 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: RAB
Date: 2009-10-28 12:00
Help!!! I was given an older Selmer Center Tone A clarinet by a dear friend of min. He was the original owner and only played it for 2 years when he was in college. It has set since then. I know the pads, corks and everything will need replaced befor it can be evaluated. That I can do, HOWEVER there is mold all over the wood!!!! I know the case needs replaced but how do I remove the mold without damaging the wood? Any help would be appreciated!!!!
RAB
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Author: lrooff
Date: 2009-10-28 14:44
Flood and disaster recovery companies often use large ozone generators to deal with mold on stuff. Perhaps you can contact such a company and see what they can suggest. If not, a good steam cleaner (and not one of the little "teakettle" home models) would do the trick. Be careful, though, as mold can do terrible things in your lungs if it's inhaled. Sadly, this could end up being one of those cases where the cost of restoring the instrument exceeds the value of it.
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Author: JJAlbrecht
Date: 2009-10-28 15:13
Check with Dr. Henderson via the Doctor's Products website.
http://www.doctorsprod.com
Jeff
“Everyone discovers their own way of destroying themselves, and some people choose the clarinet.” Kalman Opperman, 1919-2010
"A drummer is a musician's best friend."
Post Edited (2009-10-28 15:15)
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Author: Katrina
Date: 2009-10-28 15:48
Take it to a really good instrument tech. They can deal with the problem without messing up the pads and keys and corks, etc.
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2009-10-29 08:02
I would give it a quick but good brushing over in warm water with detergent, then blow dry with compressed air.
Then if I am still concerned about mold spores, follow up with a quick treatment with something like this:
http://www.wetandforget.com/
Followed by another rinse and drying.
Finally, oil &/or wax as per your choice.
Post Edited (2009-10-30 10:14)
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2009-10-29 09:06
> I would give it a quick but good brushing over in warm water with
> detergent, then blow dry with compressed air.
Clarification: compressed air is not the same as canned air. The latter can become *very* cold and I wouldn't use it on a wood instrument.
--
Ben
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2009-10-29 13:08
I once bought a wooden clarinet with mold all over it. It seemed to me that the mold was superficial and that the wood beneath looked sound. First, I made myself a paper chart, on newspaper, of all the rods, screws and keys and where they belonged on the clarinet, to avoid contaminating my screw-board with mold.
Next, I took off all the keys, rods, springs and screws (placing them on my diagram as I did so) and removed all of the pads and corks, including the key corks. I put the pads and corks in a plastic bag, sealed it and threw them away. I completely gutted the case: removed all of the moldy case lining, including the padding, took off the hinges and handle, and washed the wooden case and its hardware, inside and out, in warm water with dish detergent. I blotted the case parts reasonably dry and then set them out in the sunlight to finish drying.
I washed the keys and their springs, rods and screws in warm water with dish detergent. It would have been fastest to dump them all into one container, but I washed the parts one at a time and then transferred them, when clean, onto the screw-board, so as not to get the parts mixed up. I used a soft pipe cleaner to wash out the insides of the rod and screw holes. I used silver polish on the keys, rinsed again, then made sure everything was thoroughly dry before using a fresh pipe cleaner to oil the screws and rods and their holes on the keys.
Here's the part that might horrify some people: Next, I washed the clarinet itself in warm water. First I used dish detergent, then rinsed, then washed again with Murphy's Oil Soap, in the sink. I used a soft bottle-brush (the type that has a mop-type head, not stiff bristles) to scrub away the mold, and threw away that brush after the first washing. I used soft pipe cleaners on the insides of the post-holes and on the springs. The mold came off, fortunately.
Since the value of sun-drying seeemed greater than the risk of sun-bleaching, after blotting and swabbing, I let the clarinet finish drying in the sun. The sunlight couldn't reach where the mold had been worst, inside the sections, but still.... Then I oiled the clarinet inside and out before proceeding with normal re-padding, corking, re-upholstering the case and so forth.
After finding out that expert violin restorer Bill Weaver washes filthy old violins with water in the sink, I did this job on a student-quality instrument out of curiosity, to see whether this treatment would wreck the clarinet. Nope. Clarinet wood can handle some water or else the condensation from playing would finish it off. The trick, I think, is never to let the wood soak. The sections of the clarinet I washed out stayed under water no more than about ten minutes each, maximum.
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
Post Edited (2009-10-29 13:12)
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2009-10-30 10:37
tictactux wrote
"Clarification: compressed air is not the same as canned air. The latter can become *very* cold and I wouldn't use it on a wood instrument."
I did mean compressed air. Rather than evaporate the water, it blows it away, so there is very little chill factor.
The blast of air may be cold, but it lasts only for about 3 seconds on any particular part of the clarinet. Not long enough for any cooling to penetrate the poor-conductor timber more than a fraction of a mm before that timber starts returning to ambient.
No big deal IMO.
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2009-10-30 10:42
Gordon - I just meant it as a clarification for others who might be tempted to buy a can of compressed air.
--
Ben
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2009-10-30 11:07
Actually I have never seen such an animal.
Re the mold, this thread may be worth reading:
http://www.saxontheweb.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=1211275#post1211275
(Sorry, don't know how to liven that URL)
Post Edited (2009-10-30 11:16)
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