Help fast!! Clarinet Smells bad!!?

Question

okay I have a clarinet but it has this really nasty smell both the clarinet and the clarinet case they both smell really bad! How do i make that smell go away?

Answer 1

For the case... you can use a little bit of that Arm and Hammer vacuum powder, or baking soda... sprinkle it in your case, scrub it lightly with a stiff bristled brush, then let it sit for about 15 minutes, then use the hose attachment to vacuum it up.  If the clarinet is wood, you can also put orange peels (from about 1/4 of an orange) in the case... this keeps the moisture regulated for the wood and makes it smell nice.  

For the clarinet itself... get a recorder swab (it looks like a pipe-cleaner on steroids).  Put saran wrap under any key that stays closed (to protect the pads), like the C#/G# left pinky key, octave key, etc.  If the clarinet is PLASTIC, you can use warm soapy water with the recorder swab to scrub the inside, then rinse it off with a damp swab, then dry swab as usual.  Try not to get any of your pads wet, but if you do, place a dry cloth under the pad, push the pad down a couple times, then remove the cloth WITHOUT dragging it across the pad.

If the clarinet is wood, use the recorder swab and some almond oil.  This is similar to bore oil, but it is organic (bore oil is petroleum based), and smells better.  A little oil goes a long way!  Just 2 or 3 drops should do it!  Put the oil on the swab and run through quickly a couple of times.  You also don't need to protect the pads, but don't intentionally scrub them either.  

I should let you know that there is heavy debate amongst clarinet players and technicians about if organic oil is beneficial or harmful to a wood clarinet.  If you're worried about using almond oil, you can use bore oil instead, but that kind of defeats the purpose of trying to make it smell better. :)

The other option is that you could take it to your local repair shop and let them give it a good cleaning... I think cleaning of the case would still be up to you.

Make sure you swab it out after everytime you play it, and that should help in the future.  If you bought the clarinet this way (used), then the person before you may have not been good about swabing it... you may want to have it professionally disinfected.

Anyways, good luck! :)

Answer 2

clean it really good, air out the case, and maybe spray the case with something that smells good..also clean it out more often and it won't get so bad.