The Complete Handbook of Clarinet Care & Cleaning

Chapter 1: Understanding Clarinet Care & Cleaning

Pull the bell off your clarinet after a long practice session and look inside. You will see a line of moisture beaded along the bore, a slick film that carries microscopic dust, minerals, and saliva. If that instrument is made of grenadilla (Dalbergia melanoxylon), that moisture is being absorbed into the wood cells. As the wood takes on water, it swells; as it dries out, it contracts. This constant cycle of expansion and contraction is the primary driver of wooden clarinet failure. It causes the bore to distort, the tenon joints to loosen, and, in extreme cases, the wood to crack along the grain. Clarinet care is, at its most fundamental level, the management of this moisture cycle alongside the preservation of the instrument's mechanical parts.

Most players think of cleaning as simply pushing a swab through the body after playing. That is a necessary ritual, but it is only the first and most basic step of a wider discipline. Clarinet care encompasses several distinct systems that work together. The first is moisture control, which actively removes liquid water from the bore to prevent the wood from swelling and to stop felt pads from waterlogging. The second is material preservation, which involves the application of bore oil to slow down the exchange of moisture in wood and the conditioning of corks and tenon joints to keep them supple and airtight. The third is mechanical maintenance, which includes the adjustment and lubrication of keywork.