 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Drew
Date: 1999-08-01 15:16
Recently I was practicing clarinet for about an hour and after I swabbed out and went to disassemble it, the mouthpiece wouldn't come out of the barrel. I've tried to pull it out a few times and it simply won't budge. I assume this is on account of the humidity (I live in Virginia). I would appreciate any help. By the way, it is a hard rubber mouthpiece and a wooden barrel. Thank you in advance.
Drew Emery,
Disgruntled Musician
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Author: Lelia
Date: 1999-08-01 17:02
I recommend taking the clarinet to a repair person, or back to the shop where you bought it, if it's new or if the mouthpiece is new. A technician has a mouthpiece puller, a tool that works a bit like a wine cork puller, and will unstick the mpc without damaging it or the clarinet. People who try to take the vice-grips to a rubber mouthpiece often break it. Has it been re-corked recently? If so, you're experiencing a very common problem. Yes, humidity does cause the cork to swell. Repair technicians and manufacturers generally fit the cork tightly, because it compresses, especially during the first few days of use. If it fit comfortably straight home from the shop, it could end up too loose and wobbly. But fitting the cork isn't an exact science, because cork comes from a plant. Its density varies. Sometimes it doesn't pack down as much as the technician expects. It's possible that getting stuck for a few days will compress the cork enough so that by the end of the week or so, especially if this horrible weather cools down, you may be able to ease the mpc out yourself, but if you've been using this cork more than a week or so, it may be that the technician needs to sand down the cork a little, so I'd still recommend taking it in. I live in Virginia, too,m BTW. Ain't it awful! We need about 3 days of wind and rain.
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 1999-08-02 17:33
Drew wrote:
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Recently I was practicing clarinet for about an hour and after I swabbed out and went to disassemble it, the mouthpiece wouldn't come out of the barrel. I've tried to pull it out a few times and it simply won't budge. I assume this is on account of the humidity (I live in Virginia). I would appreciate any help. By the way, it is a hard rubber mouthpiece and a wooden barrel. Thank you in advance.
Drew Emery,
Disgruntled Musician
Drew -
Your problem is 99% certain to be swelling at the bottom of the socket in the barrel, so that the wood binds against the area of the mouthpiece below the cork. The hard rubber of the mouthpiece doesn't change with humidity, and if it were only the cork you would be able to get the mouthpiece out without too much effort. The solution is to have a repair shop get the mouthpiece off and then ream out the top socket.
Do not ever take any rubber off the bottom of the mouthpiece. It's risky, and you will then have a barrel that doesn't fit any other mouthpiece.
Barrels do this a lot, particularly during the first year or two. The top socket isn't so critical, but if it "bites" when you take it off the upper joint, even a little bit, you should bet the bottom socket reamed RIGHT AWAY, as there is a severe risk of cracking the upper joint. The same goes for the middle joint, where there is a very thin area between the bottom of the lower joint socket and the top of the hole covered by the pad attached to the ring keys. Ditto for the bell, since the tenon on the bottom joint is quite thin.
Good luck.
Ken Shaw
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