 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: MSK
Date: 2014-01-27 00:30
So my middle school son who knows to start his swab from the barrel end was in a rush and didn't. The swab is now stuck. It is impossible to get to a repair tech before honor band starts tomorrow. Any suggestions on how to get it unstuck? It is a Evette Schaeffer K-series from the 1970s if that makes a difference. If it truly can't be fixed at home, he can always use his plastic marching clarinet, and perhaps that will teach him a lesson. Still it would be nice to get it fixed. He definitely won't be using my clarinet - LOL
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Author: kdk
Date: 2014-01-27 00:54
We've all had a swab get stuck at one time or another. It's snagged on the register tube (inside the bore near the top of the upper section). You can try *c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y* to push it straight back out the way it came (from the top tenon opening) with a plastic rod of some sort - like a swizzle stick or a chop stick - narrow enough to clear the register vent tube that has snagged the swab. Don't wobble the stick back and forth - go straight in. Don't try this through a tone hole! If pushing it back out fails, start tugging at the swab from the end where it entered with the goal of ripping the swab. It will take a little patience and you'll sacrifice the swab, but should be able, once enough tears out, to get the rest loose.
BTW, the jury is split over whether to start the swab from the top or from the bell and experienced players argue for both directions. The important thing, no matter how you do it, is to make sure the swab is completely unfolded. If your son feels the slightest sensation the swab is bunching up inside, he needs to stop trying to pull it through and instead back it out.
Although I guess it's theoretically possible to bend the tube or crack the wood it comes through by pulling back on the swab, the danger comes much more from trying to push or pull it loose by poking or pushing it with a pencil or something like it through one of the tone holes. It's easy to damage the tone hole seat or where it enters the bore no matter how careful you think you're being. Even going in as I first suggested through the top tenon, you can damage the tenon itself if you rock the pusher back and forth - push straight in and if that doesn't work, try tearing the swab out from the bottom tenon.
The only thing a repair technician can do about this that you can't do at home is repair any damage if you try to remove the stuck swab carelessly.
Karl
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2014-01-27 07:39
Before jamming ANYTHING into the bore of your instrument, my first trick is to firmly grab the swab section that is protruding and spin the top joint. The idea being that as the material twists, the diameter of the swab should compress.
No matter what care we use or what material we use, anything that has enough stiffness to help free a stuck swab has the potential to scratch the bore itself (definitely NOT good).
.................Paul Aviles
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Author: Wes
Date: 2014-01-27 10:16
A swab remover can be made from a 1/8 inch brass rod and a sawed off screw.
The screw is silver soldered or brazed to the end of the rod first. The end with the screw is inserted into the instrument so that the screw can be screwed into the swab and the swab can be pulled out carefully. I carry this tool in my oboe case because oboes sometimes have stuck swabs. Good luck!
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Author: Steven Ocone
Date: 2014-01-27 16:21
Please don't try the screw method. It's too easy to damage the bore. Both me and Wes are probably an hours drive if you can't push it back out with a plastic or wooden rod.
Steve Ocone
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Author: kdk
Date: 2014-01-27 12:57
Paul Aviles wrote:
> Before jamming ANYTHING into the bore of your instrument, my
> first trick is to firmly grab the swab section that is
> protruding and spin the top joint. The idea being that as the
> material twists, the diameter of the swab should compress.
>
I do like this method of trying to twist it out. In fact, it's usually my first attempt when I've gotten a swab stuck, and most of the time it's successful. I guess it's just such second nature that I didn't think of it before.
It's important as a clarinetist to have a technique for dealing with this problem when it happens, because often it happens on the stage or in the rehearsal room at a time when you need the clarinet to be functioning.
Karl
Post Edited (2014-01-27 17:58)
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Author: BobD
Date: 2014-01-27 18:15
I learned early on that swabs made of chamois are not the best. When a chamois swab gets stuck it is much harder to remove than silk. In either case one should remove the bottom section and bell of the clarinet before attempting the removal of the swab.
Bob Draznik
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2014-01-27 18:42
When presented with this problem with about 20 minutes before a concert (not my horn!) I tried all the "never fail" methods with no result. I then wrapped teflon tape around an exacto knife so that it was a sliding fit in the bore and cut the swab into shreds. The tape prevented the blade or knife body from touching the bore. I used a long triangular blade and touched the edge with a piece of wet and dry from my kit to slightly roughen the cutting edge. Did the trick in a few seconds. I've done it several times since.
