 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Gobboboy
Date: 2013-05-15 23:36
Hi all, it's been a while since I was here. Hope you're all well & have got lots of gigs to keep you warm!
I wondered if anyone has any useful tips on how to solve a gurgling throat F Sharp? It's driving me crazy. I sit in a pit orchestra right in front of the air con duct (nice...) so I'm constantly swabbing & drying up pads with cigarette papers. (Hot air into a cold tube = water!)
Right at the end of the show there's a long solo all around the throat notes & I nearly always have to play it with the alternate fingering of F natural & the 1st 2 trill keys, which is not ideal for pitch or feel. All because of water trapped around the thumb tube (which ends up all down the back of the instrument)
I've heard of people placing oil or wax to divert the water but don't know how to do that.
& no I can't move away from the aircon or switch it off, just gotta put up with it somehow. At least I'm cool.
So who's got a clever quick fix???
:-)
Post Edited (2013-05-15 23:39)
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Author: kdk
Date: 2013-05-16 00:37
Are you certain the problem is in the thumb tube? It's a little big to have water actually obstructing it, even if water is running out of it. Have you checked the hole under the pad between 1st and 2nd fingers? That's a much smaller hole that could more easily get blocked enough to cause gurgling.
If it is the thumb tube, you probably can find a small test tube swab or something similar that you could run through the tube just before the solo (or any other time you need it). Or wrap your swab around anything that will fit into the tube. Or double up a fuzzy pipe cleaner and swirl it around. That plus swabbing should keep it clear if you stay on top if it.
Karl
Post Edited (2013-05-16 00:38)
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Author: Gobboboy
Date: 2013-05-16 15:46
Hi Karl,
Thanks for your reply.
It's not the thumb tube no. (Although water does dribble out of it once I've blown through the gurgling. Probably due to the air flow directed there by playing F sharp)
The obvious culprit as you say are the small pads under the left hands fingers. But no matter how much I mop up (it's usually dry!) it still gurgles somewhere!?
I can sometimes tell when it's coming because open G starts to gurgle too.
I'm blaming all this on the air con (which we all need!) but it's driving me crazy!!
The only thing I can think of is to position a blob of grease above the tone hole (s?!) to divert the water. But god knows how to do that..I'll probably end up blocking it up!
Help!........
B
Post Edited (2013-05-16 15:50)
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Author: kdk
Date: 2013-05-16 16:55
You can coat the area above the tone hole with a thin layer of beeswax (clean the hole thoroughly and lay melted wax just inside the bore above the rim of the hole. The theory is to divert any flow around the hole. Trouble is, it doesn't always work, and when it does, the water is just going to come out somewhere else. Some players coat the inside just above the hole with bore oil with the same goal, but I've found that to be even less effective than wax. I wouldn't use grease (cork grease?) or anything else that stays gooey and may hold dirt - besides it will come off on your swab the next time you use it and you may carry some of it into a tone hole, where it will obstruct something. For your ongoing problem, once you're at home I'd take the keys off as needed and blot out the inside of each suspect hole with a q-tip, pipe cleaner or other absorbent surface you can work carefully into the hole. The moisture may be collecting enough at the inside opening of the hole to cause trouble but running out through the hole. Then, when you're back in the pit, swab every chance you get.
BTW, the condition you're describing is one way to hugely increase your chances of ending up with a cracked clarinet. Can the AC duct be diverted in another direction (still cooling the pit but maybe not your horn as much)? Or can you borrow a non-wood instrument somewhere?
Karl
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Author: cigleris
Date: 2013-05-16 17:15
Ben,
Just use some Vasseline. Put a small amount on a cotton bud (Q tip for our US friends). Take the key off and smear the small amount in the tone hole. That will help. I did it on trouble spots on my old clarinet and it worked wonders. I'm probably gonna do the same on my new clarinet too.
Peter Cigleris
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2013-05-16 17:17
I fixed a similar problem that only occurred on one instrument by using an automotive silicon spray. I sprayed some into a cup and applied it to the bore and the inside of the tone holes with a q-tip and pipe cleaner. It stopped the problem for about 6 months. When it started gurgling again I repeated the process as necessary.
Tony F.
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Author: Gobboboy
Date: 2013-05-19 09:42
If I smear Vaseline into a tone hole won't it block it up? I'm guessing you smear it in so it leaves it on the inside lip of the hole? But then what happens when you pull the instrument through? Vaseline down the tube/on the pull through etc?
How about an instructional video? :-))))
Last night my clarinet was like a miniature Niagra falls...
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Author: cigleris
Date: 2013-05-19 10:24
Just use a tiny amount, go down as far as you can but don't get it in the bore. It'll help disperse the water that collects.
Peter Cigleris
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Author: kdk
Date: 2013-05-19 14:36
My advice (and experience) go counter to Peter's, which will leave you probably more conflicted than you were before you first posted. I wouldn't apply anything in the tone hole itself. Whether I apply wax or oil, I apply it to the bore just above the tone hole that keeps filling up (on my repair guy's advice, BTW). The goal is to re-direct the water around the hole before it ever reaches the hole's rim. Because it's in the bore, the material needs to be something that will not wipe away the first time you run a swab over it.
Peter's idea of Vaseline just inside the hole may well work. I've never tried it. I tend to expect that anything I put in the top of the tone hole (where it would need to go for this purpose) will flatten the pitch.
But the bottom line is that water in tone holes is part of playing and the best prevention, especially when you're playing under conditions that encourage it, is to swab early in the playing session and often after that.
Karl
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Author: Steve Hartman
Date: 2013-05-20 02:28
I don't know about using Vaseline or STP or anything else. Just keep a couple of Qtips handy to dry out the thumb hole. It happens to me fairly often at the New York City Ballet. It doesn't really obstruct the sound the way a bubble in a side key would, but the water is annoying to my left thumb.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2013-05-20 11:22
Another thing I have heard some people use is to lightly coat the tonehole where it meets the bore (or the undercut) with washing-up liquid as this breaks down the surface tension of the water droplets, or run a line of washing-up liquid with a long cotton bud down the bore to divert and channel condensation away from toneholes.
There are some anti-condensing sprays on the market used by recorder players which do a similar thing, but my concern is that any kind of detergent will break down oil, so could possibly leave the wood more pervious to water where it's used.
I've never tried it myself.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2013-05-20 23:54
I didn't read all the suggestion so excuse me if I'm repeating. It could be a pad that has a little tear in the skin that's vibrating. There could be a little bit of dirt or someting in the tone hole or could even be that the pad where the air comes out of first is too close to the tone hole. Other than that, I think you would have to visit a really good tech that would have an answer.
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: MarlboroughMan
Date: 2013-05-21 00:11
The only thing cooler than gurgling in the throat F# is when you're playing with one of those double speaker mechanisms and you gurgle on an open G.
That's gotta be the coolest. That's when you know you're alive and there's nowhere to hide.
Sing it, man! Underwater! ("blubbedy--gurrbldug!")
Eric
******************************
The Jazz Clarinet
http://thejazzclarinet.blogspot.com/
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