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Re: cotton vs. silk

Author: kdrew922
Date: 2008-04-09 18:22

My preference are the Gem single-ended silk swabs.

http://www.rdgwoodwinds.com/product_info.php?products_id=1041

Because the oboe has a conical bore, swabbing from top to bottom eliminates the risk of getting your swab stuck, since any knot in the swab that makes it through the reedwell and into the top joint will be able to pass freely through the rest of the instrument. If you swab from bottom to top, you have to be very careful never to pull a knot through the oboe. A swab with a tail decreases this risk, but does not eliminate it. The string tail can get tied in a knot and get stuck just like the silk portion. Plus, with most of the swabs I've seen, buying a double-ended swab just means you're getting more string and less silk, which means less absorbency.

My only complaint with these Gem swabs is that the metal weight comes coated in some sort of white rubber, and this rubber coating causes the weight to stick to the bore when there is a lot of moisture in the instrument, making it very difficult to feed the swab through. But you can easily peel off the rubber coating, and then these swabs work just fine.

Cheers,
Drew

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