 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Philip Caron
Date: 2025-07-22 16:00
I don't think this has been a topic for quite some time. Apologies if I'm wrong.
Swabbing got mentioned a few times in a recent thread about clarinets sounding better with dry bores. It was suggested that swabbing can wear the end of the top joint of the instrument, so it's better to leave the barrel on during swabbing and let that more easily replaced part wear instead.
Maybe enough rubs with cloth could eventually wear even so hard and dense a wood as grenadilla, but if anyone has further verification of that being a real-world issue, my skeptical nature welcomes it.
The claim seems to assume that swab goes in at the top of the clarinet and is pulled down and through. Can't recall why, but I've always done the opposite, bottom-up. Do people do it one particular direction for particular reasons?
At the end of a playing session my swab routine includes two pulls, bottom to top. The first pauses with the cloth occupying the length of the top joint so I can go around and blow any moisture inward onto the cloth from under the usual suspect pads, then after finishing that pull there's a final pull all the way through to get any residual moisture. Pull speed is not fast, on the theory that slower allows more absorption.
Also, my swab is of chamois. I don't recall why that either. It seems to work.
My relatively few observations indicate that many amateurs don't swab at all, as they're possessed by hurry, gotta move, life calls! Sigh. What happens if a regularly played instrument is never swabbed?
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Author: kdk
Date: 2025-07-22 17:00
Philip Caron wrote:
> Maybe enough rubs with cloth could eventually wear even so hard
> and dense a wood as grenadilla, but if anyone has further
> verification of that being a real-world issue, my skeptical
> nature welcomes it.
>
I've always been skeptical of this, too. I've not seen evidence of it on my clarinets.
> The claim seems to assume that swab goes in at the top of the
> clarinet and is pulled down and through. Can't recall why, but
> I've always done the opposite, bottom-up. Do people do it one
> particular direction for particular reasons?
I'm not sure why people swab from the top - maybe because that's where more of the moisture is, but then you might think you'd want to push it back to the top and not spread it down to where the bore still may be dry.
Swabbing from the bell gives a much larger target area to drop the swab's weight into (i.e. if you're in a hurry). But you have to make sure the swab is unfolded first. Getting it stuck on the register tube isn't too big a deal coming from the top - enough swab still hangs out of the top to grab and pull back out. If you pull from the bell and the swab gets stuck on the tube, you may not have enough swab at the bottom of the upper joint to grab. I think freeing a stuck swab coming from the bottom is harder. The solution is to make sure the swab is completely unfolded before you start it through.
> Also, my swab is of chamois. I don't recall why that either.
> It seems to work.
Chamois always seemed too thick to me. I now use microfiber, which has the resilience and softness of silk but seems to be much more absorbent.
> My relatively few observations indicate that many amateurs
> don't swab at all, as they're possessed by hurry, gotta move,
> life calls! Sigh. What happens if a regularly played
> instrument is never swabbed?
My experience with school students is that too many of them don't even carry a swab - it's at home somewhere.
Karl
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Author: JTJC
Date: 2025-07-22 18:21
I just reported an opinion I'd heard about bore wear from pulling through. I'm not sure its a factor I need to worry about, but that pro did. If you go top to bottom, I'd imagine the compression of the cloth as it enters the bore might be responsible. There would, I imagine, be a similar, but possibly lesser effect, going bottom to top.
Thea King told me to go top to bottom, so as to even out/spread the moisture to the lower joint. I wasn't convinced by that. Thea seemed to be in the habit of blowing-in instruments for her pupils, so perhaps she was being extra cautious. John McCaw told me bottom to top and couldn't see any reason to go the other way.
I go both ways, it seems to get a bit more of the moisture between the speaker tube and F chimney.
I used to use a chamois years ago, but found it deposited bits on the underside of the tone holes. They can smell as well. Maybe I kept the chamois too long. With modern materials not sure why you'd use one.
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Author: kilo
Date: 2025-07-22 18:53
Microfiber is easier to wash and dry than chamois, and it maintains its soft texture. I always found that chamois dried stiff and had to be worked a little by hand to soften it up.
The one I never understood is using silk for a swab. I use one on the neck of my bass and it does a decent job but for the body, even on a soprano, it never seems to really dry the bore.
Speaking of questionable advice I read one account online from a new student who said that his band director (a brass player) instructed all the clarinetists to pull from top to bottom because that's the direction of the airflow.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2025-07-22 20:36
I always use the pullthrough dropping the weighted cord from the bell through to the barrel as getting the weight into the bell is a much wider target than going in from the top (narrower) end.
Same with oboe and cor - I've watched dome oboe players threading the weight in from the reed socket and the bore at the top end is under 4mm on oboes, so that's far more of a challenge compared to dropping it into the 40mm (or thereabouts) diameter bell flare.
Same with clarinets when dropping the much wider cord or tape into the wider diameter of the bell compared to the 15mm or thereabouts barrel bore.
And draw it through the bore s-l-o-w-l-y so it has a chance to absorb as much moisture as it passes through. On larger clarinets from basset horn and lower, you'll inevitably have to mop each joint out separately because of the lengths of the joints and the weighted cord/tape, especially the lower joint of a low C bass or basset horn.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
Independent Woodwind Repairer
Single and Double Reed Specialist
Oboes, Clarinets and Saxes
NOT A MEMBER OF N.A.M.I.R.
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Slowoldman
Date: 2025-07-22 22:45
I once asked a well-known technician why he preferred bottom-up swabbing. His response was because the bell gave him a better "handle" to hold on to! 
Amateur musician, retired physician
Delaware Valley Wind Symphony, clarinet 1
Bucks County Symphony Orchestra, clarinet 2 (sub)
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Author: ISM
Date: 2025-07-23 00:50
To me it makes sense to swab from bottom to top so as not to pull moisture from the wetter area down toward the dryer area…BUT occasionally the swab gets stuck on the register vent. So, I usually swab from top to bottom. Mostly I am still using a silk swab that I bought long ago from Doctor’s Products.
Imre
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