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Re: DIY Oboe swab?

Author: Dutchy
Date: 2006-03-31 12:57

Well, first off, you can't use cotton, because it's too thick to pull through the reed well. You need silk for that. Cotton is 100% guaranteed to get stuck.

You can sometimes get fabric remnants of silk at stores like Jo-Ann Fabrics or Hobby Lobby, or you can just buy a 1/4 yard chunk of silk.

You can also check out thrift stores like the Salvation Army and Goodwill for real silk ladies blouses, which usually go for a couple bucks. Check the label for fabric care instructions; it will say whether it's 100% silk or artificial fibers.

IMO real silk is more absorbent than polyester "fake" silk, the so-called "silky" prints that fabric stores sell. They aren't real silk.

Also, real silk is thinner gauge than polyester or rayon, which is more conducive to getting it through the reed well without getting stuck.

If it makes you nervous to be shopping for ladies blouses, tell the sales clerk it's a present for your GF. :D Then watch her deal with the fact that you're so cheap you're shopping for your GF at Goodwill. :D :D

Then you just need a long narrow piece of it. The swab that came with my Fox isn't a triangle at all, but a long skinny oblong, tapering to thread-width at the two ends where it's sewed to the two strings. I measured it just now, and it's 4 1/2" wide at its widest point, and is 36" long.

ETA: And make sure that the silk you get is "thin" silk, not heavy satin or sateen. My Fox swab is made of silk so thin that it floats around like gossamer cobweb--it's not even ladies blouse material, it's that thin--but it soaks up spit like you wouldn't believe.

And before I went to all the trouble of sewing and hemming, I'd just whack off a raw hand-size chunk of the material to the appropriate width, tack the bootlace or whatever onto the end with a couple stitches, and very very carefully and slowly make sure that it would fit through the reed well, to make sure the fabric wasn't too thick.

Post Edited (2006-03-31 13:05)

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