 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: BbBob
Date: 2011-07-09 09:28
Hi
I am intending to completely renovate a relatively old wooden clarinet. I have done this many times with plastic ones but am unsure as to how to strip the wood prior to re oiling. The barrels are very dirty and I actually prefer to see the grain in the wood. Any suggestions would be most appreciated, many thanks.
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2011-07-09 15:07
I usually remove the keys and screws, then carefully scrub the parts in soapy water using something like a soft toothbrush for the outside and give the bores a good swabbing. Pay particular attention to inside the sockets. I use alcohol swabs to remove old grease, and also to clean the tone holes. If the joint corking is functional, use alcohol swabs to clean the cork up. This may loosen the cork, if it does it needed replacing anyway. Let the parts air-dry for a couple of days, then oil the bore using your choice of oil. At this point I polish the posts and rings with white compound using a stitched cotton disc on a Dremel. Carefully rag the outside of the joints using some cotton ragging tape about 1-2 cm wide. I raided my wifes needlework box for mine. Be very careful around the springs, and check them out. Replace as necessary. Have fun.
Tony F.
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2011-07-09 15:39
If the wood is filthy, I like to give it a bath with Murphy's Oil Soap mixed with room temperature water. Murphy's is sold for cleaning wooden furniture. I haven't seen damage to wooden clarinets with this product.
First I remove all the keys. I use a soft rag for cleaning and I don't ever leave the wood to soak in the water. For the inside of the bore, I made a pull-through rag by attaching the string from a defunct silk swab to a piece of thin cotton cloth (a piece cut out of a worn-out flannel shirt). This swab fits the bore more tightly than a silk swab because the fabric is heavier, and therefore it does a better job of removing crud than a silk swab that's only meant for removing moisture -- but I take out the register tube before using the heavier rag or else the tube will get caught. If the inside of the bore is seriously crudded-up, then I use a bottle-brush that I covered with a flannel "sock" that I can remove and wash separately later. I don't like using a bottle-brush without a covering because I'm afraid the bristles might scratch the wood.
A pipe cleaner that's much thicker than normal (sold in craft shops) works well to clean the insides of the tone holes -- just make sure the pipe cleaner is soft material anywhere it touches the wood. (Beware of pipe cleaners with metal twists sticking out.)
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
Post Edited (2011-07-09 15:42)
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Author: BobD
Date: 2011-07-09 15:44
Cotton cheesecloth is good too in place of any other cloth for cleaning...
plastic cheesecloth is not too good
Bob Draznik
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Author: Simon Aldrich
Date: 2011-07-09 16:12
I have a 6-key boxwood Martin & Freres C clarinet from the first part of the 19th century that I got off eBay because it was dirty, padless and the barrel was cracked.
With regards to cleaning the sockets, toneholes and bore, is there any reason not to treat boxwood as described in the replies above?
Thanks,
Simon
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Author: jbutler ★2017
Date: 2011-07-14 00:32
Murphy's will dry the wood out quite a bit. I stopped using it because of that. I don't wash clarinet bodies unless they are really seriously filthy. I find using Orange-Glo wood cleaner works very well if only midly dirty. It also cleans off polishing compouds and tone holes as well.
jbutler
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Author: SteveG_CT
Date: 2011-07-14 13:14
The wood cleaner from Doctor's Products works very well. I've used it to restore a nice luster to some pretty nasty looking clarinets before.
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2011-07-14 13:35
It's true that Murphy's will dry the wood, but not nearly as much as, for instance, dish detergent or laundry detergent. Generous application of bore oil will take care of the dryness. I think oiling is a good idea anyway if the clarinet was so filthy it needed washing out with water.
With a clarinet in normal used condition ("fair wear"), I only clean the wood with a damp rag (and a damp rag on a pull-through for the bore) and then follow that with a rag with bore oil. That mild treatment will clean out a lot of lightweight crud. The bore oil itself has some cleaning properties because it dampens the dirt and helps it slide off the wood more easily.
I'd prefer to go no further than the damp rag treatment, but some of my finds, especially the ones that came with no cases, have been so dirty that they needed a real scrubbing. I picked an estate sale garage recently where I found a wooden clarinet, fully assembled with a reed on the mouthpiece, propped in an open box full of miscellaneous stuff -- including an abandoned mouse nest. There were mouse droppings along with long-dried leaves, moldy shreds of paper (from the nest) and other dirt and debris inside the clarinet. Pretty good place for mama mouse to shelter her babies, I guess. The reed had turned totally black. I also found the clarinet case, closed, still in pretty good condition inside, lying right next to that mess in the open box! The nesting-material the box was sheet music and beginner books (Rubank, etc.), partially shredded and moldy, with more mouse droppings and yellow stains: unsalvagable. Too bad.
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: BartHx
Date: 2011-07-14 15:57
I have used Lelia's technique several times with good success followed by generous use of The Dr's. bore oil inside and out. Keep applying the oil until a thin layer remains on the surface after sitting overnight. The Dr's. wood cleaner also works well. My only variation (as a science teacher) is to use an appropriate sized test tube brush for the bore. Use a test tube brush of appropriate size and natural bristles. Then you just need to protect the end of the brush where the wire is bent over to end it. If you get a new brush, the bristles usually adequately protect the wire. I have seen no scratching problems with natural bristles and the right size brush.
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