Padsaver Brush for Curved Soprano?
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I made my own at some point by cutting one for straight soprano. I cut a portion of the more flared part and then glued back the rubber protection (you could use some shrink tubing). On the top for some reason that I cannot remember I replaced the protection with a lamp wire connector ( for lack of a better word) which has a screw on the side to allow something cylindrical to be secured. It worked well. I have, since then, sold my curved soprano.
iI am not much of a DIY’er but necessity is the mother on invention. I also made my own curved soprano stand and adapted my strap to take the soprano as well as the tenor and other horns.
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iI am not much of a DIY’er but necessity is the mother on invention. I also made my own curved soprano stand and adapted my strap to take the soprano as well as the tenor and other horns.
I use the clarinet Pad Saver. It comes in two pieces, for the upper and lower joints of a Bb clarinet. I keep the upper one (shorter) in my clarinet case and use the lower one (slightly longer) with my curved soprano as a stick swab. It doesn't reach all the way down to the bow, but it works pretty well, considering that most of the moisture collects in the top half of the bore anyway. But there's no cap at the end of the swab, so be sure not to push it down too far. Keep a grip on it.
You still need something else for the neck, of course.
Thank you!I made my own at some point by cutting one for straight soprano. I cut a portion of the more flared part and then glued back the rubber protection (you could use some shrink tubing). On the top for some reason that I cannot remember I replaced the protection with a lamp wire connector ( for lack of a better word) which has a screw on the side to allow something cylindrical to be secured. It worked well.
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On a related note!...
Does anyone have any ideas of a known product out there, that will function well as a swab for FIXED NECK curved soprano?
I'm hoping not to have to buy something based on guesstimation of what it looks like, dimensionally. It has to have enough 'flair' to do a decent job of contacting the bore walls, yet come thru (easily) to the neck cork, and out, to pull thru.
(I've seen a lot of things that MIGHT works; sort of alternative applications for marketed products, that don't say for use with fixed neck curved sops, but, seem like they might?!? Flute-y kinds of things...?)
Does anyone have any ideas of a known product out there, that will function well as a swab for FIXED NECK curved soprano?
I'm hoping not to have to buy something based on guesstimation of what it looks like, dimensionally. It has to have enough 'flair' to do a decent job of contacting the bore walls, yet come thru (easily) to the neck cork, and out, to pull thru.
(I've seen a lot of things that MIGHT works; sort of alternative applications for marketed products, that don't say for use with fixed neck curved sops, but, seem like they might?!? Flute-y kinds of things...?)
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Pardon my correction, since it comes from a non native speaker, but I suppose you wanted to say flare , which is a gradual widening of something, as in a flared skirt.
Anyway, the problem is that you need a flared flexible padsaver with enough flexibility to go around the bend and enough stiffness to be pushed up the body of the saxophone and once it is in there you want to be able to retrieve it safely an not risk that it gets stuck.
In these cases I’d use a bassoon pull through they are good for the purpose od drying the inside of the saxophone, also a baritone padded bow padsaver could be used but it is cylindrical and won’t do much at the flared section of the bow.
Some baritone sax swabs are padded and some extra cloth could be added at the bottom section.
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Anyway, the problem is that you need a flared flexible padsaver with enough flexibility to go around the bend and enough stiffness to be pushed up the body of the saxophone and once it is in there you want to be able to retrieve it safely an not risk that it gets stuck.
In these cases I’d use a bassoon pull through they are good for the purpose od drying the inside of the saxophone, also a baritone padded bow padsaver could be used but it is cylindrical and won’t do much at the flared section of the bow.
Some baritone sax swabs are padded and some extra cloth could be added at the bottom section.
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Yes you are right about that ...flare! is correct. If it has same flair at the same time that might be a plus.
I think only the green fabric one about would work. The intent, and the only option, is that it is a drop-in type to begin at the bell, and pulled thru. any other strategy isn't really going to do the job. The bari bow thing won't be small enough to get through the narrow neck opening in either direction, and has no flare.
I made my own actually, and it seems to be working but is sort of falling apart and the weighted end is hard to make small and precise.
I think only the green fabric one about would work. The intent, and the only option, is that it is a drop-in type to begin at the bell, and pulled thru. any other strategy isn't really going to do the job. The bari bow thing won't be small enough to get through the narrow neck opening in either direction, and has no flare.
I made my own actually, and it seems to be working but is sort of falling apart and the weighted end is hard to make small and precise.
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Your best bet is a longish piece of silk or thin microfiber or chamois, with a string at both ends. You will never be able to pull a swab all the way through a fixed neck soprano (curved or not) that is wide enough at the base to clean the bell key area. Make a long triangle swab, narrow enough to get to the neck area at the top, and wide enough to clean the bottom at the base. Put a weighted string on the top end, and a pull-back string on the wide base.
The biggest problem with pull throughs on a soprano is the protrusion of the octave pip into the bore of the instrument. Swabs tend to catch on them - so be sure you can easily pull past. I bought a Hodge silk swab (supposed to be very good!) for a fixed neck soprano, and it ripped the first time through on the top octave pip. Not good.
My worry is that any swab substantial enough to do a decent job of drying the bore of a curved soprano would stand a good chance of eventually getting snagged on its way through the relatively tiny curved neck. As you point out, the inside end of the octave pip is an obstacle. Moreover, a swab can bunch up on itself inside a tight space and get firmly stuck even if it doesn't hit the octave pip. This has happened to me with a detachable soprano neck using a small pull-through swab designed for the neck alone, not the entire horn. It was a major chore to get it out, even with access to the clog from both ends of the neck. I would probably never try pulling a full-size swab through a soprano neck (but then I don't have a fixed-neck soprano, so I don't have to.)
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Well, oddly, the one I created does pull thru reliably,,,but the question is how much actual swabbing does it do. I used normal nylon string and small piece of cotton, flare shaped. But I suspect its not doing much except at the upper end /neck itself.
So, does the "pull back" type include the photo of the green swab above? seems like a good candidate.
So, does the "pull back" type include the photo of the green swab above? seems like a good candidate.
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Thanks for that. Is your straight sop a fixed neck?....that's the key/there's the rub.
Removable neck sops are much bigger and don't pose the threat of a jam up mess that fixed necks do. Its not so much the curved aspect really, as the fixed neck/tiny opening that is the problem. Does the Monster make it through, no problem?
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Why would you presume that all fixed neck sops have a smaller bore than a sop with a removable neck?
(Hint: They don’t.)
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Not concerned as much with the bore, as the outlet diameter. That is the critical path (literally) issue. To quote... " Its not so much the curved aspect really, as the fixed neck/tiny opening that is the problem"
But now (DUH) that I think about it, I shouldn't care tooooo much about that as I'll not be pulling through the end as much as nudging into it, then pulling it back.
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The end is part of the bore - its diameter defines one end of the cone. To iterate, not all fixed neck sops have the same “tiny” inner diameter at the opening of the neck.
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You are never wrong!
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I will try the Monster swab with the neck on. I have never tried that before. Stand by.....
I tried it, and it doesn't go through with the neck on. The weighted end of the string went through the neck, and I pulled the swab about 4 inches past the end of the neck, but there is just too much material in the swab for it to pull all the way through the neck. (There are actually multiple layers in this swab.) I had to remove the neck and pull the swab out backwards to get it out. If it were able to to through the neck, there would not be enough mass for it to do any good lower on the sax.
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