 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: alto gether
Date: 2013-02-10 03:49
I use a silk bass clarinet swab with a foot and a half of extra cord. Drop in in from the bell end (first removing the bell) and wiggle until the weight works its way around the curve and out the non-removable part of the neck. Pull gently until the swab emerges, only this time part of it declined to emerge. I suppose it's snagged on the upper register vent.
This must have happened before. Maybe it's safer to start at the mouthpiece end, but that's hindsight. What do I do now? Remove the neck myself, take it to the tech, pull until I break something, pour in silk-dissolver, fish for the bitter end of the swab with a hook, press the hidden button that retracts the register vent? Ideas? Experience? Thanks!
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2013-02-10 05:26
>>Maybe it's safer to start at the mouthpiece end, but that's hindsight. <<
Usually it is much safer for this reason, yes. Some people claim some disadvantages to that and in theory they are right, but IME doing this for decades and seeing many others do it, there are no problems at all as long as the swab as good.
For the Bundy contra alto, I don't remember exactly how the neck works. What is necessary to do if you want to remove the entire neck? If desoldering is required then I might prefer to swab from the bell side after all. If screws or something like that, then I'd prefer to swab from the neck side.
However IMO it is best to just find with a cord on both sides and swab from the neck side. Or at least a swab that will still stick out from the top if it gets stuck.
Re removing it, can you see where it is stuck? Assuming it is not past the curve, or at least a significant amount of the stuck swab is still before the curve (from the bell side), I'd use a long metal rod with a screw at the end, screw it into the stuck swab and pull. This has never failed me for swabs that seemed hopeless. I'd disassemble the middle of the body (connected with some screws).
If someone with a better memory posts about how the neck is completely removed, then if it's not especially complicated then maybe I'd first remove the neck and and try to push a little bit. But pushing can sometimes just squish the swab and not really try to remove it.
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Author: Wes
Date: 2013-02-10 06:13
Yes, the neck is easily removeable on the Bundy contra alto, on mine.
However, if I had this problem on mine, I would take it apart at the middle joint using an Allen wrench of the proper size. Then, I would make a swab remover by soldering a wood screw with removed head on to the end of a long brass rod. Screwing the rod into the swab will allow you to remove it by screwing it into the swab and pulling. You may have to try several places on the stuck swab before it will come out.
If you can't do this, take it to a good repair person to remove the swab.
It is necessary to swab these instruments as the saliva and water will roughen the interior surface of the upper joint, causing it to sound less focussed. I've seen that on school instruments. I've always removed the bell and neck to swab mine out.
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2013-02-10 12:10
>> I've always removed the bell and neck to swab mine out. >>
Same here.
>> ... pour in silk-dissolver ...>>
Please don't! Anything powerful enough to destroy silk will probably destroy your pads, too -- and could do other damage.
> Re removing it, can you see where it is stuck? Assuming it is not past the curve, or at least a significant amount of the stuck swab is still before the curve (from the bell side), I'd use a long metal rod with a screw at the end, screw it into the stuck swab and pull. This has never failed me for swabs that seemed hopeless.>
Yes, that works. Just be careful not to gouge up the inside of the clarinet with the screw-tip.
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: William
Date: 2013-02-10 15:15
For stuck swabs, I've always just used a small screw driver inserted into the open tone holes to gently work the stuck cloth backwards (toward the bell) until the snag is freed (usually at the register tube). The offending swab may then be either removed from the bottom of the top joint or pulled through the rest of the way towards the top.
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Author: larryb
Date: 2013-02-10 15:40
Yikes! I don't see how you save the swab without breaking up the instrument. Next time, to protect your swab, place the instrument carefully over the swab's rubberized weight, so as not to damage the weight, cord and silk.
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Author: alto gether
Date: 2013-02-10 16:22
Thanks, all!
Clarnibass: I couldn't find swabs with a cord on both ends, and I can't see how to attach a second cord without making a pucker that would surely snag every time. Are such swabs available somewhere?
Wes: My guess is that removing the neck will be safer than taking apart the body, because there's only one key linkage to risk bending. I'm going to think hard before I do either. Thank you for describing how to make a swab extraction tool. I'd need one five and a half feet long, but that may be the best solution anyway.
Lelia: Speaking of solutions: okay, nix on the silk-dissolver.
William: All the open tone holes on a contra alto are covered with pads.
Larryb: I couldn't understand your suggestion. Luckily, the weight and cord came all the way through, so if it comes to it, I just have to choose between $5 worth of silk and a $2k horn.
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2013-02-10 19:22
Use a surgeon's hemostat to grab the bottom of the swab and pull it out backward. They usually come in sets with straight, slightly curved and moderately curved tips. Use the smallest that will reach the swab, since the smaller ones have more leverage to close the tip tighter.
Ken Shaw
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Author: alto gether
Date: 2013-02-10 23:49
Update: The upper neck is NOT easy to remove. I unscrewed the screws what hold it on top of the body, and it would not budge. Screwed 'em back in, gave the cord one last tug for the hell of it, and out came the swab.
Looking at the Hodge swab they make for bari sax necks. Sort of a flexi noodle wrapped in silk. Anybody tried one on a contra alto clarinet? Do saxes even have sticky-innie register vents?
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2013-02-11 03:25
>> gave the cord one last tug for the hell of it, and out came the swab. <<
I guess it wasn't really stuck. When it's really stuck, it doesn't come out even using more force than you'd ever want to. Lucky you!
>> Do saxes even have sticky-innie register vents? <<
Yes.
BTW just for the future, if this happens again, IMO disassembling the middle joint is pretty simple and probably much easier so you'd only need a much shorter "swab remover".
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Author: Veldeb
Date: 2013-02-21 21:45
Try using a Bassoon swab kit - strings at both ends so they can go through the boot joint. http://www.wwbw.com/Fox-Bassoon-Swab-Kit-420395-i1133466.wwbw or anything similar... that's what our Contra player uses.
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