 The Oboe BBoard
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Author: stevensfo
Date: 2006-03-31 12:42
Hi,
Not the most academic sort of question, but has anyone made their own swab for the top joint?
I like to do things myself wherever possible and would never dream of buying a swab for my clarinet. They're so simple to make. Long piece of cotton and a bootlace.
The top joint of an oboe however is another matter. I'm ready to try using trial and error, but it would help if there were a simple sketch somewhere showing the best shape and dimensions for the piece of cotton - especially for the top where it may get stuck!
Anyone done this?
Steve
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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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Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2006-03-31 13:21
A smallish, longish triangle of silk or other light, absorbent cloth, with a small beaded pull-chain (the type that used to be attached to lights, or a key chain, or an old piece of jewelry) sewn onto the narrow end, will work. But unless you have one of these chains laying around, you'd probably do better, cost-wise, buying a ready-made swab. The chain has to be small enough to get through the reed-end opening.
Or, you could make friends with a turkey farmer . . .
Susan
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Author: GMac
Date: 2006-03-31 13:44
One thing that will potentially save you a ton of grief in the future is to put a string on the end of the swab that is longer than the top joint, so that you can pull the swab back out in the event that you pull it through by accident with a knot in it (i.e. put the chain on one end so that it will pull itself through the oboe, but on the other end put this piece of string so that you can pull it back out if it gets stuck). The important thing is that the string is longer than the top joint, so that even if the very bottom of the swab is knotted and stuck, you can still pull the swab back out.
Good luck with this! Let me know how it works out...
Graham
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Author: vboboe
Date: 2006-04-01 16:52
... yes, buy commercial oboe silk swob, cheaper and usually fuss-less and less time consuming, they're not that expensive really when you compare it with your time looking for substitutes, especially a suitable smooth scratch-free thin enough and heavy enough weight, fiddling around with construction details, etc., why not schedule same valuable time to making reeds, or practising?
... don't use cotton swobs made of average short fibre cotton, these shed lint much too easily inside the bore, especially as cotton ages quickly with wear passing back & forth, would be better to use the quite expensive high quality long fibre silky cotton instead
... hand-wash silk swobs in laundry product for delicates, because the very same spit silk is so good at absorbing will degrade silk fibers, which break apart and then shed
... i did run into one commercial silk that really bunched up in the reed well, and it needed a lot of fiddling to pull it through, no good when time is of the essence, and that was because it's hemmed with a 'thick' foldover & sew it down kind of hem. Tediously and fussily unpicked the wide end section of hem, fiddled with hand rolling and hand stitching it, which made the hem thinner, slithers through with one gentle tug now
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Author: stevensfo
Date: 2006-04-02 21:37
Thanks everyone.
" ... yes, buy commercial oboe silk swob, cheaper and usually fuss-less and less time consuming, they're not that expensive really when you compare it with your time looking for substitutes," --
Yes, I've decided to order a proper oboe swab, then measure the dimensions, experiment, and...take it from there.
-- "is to put a string on the end of the swab that is longer than the top joint, so that you can pull the swab back out " --
Definitely!
-- "with a small beaded pull-chain (the type that used to be attached to lights, or a key chain, or an old piece of jewelry) sewn onto the narrow end," --
Yep, I already have that. It slips through the reed hole very nicely.
-- "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" --
Dutchy, I live in Italy, so the shop names are all unknown - (except Salvation Army - I thought they were only in Britain!) but I love your sense of humour. I'm far past the stage of caring what a sales clerk thinks, ;-) though, this being Italy, there's plenty of shops selling silk.
Actually, my oboe is also a Fox that I bought from Ebay. It's almost 30 years old and without a left hand F, but it sounds beautiful! Oh, and it seems a lot easier to learn than how I remember learning the clarinet!
Steve
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Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2006-04-02 22:56
it seems a lot easier to learn than how I remember learning the clarinet!
Glad to hear someone else say that, Steve. I totally agree -- but most people think I must be joking. I squeek and squawk a whole lot less on the oboe than I did on the clarinet. And my tone was better from the get-go, as well.
Susan
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Author: Cacisnd
Date: 2018-07-08 05:53
I know that this site is years old but I just read that someone suggested a bead chain through the bore ! - Keep running metal through the bore of a woodwind instrument and see how long it lasts. I could imagine after hundreds of swabbing movements something is going to wear. My suggestion never stick metal anything into the bore. Metal will win over wood every time.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2018-07-09 01:03
If you do use cotton, then it'll have to be a very thin triangle. Yamaha cotton oboe pullthroughs are supplied as a two-piece set with a thin triangular pullthrough for the top joint and a small square one for the lower joint and bell.
I use the Howarth silk one for the entire instrument as it has a tail, so can be pulled back out if you feel any resistance.
http://www.howarth.uk.com/pic.aspx?pid=34136
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Cacisnd
Date: 2018-07-27 07:26
I have two one for the upper and one for the lower the lower is bigger. and I made out of silk - simple and not fancy.
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Author: Cacisnd
Date: 2018-07-30 08:10
Just a tip dont swab with a swab that has been used let it dry - I did that last night and almost got it stuck. upper joint only
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Author: Barry Vincent
Date: 2018-07-31 02:07
Aren't the swabs (brushes) with the wooden/plastic handles made of some sort of cotton. That's what I use. That's after I sometimes use a goose feather.
Skyfacer
Post Edited (2018-07-31 02:07)
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