Tony F.
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Author: clarinetguy ★2017
Date: 2014-01-27 19:50
I agree with Paul and Karl. The twisting method usually works. Bob also brought up a good point about silk swabs. They're a bit more expensive, but well worth the money.
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Author: Caroline Smale
Date: 2014-01-28 00:00
When the simpler methods mentioned above haven't worked for me I have had success with a combination of the ideas of Wes and Tony.
The business section of a wood screw silver soldered to a brass rod but then the end of the rod just below the screw fitted with a plastic sheath (sax silencer tubing in my case) which both centralises the screw and keeps it clear of the bore walls.
But in one extreme case (on an oboe this time) when all else failed the shredding with a scalpel again covered with plastic similar to Tony's method did the trick (but rather slowly as bore was so narrow).
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Author: MSK
Date: 2014-01-28 03:12
Thanks to all the suggestions as well as bail out offers. I tried the techniques for which I had the tools without luck and told the kid he would have to use his marching clarinet. Then I got lucky and the repair tech at our local band store was in and willing do it while I waited. That cotton swab is going into the trash tonight, although it was really a consequence of of sending it through the wrong way.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2014-01-28 00:06
I'd say the reason the swab stuck was that there was a fold in it somewhere. Any swab meant for a Bb horn will work fine dragged through either end of the horn.
I started "top...down" method about a year ago as an experiment and forgot to go back to the "through the bell" method.
.................Paul Aviles
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Author: kdk
Date: 2014-01-28 07:19
MSK wrote:
> although it was really a consequence of
> of sending it through the wrong way.
When there *is* a discussion of which way is best to put a swab into the clarinet, it generally centers on which direction does the best job of getting the water out of the bore without pushing it into the tone holes. A swab can get stuck going in either direction if it isn't completely unfolded, although it's probably easier getting it back out again if fed from the top. But probably as many of us swab from the bell as swab from the barrel, and some of us use a different direction from one day to an other. You have to make sure the cloth isn't doubled over anywhere.
Karl
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Author: Late_returner
Date: 2014-01-28 21:01
After suffering a horrible example, I bought something called The Dryer Swab. Am now on my second, and have never suffered since using Dryer.
If you are unfamiliar, the swab has the usual weighted cord at one end and an unweighted one at the other. Drop the weight through ( either way ) and you have 2 ends to pull. At the slightest hint of an internal catch, pull the other end and its free. the whole thing is very long ( 2.5 clarinet lengths ) which also makes it easy to whip off the mp and swab the clarinet during a few bars rest. ( I think Buffet recommend every 15 minutes)
I have no commercial interest, just think its a good product. Bought mine at Howarths
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Author: JonTheReeds
Date: 2014-01-28 20:28
I swab barrel to bell as I find that it's the only way to properly swab the clarinet but then I swab bell to barrel for good measure. The only time that the swab has every got stuck it was bell to barrel - I think that, as the bore narrows that way, if there is any fold in the swab then it amplifies the problem
I've been told that you should swab bell to barrel as otherwise you will, over time, wear down the top tenon and so change the airflow
--------------------------------------
The older I get, the better I was
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Author: MSK
Date: 2014-01-29 05:03
I suppose we've all tried the quick cheat of using the bell as a funnel and swabbing out the still assembled instrument quickly. I got the swab stuck twice that way in my younger days and am now afraid of a repeat Since the register tube is the place I got stuck both times, starting at the barrel end seems to work for me in preventing a repeat. As a reasonably responsible adult, I probably am careful enough to do it either way now. For my 12 year old son I need a fool proof system. I had thought the cotton swab that gets it dry in one pass was better than a silk swab that he might fail to pull through the required multiple passes, but am now rethinking that. At least he swabs though. I've heard that a lot of his classmates never swab -- yuck!
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Author: Hurstfarm
Date: 2014-01-29 11:07
There is another solution that can often work with surprisingly little force. Instead of gripping the whole swab, find an edge or a fold (but not on the bottom of the instrument where it's likely to be caught on the speaker tube) and just tug that. Usually enough material will follow to reduce the 'wodge' jammed in the bore, freeing the remainder of the swab. This trick will make you look like a magician when you remove your colleague's swab with ease, after it defied all their red-faced strainings...
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