 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: Sulyman
Date: 2025-11-17 06:18
I've been looking at a clarinet that I haven't used in about 7 years, and I noticed a white ring with a height of 1/2 cm in the interior of a tone hole closer to the inside of the clarinet. Same thing with the other tone holes but much smaller. Is that mold?
Post Edited (2025-11-17 06:29)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Lou99
Date: 2025-11-17 06:36
It could be mildew or mold. Generally the instructions I was told was wash the wooden parts with warm, soapy water and follow up with a peroxide or bleach solution to kill mold. But I’m kinda scared to use bleach on the body of a clarinet. Especially if there’s any silver on it too.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Sulyman
Date: 2025-11-17 06:45
Weird. I never see this white stuff on my swab that I never cleaned. I’m so worried that this might have affected my tone quality and projection. I have asked someone online who is a professional and she thinks that it doesn’t affect tone quality.
Post Edited (2025-11-17 06:46)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: m1964
Date: 2025-11-17 07:26
I'd remove all the keys and screws, soak/wash the body in the 50/50 vinegar/water solution, then wash in mild soapy water and rinse thoroughly.
After that, dry well and apply bore oil inside and outside, including inside walls of the tone holes.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Sulyman
Date: 2025-11-17 08:40
This is what it looks like
https://imgur.com/a/UackD9l
Post Edited (2025-11-17 09:34)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: pewd
Date: 2025-11-17 19:46
Clean it out with a small brush. Could be mold, could be dirt, old cork grease, mineral deposits, or who knows what.
- Paul Dods
Dallas, Texas
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: m1964
Date: 2025-11-17 20:25
Does not look like mold to me.
If you see it only in tone holes and not inside the bore,
I’d follow Paul’s advice above.
Have you ever used talcum powder to treat sticking pads?
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Lou99
Date: 2025-11-18 18:19
As Paul mentioned, I was leaning more toward mineral deposits. After seeing your picture.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Chris P
Date: 2025-11-18 19:04
White mould usually develops on clarinets.
Can't see the photos as apparently they're not available in my region.
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.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: kdk
Date: 2025-11-18 23:20
Mold normally smells - it's a fairly distinctive odor. Do you smell anything if you sniff around the affected holes?
I'd try the simplest thing first - swab the tone hole with a Q-tip moistened with vinegar. Do it a couple of times over about 15-30 minutes. If the white stuff disappears, it's more likely a mineral deposit than mold.
I've never seen an analysis of the water that flows out of my toneholes, but given that it isn't *primarily* saliva, there still might be a trace of mineral solute in the vapor that forms. Since you don't normally swab through the toneholes, any deposit left there would stay.
Karl
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: kdk
Date: 2025-11-18 23:26
Sulyman wrote:
< I’m so worried that this might have affected my tone
> quality and projection. I have asked someone online who is a
> professional and she thinks that it doesn’t affect tone
> quality.
Your ears should tell you about tone quality. If you don't trust them, someone you do trust in the room listening to you would do. As to projection, you need someone out in whatever large room you need to project in. But you still might not know if there has been a change attributable to the white stuff.
In any case, "someone online who is a professional and thinks that it doesn't affect tone quality" is the last person I would ask if *my* tone might be affected by anything in *my* clarinet. I would want live ears listening to me.
Karl
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Sulyman
Date: 2025-11-19 01:45
https://www.reddit.com/r/Clarinet/s/kNopWJcTOW
Picture here
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: m1964
Date: 2025-11-19 01:49
Karl is absolutely right.
Only a set of ears can tell you about your tone and only if the person remembers how you sounded a few months back.
I would be more concerned about hygiene so would clean up those tone holes first.
Vinegar solution would remove both mineral deposits and/or mold, after that I'd put some bore/sweet almond oil inside the tone holes and the bore and leave the clarinet for a day/overnight.
Good luck.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
