 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Matt
Date: 2001-02-28 01:50
Hello all:
I keep seeing people say to not swab mouthpieces. Why not? Does it damage the bore? If so, how do you clean the mouthpiece?
Matt
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Author: Eoin McAuley
Date: 2001-02-28 06:59
My clarinet repair man says you should never use a pull-through swab on the mouthpiece. The mouthpiece is made from a softer material than the rest of the clarinet and could be pushed out of shape. He recommends just shaking any moisture out of it. I prefer to use paper tissues to clean it out, without using any great force.
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2001-02-28 10:46
Surely it depends on the bulk of your swab. If it runs through freely no harm can possibly be done.
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Author: Doug P
Date: 2001-02-28 13:46
I use a silk swab and I can assure you that a lifetime of pull-throughs would not wear the mouthpiece. It is possible that a cotton or felt swab may be more abrasive. One thing you particularly have to watch for is the weight - that can damage the mouthpiece if it is not rubber coated or fully wrapped in material.
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Author: Anji
Date: 2001-02-28 14:27
I come down squarely against pulling anything through the mouthpiece, silken or otherwise. Once a week, I wash it with soap and water, and let it air dry.
If you want an educated opinion, drop the Vandoren people or any of the Mouthpiece makers on the resource pages a line.
The dimensions are critical in a mouthpiece, that's why several in the same production run will sound different.
Think about a river running through a valley, the rate of erosion may not be perceptible, but it happens.
Why risk it?
Besides, if you give it a weekly bath the outside will get some needed attention.
anji
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Author: beecee
Date: 2001-02-28 15:09
With silk going through the mouthpiece, like water through a valley, we all will be long dead before you detect any erosion.
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Author: can't resist
Date: 2001-02-28 16:37
.. the silk covering their mouth, the hands hanging over their gun piece, swetting like hell at midday fire, they met in the dead valley, to detect the braves who would survive...swabbing.
sorry
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Author: joevacc
Date: 2001-02-28 16:57
I, too, used to swab my mouthpieces as carefully as possible- but have stopped at the advice of my teacher. As Anji says I think it is better to wash it and let the inside air dry. If you run a little luke warm water through after playing it will stay very clean and a good periodic old fashioned soap and water cleaning should do the trick.
Best
jv
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Author: Sara
Date: 2001-03-01 02:36
My teacher has only told me a couple things, the only eal big thing is top never pet the rubber coated weight throught hte mouthpiece, but instead to pudd the silk part through in stead and to soap it once in a while.
Sara
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2001-03-01 03:21
I agree totally with beecee.
Anji wrote "Once a week, I wash it with soap and water, and let it air dry"
I presume the water is chlorinated. It will very likely cause more chemical erosion than the physical erosion caused by the pull through. And does she use anything to apply the soap? More erosion?
Actually the slapping of the reed during playing would cause far more erosion. And so possibly would the signicant volume of air passing through.
We have to keep realistic about these things!
Believing something or being told it by a "teacher" does not necessarily make it true!
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Author: Anji
Date: 2001-03-01 11:14
Can you substantiate any of your claims about chemistry, physics, acoustics or the flat Earth.
Any of the elementary texts, going back to Langenus are clear about the handling of the mouthpiece. Keith Stein also chimes in about regularly replacing them (every two years or so of regular playing) because of minute dimensional changes.
Geyser.
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Author: beecee
Date: 2001-03-01 14:01
Well as a physics major yes, I also know a little about chemistry. Gordon is correct in stating that additives in the water may do more damage.
For erosion to occur, you must have friction (or chemistry). It is the dirt/sand and other things carried in water that does most of the erosion in nature (not all, most). Chemical reactions will also dissolve matter (water BTW is one of the best diluents).
When ones scraps a diamond across glass, there is erosion due to the friction involved between the two surfaces, and the glass is the one that erodes, due the hardness of the diamond. Now think about the hardness of hard rubber and silk. If the silk however has dirt/sand or other foreign matter embedded in it, then it will be that that scratches the mouthpiece, not the silk. That is why the advice in this thread is a clean silk swap, and a coated weight.
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Author: C. Hogue
Date: 2001-03-01 14:29
I learned in a graduate class on Earth resources that water is the world's best solvent. It may take time, but it dissolves rocks. I don't intend to have my mouthpiece as long as the Blue Ridges have been around, so I'm not too worried about chemical (water, chlorine, soaps) or physical (swabs) erosion.
The main point here is, swab or don't, to keep a mouthpiece clean -- molds and bacteria can secrete nasty substances as well as being icky in their own right -- and don't bounce it on the floor, which in an instant can wreak more damage than a swab or soapy water could do in many years.
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Author: Matt Locker
Date: 2001-03-01 15:52
Thanks all for an interesting discussion. Here are my plans, based on what i've heard:
I will see if Vandoren gives advice for starters.
I'm also going to continue swabbing my mouthpiece. I will not pull the swab all the way through - instead I will just bring it in far enough to lightly fill the mpc. This should be sufficient to dry it out but not wear on the bore.
Matt
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Author: Pam
Date: 2001-03-01 22:34
I swab mine once in a while, not every time. BUT... I personally, wouldn't worry about it. With all the talk on here about trying new mouthpieces, surely nobody keeps the same mouthpiece forever. Many of them are easy enough to replace unless you have something that is custom made for you.
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Author: Avi Rostov
Date: 2001-03-02 08:02
As a clarinetist and repair tech, I see this as other than an issue of the fine points a professional clarinetist might consider for the $100++ mouthpiece that has been carefully chosen and well loved. A careful wiping with handkerchief, Q-tip, silk, tee-shirt strip or whatever turns your crank along with a weekly rinse with mild soap and tepid water works just fine. The key word here is careful which I'm sure you will be. The no-swab message is for kids who are in a hurry, pull a swab up from the bottom of the mouthpiece, yank foreward and down on it and pop out a neat little half-circle of plastic, rendering the mouthpiece totally worthless. (It was probably nearly worthless in the first place.) To them we say: 1. Never use a swab to clean your mouthpiece. 2. Store your reed off your mtpc. 3. Weekly, rinse your mtpc with dish soap, tepid water (warm or cold could turn it a yucky brownish-green color) and, yes, a soft mtpc brush.
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Author: Anji
Date: 2001-03-02 14:32
Nice to hear a balanced opinion.
You should see the bucket brigade of tipless wonders at my local band-supply house.
anji
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