 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: kararae02
Date: 2015-03-27 16:23
My R13 that I've only had for about two months smells absolutely awful. I don't know why. I have kept it in a smoke free home. I can't even play it because of the odor. It is in the case that the E12F comes in. Please help. I have a huge audition tomorrow and the judges will probably be able to smell it.
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Author: jdbassplayer
Date: 2015-03-27 16:39
Have you been swabbing it out regularly? Do you have any pets at home that may have urinated on it (happened to one of my clarinets :( ). Do you dry it out after playing it? These are all potential causes of odor. Also is the odor mainly on the case or the instrument? My suggestion would be to spray the case with a disenfectant spray and let the clarinet air out for as long as you can. Hope this helps.
-Jdbassplayer
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2015-03-27 18:18
Hmmmm......
How about the case. We have talked about mold and some nasty preditory fly larvae before.
I'd check the case and at least leave it open at home as much as possible.
....................Paul Aviles
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Author: TomS
Date: 2015-03-27 18:27
You should smell a hard rubber instrument after a hot afternoon in an outdoor concert!
Tom
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2015-03-27 19:30
Check which joints smell bad. Remember that clarinets are designed to get wet, so it won't hurt to run a damp swab through. For heavens' sake don't use a deodorizer spray, or even soap.
If you have a sunny window (not over a radiator), put the various parts on the sill. Sunlight is a great deodorizer.
Swabs can get smelly. Wash yours (if it's cloth) or get a new one.
And don't worry about the judges. They'll be probably 15 or 20 feet from you, and odor doesn't travel that far.
Good luck at the audition. Count like crazy and play everything a little slower than your best speed. Slow and even is better than fast and sloppy.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2015-03-27 22:22
Did you buy this clarinet new or used? If you bought it used, then maybe what I do with used instruments would help. When the case stinks, I take everything out of it (and I always thoroughly wash or throw away any used swabs that came with a used instrument whether they smell or not -- I don't want somebody else's unknown cooties), then sponge out the inside of the case with a fairly wet sponge with some dish detergent (the kind for doing dishes by hand in the sink). Then I rinse out the sponge and use it to rinse out the case. Sometimes I need to rinse the sponge several times in the process, to get all of the detergent out of there. Then I dry the case open to the sun and turn it as often as necessary to keep sun shining into all parts of the case for as long as possible. As Ken Shaw says above,
>Sunlight is a great deodorizer. >
Yes. Sunlight also disinfects. Sun kills germs, mold and mildew that could grow again and cause the stench to come back.
I also thoroughly swab out the clarinet, as Ken describes. If the case still smells afterwards, it will transfer the stench right back into the clarinet, so if the liner still stinks after all that cleaning, I try spraying the liner with Febreze, then drying again in the sun.
Sometimes none of this stuff works -- so then I rip the old lining out of the case, replace the lining, and replace the corks and pads on the clarinet. Corks and pads can hold a smell. Good luck!
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: Jim22
Date: 2015-03-28 02:03
I have had good luck with keeping a paper envelope of baking soda in stinky cases. Just make sure none of the baking soda can escape the envelope.
If its the case that stinks, you could buy another case.
Is it a mildew smell or a "new car" kind of smell? I have a hard rubber clarinet that I don't like the smell of.
Jim C.
CT, USA
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2015-03-28 02:58
I don't see any good reason for a two month old clarinet to take on an odor (even if it was completely mistreated). I still say it's the case!!!!
............Paul Aviles
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Author: DougR
Date: 2015-03-28 05:25
Unfortunately, unless Lelia's and Ken's remedies work there probably isn't a quick fix for this. I'd try direct sunlight (not for the horn though!).
If it's a mold smell, you're dealing with spores that need to be killed. Sunlight (UV light) kill the top visible layers; if you can pull the case apart and separate the innards, you can get sunlight to all the superficial layers above and below. The more padding, though, the less sunlight works. And it takes time. Months sometimes.
You could try leaving the horn out of the case for a protracted period, along with giving it a mild detergent damp-wipe (just damp, not dripping). If the wood of the horn stays odor free outside of the case, then you know it's the case. If the horn gets its smell back, hopefully it'll be diminished by the detergent wipe, in which case it's just a matter of time in the air, and if you're desperate to spend some money, replace the pads & corks.
Also, vacuum the case thoroughly, a LOT. Any loose material in the case also stinks, so get rid of it. If you're not sentimentally attached to the case, get rid of it too, because attacking smell problems is a lot of work and it's a slow process.
I actually had decent luck with one case sprinkling baking soda LOOSE in the case, shaking the case a bit to spread the stuff, and letting it sit for a week or so, with the case closed. However, you need a really really good vacuum cleaner to get the baking soda out again. I'd seriously try sunlight first before getting too draconian, though.
I did try a 'nuclear option' once, a home-sized ozone generator. I'm still evaluating the results there--used it on a very thickly padded case and the vapor didn't entirely penetrate all the way down to the bottom layers of the padding; it being winter, my apartment is desert-dry and I won't know how well it worked until ambient humidity increases to the 60% range.
Good luck!
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Author: Steven Ocone
Date: 2015-03-29 04:53
This is very odd. To much humidity can be an issue. Without knowing the smell it is hard to make a recommendation. Wash your swab, keep everything dry. examine your cork grease. Let everything air out.
Steve Ocone
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Author: MSK
Date: 2015-04-01 05:21
Doctor's Products makes a pretty good deodorizer specifically for cases. Of course you have to special order it and it's not cheap, but I saved a case with it.
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Author: kararae02
Date: 2015-04-01 06:10
The case is the one that the E12F comes in. I bought it because my R13 case had a tear in the leather when I got it. The smell is kinda musky. Like a very weak mold/mildew but the smell is still potent. I put some orange peels in my case which helped a little but I've heard that is bad for silver plated keys.
Also, I swab my clarinet and clean it thoroughly every time I play.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2015-04-01 06:13
So does the clarinet smell in the R13 case with a tear in it?
...............Paul Aviles
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Author: kararae02
Date: 2015-04-01 06:23
The clarinet smells badly in any case. The odor is in both the clarinet and the case.
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2015-04-01 09:00
I've come across this where the instrument was stored for some time with a wet swab jammed up the bell. It smelled like a cross between a musty book and a wet dog. Ended up with a new case and a repad.
Tony F.
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Author: DougR
Date: 2015-04-02 03:29
Well, if it were me, I'd wipe the body of the clarinet with either mild detergent, well diluted on a very damp sponge, or a wood-clarinet cleaner the Doctors Products makes (or at least MADE, you'd have to check the website to see if it's still available). Step two would be to start keeping the clarinet in the R-13 case, since at least that case doesn't stink. Or, if you're in a climate where there's enough humidity to leave the clarinet out in the air, do that.
If you're bent on rehabilitating the E12 case, prepare for a long, sustained curatorial/restoration campaign involving any or all of the following: the "open in direct sun" approach, baking-soda approach (either in an envelope or loose and vacuumed out) or the Doctors Products case spray (it did a decent job on a case I had too, BUT bear in mind if there's mold spores in the body of the case that the spray can't get to, there'll always be some odor).
I've seen threads involving stinky guitars where people recommended activated charcoal in the case, cedar shavings in the case, even boat deodorizer treatments (you can look on Amazon for a spectrum of those kinds of remedies). And, as I mentioned, I had some luck with a small ozone generator.
Far simpler is replace the case, once the clarinet has been out of the old case long enough to stop stinking.
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