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Re: clean

Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2010-06-20 06:56

I have about 8 swabs I carry with me.

Avoiding any comments regarding how often do you swab the horn. I look at this differently. Your clarinet was set up, say from Selmer , Buffet, whomever, in dry conditions. The instruments are finely tuned to as little as 3 or 4 mm's in dry environmental conditions. So lets take just the bore of the horn. Water bubbles, water particles form throughout the horn so your intonation will change due to less volume in the bore. Most of you know you have to play the horn for a few minutes to warm it up, because it plays flat when cold. Thats true and adding moisture will make the horn play even higher in pitch. It's not unusual to play cold at 438 and after 5 minutes or so it's at 439. Added moisture can bring the pitch up to 441.

Hence the need to keep the horn as dry as possible.

You surely don't need 8 swabs, but I use 1 a day and run them through the washing machine at the end of the week. I can't handle looking at swabs that are all brown and gross looking.

With that said there is a great benefit in keeping the horns dry. The notes will remain stable and in tune as much as possible.

I won't get into the mouthpieces, because that wasn't the subject here.

Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces

Yamaha Artist 2015

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