KBB Music Festival

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MUSIC MAINTENANCE
How to Look After
your Clarinet
Look after your valuable wooden or plastic clarinets
by following these simple steps as recommended by
KBB Music’s Repair Technicians
Image Source: Discovery Education
Assembling the Clarinet
We see more clarinets in our workshop with problems
caused by faulty assembly technique than for any other
cause, so please be careful and save yourself unnecessary
maintenance costs!
1
Rub a small amount of cork grease onto the tenon corks
before assembly when the clarinet is new. After about a
week only apply as necessary to make assembly easy, removing
old grease first before applying new grease. Parts should slip
together easily - if they don’t, bring the clarinet in for adjustment,
as you may be putting unnecessary strain on the clarinet parts
you are holding during assembly.
2
Place the lower joint in the palm of your left hand with the
mechanism upwards. Grip the joint by letting your fingers
press down on the two lowest keys (pressing them shut). Take
the bell in your right hand and attach it to the lower joint with a
gentle twisting motion.
3
Hold the upper joint in the palm of the left hand with the
mechanism up. Grip the joint by allowing your fingers to
grip the ring keys - pressing them down. Twist the upper and
lower joints together - make sure the bridge key on the upper
joint lays directly over the key on the lower joint.
4
5
Continue to hold the upper joint of the clarinet in the way
described above and twist the barrel on to the top.
Insert the mouthpiece into the top joint with a gentle
twisting motion. Ensure the mouthpiece table (the flat part)
lines up with the register key. This is the long key on its own on
the opposite side to the row of tone holes on the upper joint.
6
To put the reed on the mouthpiece, first place the flat
side of the reed against the flat table of the mouthpiece,
holding both with your left hand, your thumb holding down
the reed. Slip the ligature over the reed and mouthpiece with
the screws above the reed. If you are using a single screw type
ligature, the screw is usually on the opposite side to the reed.
Take great care not to touch the very delicate tip of the reed
during this process. Tighten up the screws when the reed is
straight and the tip of the mouthpiece is just visible above the reed.
Disassembling & Cleaning
Take as much care in taking your clarinet apart as in assembly!
But first you must clean your instrument.
1
Remove the mouthpiece and drop the
weight from your pull through cleaner
cloth or swab into the bell and then draw it
carefully through
your instrument.
Repeat a couple
of times to
be thorough.
Pull the swab
through your
mouthpiece to
clean and dry it.
2
3
Take all the sections of your clarinet apart using the reverse
of the assembly process. Be very particular with wooden
clarinets!
Wipe down the body and the keys with a polishing cloth.
This is important because the acids from your skin can
cause the playing or lacquer to deteriorate.
Ongoing Maintenance
1
Bore oil may need to be applied to the interior of wooden
clarinets occasionally. This prevents the bore of your
instrument absorbing moisture. Excess moisture absorption
can cause cracking and swelling of the instrument. Use bore oil
sparingly and take care to avoid getting any on the pads. Too little
oil is better than too much, too much can cause problems.
2
The moving parts need to be lubricated periodically. This should
be done with great care as lubricating oil will damage pads/
corks if any should accidentally run onto them. Many people prefer to
leave this to be done by our workshop at their regular service checks.
3It is advisable not to drink any sugar based drinks or eat food
before playing your instrument as this may cause sticky pads.
Drinking a glass of water before you play is helpful to reduce these
problems. •
ALWAYS store the instrument in its case when not in use.
NEVER close your clarinet case with anything sitting on top of the
clarinet keys, such as polishing cloths, music books, sheet music etc.
NEVER leave the instrument in the sun or near a heat source, even
if it’s in the case as heat can cause damage.
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