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Re: Condensation while playing

Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2018-12-24 22:58

Windy Dreamer wrote:

> I have had several used clarinets with hardened crud in the
> sockets and gobs of cork grease throughout the clarinet. I have
> also had several with tone holes plugged at the bottom with
> accumulated crud. I assume it was deposited there with dirty
> swabs.

There's no way to be sure how the gunk got built up that way either in the sockets, on the tenon bases or in the tone holes, You *can* suspect that it was sloppily (if at all) cared for by someone, likely a child, who neither understood nor cared about what cork grease is for. Dirt can also build up in water left in tone holes when the instrument isn't swabbed at all.

I'm not suggesting that this *can't* happen from running a dirty swab through the bore. I'm only suggesting that this kind of gunk transfer shouldn't happen if the clarinet is well maintained because the gunk shouldn't be building up in the sockets or on the tenons to begin with.

This does bring up a tangential issue about using cork grease. It's meant to lubricate the corks, not to coat them. The job can be done properly with only a slight smear of grease on your fingertip which is then worked over the cork surface. I've had students come in with so much grease (and the dust it attracts) built up at the base of each tenon that it needed to be scraped off with a screwdriver blade. This often is the result of the student's (mis)use of the chapstick type of cork grease applicator - they just press the stick down, run it around the circumference of the cork, and then push the joint together. *Sometimes* they actually smooth the grease deposit out with their fingers first. Of course, all the extra simply gets pushed down into the base of the tenon and the top of the socket. Excess grease also squeezes out around the joint when it's assembled, then often migrates to the keys.

Also tangentially, no one should be using "dirty" swabs. They are easily washed (for more reasons than possible cork grease), so rotating two or three of them between swabbing use and the washing machine should ensure that a reasonably clean swab is running through the clarinet.

Dry the sockets and the tenon bases with something other the swab if something else is handy - it isn't always unless you pack an additional cleaning rag for the purpose. But using your regular swab doesn't have to be a destructive act. And, if you see any kind of grease buildup around the joints, it should be cleaned up immediately and definitely not with the regular swab.

Karl

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Condensation while playing new

mmatisoff

2018-12-23 04:22