 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Deborah
Date: 2002-12-03 23:10
I recently bought a clarinet on e-bay. I should be getting it in the mail any day now.
My question is this...The clarinet is used and the mouth piece didn't really look to be in the best of condition. I can't afford to just go out and buy a new mouth piece at this time so is there some way to clean and disenfect the old one? (maybe I should remember this, but it's been 15 years since I've played the clarinet) The person I bought the clarinet from doesn't know anything about it. She just bought it at an estate sale. I thought about soaking it in some amonia water like they would with thermometers in a hospital to help disenfect them, but realised that wouldn't be good for the cork.
Thanks! Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Deborah
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Author: Gary Van Cott
Date: 2002-12-03 23:17
The odds are the mouthpiece on this clarinet won't be very good. Your time is valuable too. Don't waste it playing on a bad mouthpiece. Look at a Clark Fobes Debut mouthpiece is money is a concern. They are around $30.
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Author: jk
Date: 2002-12-03 23:21
If you do a search here, you will find numerous ways to clean your MP cheaply and safely with common household items.
JK
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Author: Bob
Date: 2002-12-04 13:42
Why don't you try soaking it in denture cleaner to get the crud out....all except the cork....then rinse in water and give a short immersion in hydrogen peroxide solution. Better yet...if you can afford it, get some of the Doctor's stuff above.
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Author: Nick
Date: 2002-12-04 15:54
I wouldn't soak it in ammonia water.. Chemically, ammonia is a base and therefore dissolves fats. From what I understand, although I don't know much about organic chemistry, plastics and rubbers are pretty much just hard fats, and the ammonia might slightly wear it away (which could change the facing, or even the size of the inner core)
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2002-12-04 17:08
I agree, Nick, I much prefer the mild organic acids, vinegar is 5% acetic, citric, nothing as strong as oxalic tho. Don
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Author: Henry
Date: 2002-12-04 20:44
Nick: Without making a judgment on whether ammonia is a proper cleaning agent for mpcs, it is certainly not going to dissolve the mouthpiece material. Plastics and rubbers are NOT even remotely similar to fats. Even if they were, I don't believe that ammonia DISSOLVES fats. Ammonia COULD hydrolyze fats, i.e, the fats could be converted into glycerine and (insoluble) fatty acids, but I don't think that is an issue here at all. Perhaps some mild, dilute and warm (not hot) dishwashing liquid would do an adequate job and/or a dilute hydrogen peroxide solution.
Henry
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