 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: rgoldem
Date: 2016-10-15 03:04
I am willing to oil the bore of a recently bought clarinet with the Bore Doctor Oil. My question is if it also reasonable to use it for the hole tones and the exterior of instrument.
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Author: TomS
Date: 2016-10-15 07:55
If you use it in the tone holes and exterior, remove all the keys, apply the oil and let it dry overnight, and then wipe off the excess, let dry a few hours more and then wipe down well with a clean cloth and use cotton swabs in the tone holes.
Use this disassembly opportunity to fix other problems ... be sure to clean the hinge tubing with pipe cleaner/alcohol/blow dry and clean and re-lube hinge screws and pivot screws.
The bore oil is not good for the pads and corks ...
This is best done when overhauling the clarinet.
I just used "The Doctor's" bore oil on a new Yamaha 650 (bore only) and an old and thirsty Selmer Signet Soloist that I am re-padding.
(Could be my imagination, but seemed to have slightly changed the timbre of the Yamaha, and not for the worse, fortunately. The Yamaha improves each day I play it, I am sure it will peak out and then decline someday ... My hard rubber clarinets play the same, all the time ...)
I think the oil helps protect the wood from moisture in the bore, letting it run off, rather than soak into the wood ... IMHO. I think after a good oiling at first, a light oiling about every 6 months is OK. Opinions vary greatly on this ...
Tom
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Author: Caroline Smale
Date: 2016-10-15 20:33
For the bore - yes
For the toneholes - fine, as long as you strip keywork and then clean the seatings thoroughly afterwards.
For the exterior - highly unlikely to need oil unless severely parched.
In 25 years repairing I have only had to oil exterior of some flood damaged clarinets
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Author: ruben
Date: 2016-10-15 20:57
Dear Norman,
What kind of bore oil do you suggest? I've had so much contradictory information about this. A chemical engineer told me recently that if you don't mix, let's say almond oil, with alcohol, it won't really penetrate into the pores of the wood. A bassoon repair person friend used an oil called "tong" oil or something like that-can't remember the exact name and my Chinese isn't what it used to be. According to him, it was used on boats; the rudders I suppose.
Thank you!
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: ruben
Date: 2016-10-15 21:14
Thank you for the information Seabreeze! What works well on soft wood (boxwood, coco, etc.) doesn't always work on harder woods: ebony, mopane, etc.. What do you personally recommend?
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: Steven Ocone
Date: 2016-10-15 21:35
Tung oil is a hardening oil. It polymerizes to form a finish. I would avoid it. Doctor's oil is probably the best choice.
Steve Ocone
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Author: seabreeze
Date: 2016-10-15 21:37
I always leave that up to my repair tech when I send my instruments in for maintenance. I don't ever personally oil them (or repad or mechanically adjust them). I am terrible with anything close to craftwork or mechanics and wouldn't want to put oil where it doesn't belong.
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Author: Wes
Date: 2016-10-16 02:40
Many years ago, I oiled the bore of my oboe with linseed oil. After wiping it off carefully and reassembling it, I found that it simply would not produce a good sound. It took about a week for the oil to dry and the sound to come back again. It was a lesson for me and I've used almond oil later with good results.
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Author: Caroline Smale
Date: 2016-10-16 23:03
I would suggest the Doctor's bore oil as a first choice, however for many years before discovering his products I used almond oil to good effect.
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Author: Ursa
Date: 2016-10-17 00:42
I would also recommend Doctor's Products Bore Doctor, having seen wood gently ease back into top condition after a few years of continued use; the out-of-round bore in the barrel from my old Noblet Normandy actually reverted to its proper shape after repeated, generous applications of Bore Doctor.
While it's certainly possible that any appropriate oil would have accomplished this, I prefer to stick with something that has amply demonstrated its efficacy. There's so many things to worry about with the clarinet; it is indeed a relief to be absolutely certain that my bore oil is doing its job!
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