Woodwind Instrument Maintenance
Taking a few minutes after each playing session to clean your instrument will not only prolong its life but will also prevent minor problems such as sticky pads. The cleaning process consists of three different stages:
1. Extracting the moisture from the bore of your instrument.
2. Cleaning any silver or lacquered parts e.g. key work
3. Drying out the pads.There are two ways of cleaning the inside of your instrument:
For Clarinet and Saxophone it is recommended that you use a pull-through, which
is a small piece of cloth or leather with a weighted cord attached to it. Simply
feed the weighted end of the cord into the bore until it drops out the end. Holding
the weight, ease the cloth all the way through. Never use excess force as the
cloth can easily become jammed, if it does become tight pull it back out and
start again! Always remove the neck pipe (crook) from a saxophone before using
a pull-through.For Flute and Piccolo use the supplied cleaning rod with a small
piece of gauze. Thread one corner of the gauze into the eye on the end and wrap
the excess cloth around the rest of the rod. Repeatedly push the cleaner through
each joint until clean and dry.
Next wipe over the key work and body with either a silver or lacquer cloth, depending
on the finish of your instrument. Silver and lacquer
cloths are impregnated with a cleaning solution and are non-abrasive, it is perfectly
safe and recommended that you use them every time you have played your instrument.
It is also safe to wipe wooden bodied instruments with either cloth.
Finally insert a pad saver into the instrument to absorb any moisture remaining
on the pads. The pad saver should be left inside the instrument until the next
time you play. Pad savers should only be left in the instrument if they are used
in combination with a pull-through.
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