I just got a clarinet mouthpiece that seems to be fairly old, and has
that typical (though by no means unbearable) hard rubber odor, as well
as a bit of a taste.  Is there anything that would help with this?
I've been told soaking it in vinegar for a few minutes does the trick,
but I definitely want to find out for sure before I try anything.

Thanks a lot,

Tully

Long vinegar soaks can turn HR mouthpieces green or brown.  Vinegar swabing
is good for loosening calcium deposits.

I've never treated a mouthpiece for smell.  Others have suggested soaking
it in mouthwash.  That seems OK to me.

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Although i have never tried it, you might consider baking soda and water changing the water every 12 hours or so as the baking soda may leach out the smell. 

just a thought

chedoggy


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Keith Bradbury 
  To: MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2006 7:35 AM
  Subject: Re: [MouthpieceWork] rubber smell and taste


  Long vinegar soaks can turn HR mouthpieces green or brown. Vinegar swabing
  is good for loosening calcium deposits.

  I've never treated a mouthpiece for smell. Others have suggested soaking
  it in mouthwash. That seems OK to me.

  __________________________________________________
  Do You Yahoo!?
  Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
  http://mail.yahoo.com 


   

In my experience the simple use and handling of a mouthpiece usually is good enough to eliminate most odors and tastes.  It might take a week or so of regular handling but if you can grin and bare it, that very well be all that is needed.  If it is really bad, I would first soak it in distilled water for 24-48 hours and see if this does the trick for you.  If not, then Lemon juice from concentrate is what I use to eliminate calcium deposits...but it works well to reduce the smell and taste as well.  Please note that lemon juice...like the other remidies offered will very likely help make your mouthpiece's oxidizing color more pronounced.  Finally if you want the help of a Doctor...go to this guy.  He has dedicated a lot of his expertise to the mundane problems we mouthpiecers have.  Perhaps you will like some of his products.  http://www.doctorsprod.com/

  Good luck,
  Brad
   
  
"michael d. collins (2)" <chedoggy@...> wrote:
            Although i have never tried it, you might consider baking soda and water changing the water every 12 hours or so as the baking soda may leach out the smell. 
   
  just a thought
   
  chedoggy
   
   
    ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Keith Bradbury 
  To: MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2006 7:35 AM
  Subject: Re: [MouthpieceWork] rubber smell and taste
  

    Long vinegar soaks can turn HR mouthpieces green or brown. Vinegar swabing
is good for loosening calcium deposits.

I've never treated a mouthpiece for smell. Others have suggested soaking
it in mouthwash. That seems OK to me.

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com 


  

         

 		
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Most of the time they seem to get less smelly with some playing.  Good hard rubber gets ugly and can smell.  The alternative is cheap plastic pieces that play poorly :-)


Ed
 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: Keith Bradbury <kwbradbury@...>
> Long vinegar soaks can turn HR mouthpieces green or brown.  Vinegar swabing
> is good for loosening calcium deposits.
> 
> I've never treated a mouthpiece for smell.  Others have suggested soaking
> it in mouthwash.  That seems OK to me.
> 
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
> http://mail.yahoo.com 

[ Attachment content not displayed ]

I have advised soaking a mouthpiece in vinegar only for removing white calcified saliva stains.

Paul


------- Original Message -------
From    : Tully Lanter[mailto:tully.lanter@...]
Sent    : 6/29/2006 12:05:52 AM
To      : MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com
Cc      : 
Subject : RE: [MouthpieceWork] rubber smell and taste

 I just got a clarinet mouthpiece that seems to be fairly old, and has
that typical (though by no means unbearable) hard rubber odor, as well
as a bit of a taste.  Is there anything that would help with this?
I've been told soaking it in vinegar for a few minutes does the trick,
but I definitely want to find out for sure before I try anything.

Thanks a lot,

Tully

--- In MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com, "Tully Lanter"
<tully.lanter@...> wrote:
>
> I just got a clarinet mouthpiece that seems to be fairly old, and has
> that typical (though by no means unbearable) hard rubber odor, as well
> as a bit of a taste.  Is there anything that would help with this?
> I've been told soaking it in vinegar for a few minutes does the trick,
> but I definitely want to find out for sure before I try anything.
> 
> Thanks a lot,
> 
> Tully
>

I have had good luck washing them with toothpaste (with mild
abraisives in it) and then coating for several hours inside and out
with olive oil.
I then wipe off/out the olive oil.  From that point on, if the piece
is played and handled regularly, it doesn't seem to be a problem.

I've had great success using (and I know some will cringe, but it
works quite well) Flitz, the polishing cream. It's not terribly
abrasive but works better than toothpaste. As long as you wash the
mouthpiece well and use a little mouthwash afterwards, there's no
problem. I came up with this method after stopping a friend/repair
tech, in a music store where I worked, from buffing an old hard rubber
Brilhart tenor mpc. rescued from a trade-in on his buffing wheel per
the owner's directions. He had put a little jeweler's rouge on the pad
and went to town. I salvaged and still have the piece, and thankfully
the only damage he did was buffing the "ilh" from the Brilhart logo on
the back. 

The other thing I use instead of olive oil sometimes is almond oil,
which you can find in health food stores. I use it for oiling and
sometimes soaking wood clarinets when restoring really old ones. I
started using it on mpcs. when someone on another list mentioned that
some French mpc. makers used to store rubber clarinet mpcs. in it to
preserve them. It's a little pricier, but excellent to use and smells
wonderful as a bonus.




