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Re: spit

Author: EEBaum
Date: 2010-11-29 05:37

I've had to swab out every five minutes, and I've had to swab out once. Same piece, same room, same weather. The swab-once occasions were always when I swabbed early, maybe 5-10 minutes in.

There are multiple sources of humidity, and much of it comes with the air you exhale. Try blowing on a cold window, it fogs up. That's what happens inside your instrument, and it's not saliva. Whether or not that humidity varies per person, I don't know.

I wouldn't have been convinced of this until a couple months ago. I was making a demo tape of extended techniques, many of which I've never seen written but I think make awesome sounds. For about 10 minutes, I was growling and grunting and spitting and horking and shhh-ing into my bass clarinet. When I took the mouthpiece off, there was a thick trickle of drool that bridged the mouthpiece and neck, that I had significant trouble getting rid of with my finger.

THAT is saliva. The stuff running out of your keys and bell is probably partially saliva, but unless touching it with your finger leads to a goopy, sticky mess, it's condensation by and large.

Also, whether you need to swab may or may not be an indication of how much condensation is in your instrument. It may just indicate a more or less unfortunate path the condensation took on that given day.

-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com

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Date

spit new

charlie clarinets

2010-11-28 17:56

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2010-11-28 17:58

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2010-11-28 18:00

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2010-11-28 18:04

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2010-11-28 18:42

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2010-11-28 18:44

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2010-11-28 19:38

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2010-11-28 22:24

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2010-11-29 02:57

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DavidBlumberg

2010-11-29 03:06

Re: spit new

EEBaum

2010-11-29 05:37

Re: spit new

Ed Palanker

2010-11-29 15:41

Re: spit new

Alseg

2010-11-29 15:50

Re: spit new

EEBaum

2010-11-29 16:33

Re: spit new

DavidBlumberg

2010-11-29 19:35

Re: spit new

MarlboroughMan

2010-11-29 20:13

Re: spit new

kdk

2010-11-29 20:21

Re: spit new

ned

2010-11-30 04:35

Re: spit new

ned

2010-11-30 04:37

Re: spit new

Ed Palanker

2010-11-30 15:57

Re: spit new

EEBaum

2010-11-30 17:40

Re: spit new

salzo

2010-11-30 18:04

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