 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Ben Shaffer
Date: 2015-09-30 02:16
Quick question.... I just oiled my Blackwood Clarinet, do I oil my Hite Artist Hard Rubber Mouthpiece, or just leave it be?
Thanks Ben Shaffer
GSO,NC
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2015-09-30 03:14
There's no need to do so, and depending upon the composition of the oil you use, it may even degrade the surface.
Tony F.
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Author: Alseg
Date: 2015-09-30 06:19
No
Former creator of CUSTOM CLARINET TUNING BARRELS by DR. ALLAN SEGAL
-Where the Sound Matters Most(tm)-
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2015-09-30 17:09
Oiling a wooden clarinet is done to make it less reactive to water (condensation from blowing down the bore). Hard rubber is not reactive to water.
............Paul Aviles
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2015-10-01 09:58
QUICK ANSWER, I will avoid getting deep into this subject, such as additives to rubber to make rubber really hard or really soft, rubber that can stretch or break with the slightest touch.
Natural rubber is made from the sap of a tree, and synthetic rubber is created from chemicals found in petroleum - oil. Rubber trees first originated in South America, and the sap is called latex. The latex oozes from the bark of the rubber tree. Since I make mouthpieces I've studied this is great detail since the 1970's.
Mouthpieces are synthetic. So putting oil (petroleum based oil compounds) can mess up your mouthpiece. It can warp it, such as the rails, make the rubber, plastic, mouthpiece less hard, and lastly adding oil could leach out toxic petroleum based chemicals from your mouthpiece. HIGHLY unlikely, but it could happen.
Soap and mild warm water, 85 degrees or less, is the best way to clean your mouthpieces. Don't jam your clarinet swab through the mouthpiece to dry it. This will surely warp the rails over time. My dear friend Mitchell Lurie never used anything to dry his mouthpiece. He left it out to air dry. This is probably the very best way to take care of drying a mouthpiece.
Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces
Yamaha Artist 2015
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Author: Ben Shaffer
Date: 2015-10-01 16:04
"Don't jam your clarinet swab through the mouthpiece to dry it. This will surely warp the rails over time."
Who knew ?
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Author: The Doctor ★2017
Date: 2015-10-01 20:00
(Disclaimer - I sell Chedeville and Kaspar brand mouthpieces)
Oil, either organic or petroleum based for the most part will not harm hard rubber mouthpieces used rarely. On older mouthpieces with excess sulfur which was used as a catalyst in the vulcanization process it is best to wax the outer surface to reduce contact with air which over time, accelerated by heat and sunlight, may turn these mouthpieces lovely shades of tan or olive colors by reaction with sulfur.
Hard rubber mouthpieces are made from latex with heat, pressure, and a catalyst to form crosslinking between the monomer chains of latex. Other chemical stabilizers, UV inhibitors, colorants, hardening agents are also added in modern hard rubber. The old mouthpieces (1930's-40s) were machined from hard rubber rod stock made just from latex and sulfur, but modern mouthpieces, having a different composition of latex and catalysts, are molded first and then vulcanized under heat and pressure. There are also plastic (acrylic) mouthpieces which are molded.
L. Omar Henderson
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Author: fuzzystradjazz
Date: 2015-10-01 20:35
Dr. Henderson,
You mention that waxing is best for older mouthpieces...what about pre-1930s hard rubber clarinet bodies?
What kind of wax should one use?
Thanks,
Fuzzy
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Author: Caroline Smale
Date: 2015-10-01 23:07
Isn't it amazing how a simple question with a simple answer gets waylayed and obfuscated.
The answer - given by an experienced craftsman Allan Segal was NO.
What more needed saying?
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Author: The Doctor ★2017
Date: 2015-10-02 17:37
Same disclaimer
Any good Carnauba based wax that does not have a high VOC content works fine on hard rubber mouthpieces, same for rubber clarinets. For wooden clarinets I use a microcrystalline synthetic wax developed by the British National Museum for their wooden artifacts that is semi-breathable.
L. Omar Henderson
P.S. Do not put wax on the facing of the mouthpiece.
Post Edited (2015-10-02 18:25)
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2015-10-07 01:16
I've seen ebonite rollers that have crumbled to bits on some instruments (made from the '20s through to the '80s) as they've perished which I can only assume is because of contact with oil to prevent them from ratting and allowing them to move freely. Oil is well known to perish some types of rubber, so I'd play it safe and not oil an ebonite mouthpiece if unsure.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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