> I have had good luck washing them with toothpaste (with mild
> abraisives in it) and then coating for several hours inside and out
> with olive oil.
> I then wipe off/out the olive oil.  From that point on, if the piece
> is played and handled regularly, it doesn't seem to be a problem.
>

For those of us not in the USA, please, what is Flitz.  What kind of polishing cream is it, what is in it, what is it normally used for? With answers to these questions, I may be able to find an Australian equivalent. Thanks, Geoff.

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Don Hatfield 
  To: MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Sunday, July 02, 2006 2:29 AM
  Subject: [MouthpieceWork] Re: rubber smell and taste


  I've had great success using (and I know some will cringe, but it
  works quite well) Flitz, the polishing cream. It's not terribly
  abrasive but works better than toothpaste. As long as you wash the
  mouthpiece well and use a little mouthwash afterwards, there's no
  problem. I came up with this method after stopping a friend/repair
  tech, in a music store where I worked, from buffing an old hard rubber
  Brilhart tenor mpc. rescued from a trade-in on his buffing wheel per
  the owner's directions. He had put a little jeweler's rouge on the pad
  and went to town. I salvaged and still have the piece, and thankfully
  the only damage he did was buffing the "ilh" from the Brilhart logo on
  the back. 

  The other thing I use instead of olive oil sometimes is almond oil,
  which you can find in health food stores. I use it for oiling and
  sometimes soaking wood clarinets when restoring really old ones. I
  started using it on mpcs. when someone on another list mentioned that
  some French mpc. makers used to store rubber clarinet mpcs. in it to
  preserve them. It's a little pricier, but excellent to use and smells
  wonderful as a bonus.

  > I have had good luck washing them with toothpaste (with mild
  > abraisives in it) and then coating for several hours inside and out
  > with olive oil.
  > I then wipe off/out the olive oil. From that point on, if the piece
  > is played and handled regularly, it doesn't seem to be a problem.
  >



   

--- In MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com, "Geoff & Sherryl-Lee Secomb"
<gsecomb@...> wrote:
>
> For those of us not in the USA, please, what is Flitz.  What kind of
polishing cream is it, what is in it, what is it normally used for?
With answers to these questions, I may be able to find an Australian
equivalent. Thanks, Geoff.


Hi, Geoff!
 
Flitz is a cleaner/polish manufacturer here in the US (go to
www.flitz.com for their site). You should be able to find their
products internationally, especially in gun or sporting shops
(original Flitz is great for stainless steel firearms, and we use it
in the shop for cleaning brass instrument mouthpieces, clarinet keys,
 and such) but they have a variety of products. Another thought are
cleaning polishing products from Meguiar's at www.meguiar's.com. I
used to get a wonderful product of theirs for cleaning and polishing
pickguards on guitars and other plastic and rubber products that
worked better than Flitz and was nearly non-abrasive, but don't see it
listed any more. 

The only thing like Flitz I've seen is Wenol, which seems to be an
international product as well. These products have never caused any
damage to any hard rubber mouthpieces I have used it on, they are
extremely low-abrasive. But then again I have a few very old pieces,
like my Kaspars and a Kaspar-made Goldbeck and such that oxidize
easily if not used occasionally, and I don't use it on them repeatedly
for fear of eventually damaging them. The Flitz works well as a
first-time  and then occasional oxidation remover, used sparingly
(that's as about as close to a disclaimer as I can get). As I
mentioned you should carefully then wash and rinse the piece as has
been explained here in the past. It doesn't leave any odor or residue,
but using mouthwash sparingly if you prefer will only make sure of
this for you.

Hope this helps.

Don

Flitz is a metal polish that is actually made in West Germany.
   
  http://www.flitz.com/
   
  Paul

Geoff & Sherryl-Lee Secomb <gsecomb@...> wrote:
            For those of us not in the USA, please, what is Flitz.  What kind of polishing cream is it, what is in it, what is it normally used for? With answers to these questions, I may be able to find an Australian equivalent. Thanks, Geoff.
   
    ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Don Hatfield 
  To: MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Sunday, July 02, 2006 2:29 AM
  Subject: [MouthpieceWork] Re: rubber smell and taste
  

    I've had great success using (and I know some will cringe, but it
works quite well) Flitz, the polishing cream. It's not terribly
abrasive but works better than toothpaste. As long as you wash the
mouthpiece well and use a little mouthwash afterwards, there's no
problem. I came up with this method after stopping a friend/repair
tech, in a music store where I worked, from buffing an old hard rubber
Brilhart tenor mpc. rescued from a trade-in on his buffing wheel per
the owner's directions. He had put a little jeweler's rouge on the pad
and went to town. I salvaged and still have the piece, and thankfully
the only damage he did was buffing the "ilh" from the Brilhart logo on
the back. 

The other thing I use instead of olive oil sometimes is almond oil,
which you can find in health food stores. I use it for oiling and
sometimes soaking wood clarinets when restoring really old ones. I
started using it on mpcs. when someone on another list mentioned that
some French mpc. makers used to store rubber clarinet mpcs. in it to
preserve them. It's a little pricier, but excellent to use and smells
wonderful as a bonus.

> I have had good luck washing them with toothpaste (with mild
> abraisives in it) and then coating for several hours inside and out
> with olive oil.
> I then wipe off/out the olive oil. From that point on, if the piece
> is played and handled regularly, it doesn't seem to be a problem.
>



  

         


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