb and Eb alto clarinets assembled for spur of the moment play, and have experienced no problems in several years. If I plan on leaving a wood clarinet assembled for long periods, I use the soft tacky wax (from wax rings sold in hardware stores to seal the toilet/floor connection) for cork grease, to seal water out of the joints, and wood end grain. Good practice is to run a pull-thru swab through the horn if you play more than a few minutes.
I think you also have to be willing to replace cork should it become compressed from leaving assembled. High quality cork, and a non-absorbing cork lube minimize, but may not entirely eliminate the problem.
I , too, started out with a B-12 several years ago, but enjoy the more mellow sound of a 'woody'. Leaving the instruments assembled, as you suggest, does allows me to practice more than I would otherwise, so the possable 'downside' risk is acceptable to me. I don't think I'd treat a $3000 clarinet this way, but you might consider something like a B&H Edgware, 2-20,or a Conn 424, both having a slightly larger bore than your B-12, for a different , but wonderful sound. They're often on 'the online auction site' very reasonable, especially if you're willing to repad it yourself.
Clark G. Sherwood
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Author: Plonk
Date: 2010-06-05 08:08
I also leave my wooden (Yamaha) clarinet assembled frequently. I've had it for about 25 years and although it's got a fine crack in it (which has always been there as far as I can remember), the crack never gets worse and the tenon cork is fine. I don't have it assembled all the time - but like you I'm a parent and can only find time here and there throughout the day to pick up and play, and having the instrument assembled already and on view is a good motivator too! (When I was a kid I left it assembled due to laziness....)
I would try to find a nice compromise. Put it away at the end of the day (most days), but leave it assembled throughout the day. That works for me.
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Author: pewd
Date: 2010-06-05 14:33
2nd what David said.
Examine the tenon sockets on your horn - if you see wet, gelatinous gunk in there, you're not cleaning your instrument out properly, and its probably full of bacteria and mold, and no telling what else
I leave mine assembled at times in the studio, but, after playing, I swab it, disassemble, dry out the tenon sockets, grease the corks, then reassemble it and put it back on a peg. So if I do leave it assembled overnight, its clean and dry. And in a corner of the studio where there will be no chance of a passerby tripping over it.
Really, its better to put it up after every practice session.
- Paul Dods
Dallas, Texas
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2010-06-05 14:48
It takes me less then one minute to put my clarinet away if I don't have to dry some pads, in which case it many take two minutes. I suggest you take the one minute to take it apart. Better to be careful then regretful later. ESP http://eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: Plonk
Date: 2010-06-05 15:04
I agree it only takes a few minutes.
I don't know about the original poster, but for me, those few minutes all add up. I've got 2 small children and when I play they are usually under my feet, poking things into the bell etc. I'm lucky if I can play for 10 minutes without a break if my 3-year-old daughter is in the house.
I keep the clarinet on its stand, and out of reach, and if I have 5 minutes when I think I might be able to play, I grab it and have a go. If I had to assemble/disassemble the instrument each time I literally would not have time to play it.
If you don't have the luxury of time on your side, leaving the clarinet assembled is a good compromise. It doesn't mean you don't have to clean it!
For those that are worried about bacteria, I think actually there is a lot more yucky stuff being re-inhaled while you're playing. You blow down the tube and bacteria and food particles go with your breath. While the instrument is roughly the same temperature as your body (i.e. while you're playing it), those bacteria are in an ideal breeding ground. After a couple of hours of playing, who knows how many times they have multiplied, and then you go and suck the moisture out of the intrument - go figure!
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Author: jasperbay
Date: 2010-06-05 15:23
I've disassembled wood clarinets (joints sealed with toilet-ring wax)after several months of playing (and swabbing after use) to find that no moisture, bacteria,grunge, etc. had penetrated the joint, and that whatever is used to soften and 'tackify'the beeswax had not migrated out of the wax and into the cork, where it might be harmful to the cork.
I'll post a long-term report in a year or so, as to its effect on both old and new cork, and how 'compressable' the cork is.
It's worth pointing out, that I'm not encouraging anyone to leave their clarinet assembled, if they're willing to spend the time to dissasemble and thoroughly dry their well-loved instrument. There are a great many people out there, like myself and the original poster, however,who would not play a wooden clarinet at all if they were forced to adhere to the rigid, high-maintenance practices advocated by the symphony players out there. I believe thats why valuable wooden clarinets go so cheap on "the auction site", and why the clarinet has not achieved the popularity it deserves, in terms of playablity and lovely sound.
A last point, as Dave Spiegelthal has pointed out, you can enjoy the mellow sound of a wooden clarinet, but with lower maintenance and guilt, with a hard rubber (or ebonite, or Greenline) horn. The more I play on hard rubber, the more I suspect they sound as good (or maybe even better! Who plays on a wood mouthpiece anymore?) as wood, though admittedly lacking somewhat in "character".
Clark G. Sherwood
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2010-06-05 17:04
Now don't let us get over board with all that yucky things that might (or might not) reside in the sockets of our clarinets.
First of all, you're blowing the air away from you, so you're not actively ingesting those germs. Second, what attacks you on a busy Saturday in a busy shopping mall is probably far, far worse. Third, they are most certainly germs that our immune system is familiar with (I'd think we're the ones who inadvertedly put them there in those nicks, crannies and sockets in the first place)
However, common sense would suggest that stuff that accumulates tends to get stationary and increasingly difficult to remove. Plus, as stated above, cork doesn't like to stay compressed over extended periods of time and will deteriorate. Disassembling the clarinet and cleaning the sockets is an additional two minute task and might save you from having your corks replaced prematurely. I think our instruments should be worth that bit of daily care, be they wooden, plasticky or made from metal.
--
Ben
Post Edited (2010-06-05 17:05)
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