 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Whitney C.
Date: 2001-08-25 17:58
I played a student model plastic clarinet for almost all of my clarinet-playing life, but a few months ago I bought an R-13. How often should I use bore oil?
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Author: Pam
Date: 2001-08-25 19:40
Well, if you do a search on here, bore oil has been discussed a lot. Opinions vary from "never, let the techs do it but don't mess with it yourself" to doing it yourself pretty frequently.
I have an R-13 as well that is about a year old. I oil the bore lightly - a few drops on a fuzzy cattail swab about once a week. Probably less in the summer and a little more frequently in the winter. I live in NE Ohio. Try not to oil your pads or wipe any excess oil off the pads with cigarette paper or coffee filters or a dollar bill. Some don't like the dollar bill idea because of germs and who knows what is on them, but they are handy. That's my opinion, based on my private instructors advice.
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Author: Irwin
Date: 2001-08-25 22:48
When I bought my R-13, the instructions that came with it said not to oil the bore.
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Author: jeff
Date: 2001-08-25 23:50
hello
I personally never oil my r13 and don't have my repairman either. I have been told that you don't need to and i have not. When you use bore oil it also makes your sound a great deal brighter something i don't prefer. The important thing is to make sure you break the horn properly and after that well it is really up in the air. hopefully this helped a little.
jeff
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2001-08-26 00:42
Pam, that's <b>way</b> too often for anyone to oil! I think your instructor may need some instructions on what is now recommended. Perhaps when they went to school they learned somnething different.
Any oil at all on pads is immediately detrimental to their life, too.
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Author: L. Omar Henderson
Date: 2001-08-26 10:49
I agree with Mark that once per week is way too often to use any oil.
How often? I can only give advice on plant based oils - if you use petroleum based oils sold as bore oil contact the manufacturer.
Many of the posts on oil are well meaning but just not true or based on the use of some oil in the past and not the current scientificially formulated and researched formulations of oil. The major manufacturers use plant derived oil to soak, pentetrate, and now pressure treat the wood prior to manufacture. Some recommend that in the early life that you do not use oil on the wood. Pressed for the evidence for this recommendation I can get no solid evidence - just historical precedent. A much greater historical record can be documented on the use of plant derived oil formulations to preserve wood artifacts in cathedrals and museums - just think that prior to 50 years ago their was no air-conditioning or climate control in museums.
How often - That depends on the type of wood, type of oil formulation used, the amount that the instrument is played and how often, the environmental conditions -heat, cold, dry, humid.
I could go into each in depth - and have in other posts - but suffice it to say that nature has a wonderfully evolved set of oil molecules that interact with the oil-water environment needed by the plant kingdom, and a set of antioxidant molecules that keep the oil from becoming oxidized (in the powerful photosynthesis reaction where raw oxygen radicals are generated). Only now, and in the future are the properties of these natural plant oils and other plant specific molecules becoming known and will be discovered, due to modern scientific research.
I will be glad to respond to facts - not heresay or legend. Many of the modern, great repair persons use plant derived oil formulations when they overhaul and restore woodwind instruments and they have the practical and historical knowledge about what is good for the wood - ask their opinions about the specific type of oil used, frequency of application, and potential effects on instrument tone quality, etc..(They have their own journals, scientific trials, etc.. to direct their practices). Many of the historical myths about what to use and not use were based on inferior products or incorrectly formulated mixtures of the right products. I agree that one should not run their own experiments with natural or other types of oil formulations on their own without the knowledge or scientific evidence to back up the choice, and knowing the potential interactions with pre-existing oil in the wood or environmental interactions. Besides, a scientific trial is not based on one, or even a few observations.
The Doctor
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2001-08-26 11:37
Discussions on granny's, or "my teacher's" recommendations for bore oil and cork grease remind me of the enthusiastically proclaimed benefits of eating comfrey. My father even made comfrey wine. You don't hear it promoted much now, since science discovered that it can cause severe liver damage.
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Author: susannah
Date: 2001-08-27 11:42
my clarinet always looks really dry, like not black anymore, but brown with the grain showing. Even if i oil it heaps, the effect wears off after the next time I play. Should i oil it more or leave it?
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Author: L. Omar Henderson
Date: 2001-08-27 12:50
Susannah, what type of oil are you using? What type of clarinet do you have? Some of the better wood clarinets are that deep chocolate brown color because the wood is unstained. What are the environmental conditions that the clarinet undergoes - temperature, relative humidity?
The Doctor
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Author: Mark M
Date: 2001-08-29 05:27
A question for the doctor. How about putting a drop of oil just inside the joint and leave it for 15 minutes. If it's gone, then an oiling might be in order. If it's still there, wipe it off and keep playing.
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Author: Carmen Izzo
Date: 2001-09-04 04:08
Pam geez, thats lot of oil! Mark, is oiling my clarinets only when the inside bore appears to be dry a good idea, not on a tight-time concerning basis okay?
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Author: Mark M
Date: 2001-09-04 07:26
Why not? Depends on where you live and play. Here in the NW, I doubt very much that a horn needs oiling anywhere near as often as say in the upper midwest. Oil it when it needs it. Not just because of "time". The indicator of oil soaking into the bore is a good indication that it's needed. If it just sits there, obviously, there's oil in the bore.
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