ETA
After talking to several music stores that do repair work I've decided to trash the clarinet and get the flute cleaned. One place said around $250 because they'd take it apart and clean it then put it back together with all new pads. That's a small price to pay for it to be in pristine condition.
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I have been looking for my clarinet and flute for 2 days. They were not with the other instruments. I played them a while back, got busy and didn't go put them out, and one of the kids got them and was playing with them, entirely my fault.
I finally found them where my dear hubby had stashed them.
Anyway, the storage building leaked on them and the cases are ruined. The instruments appear to be okay but they smell musty/moldy.
The flute is metal so it should be easy to clean, right? And just get new pads? It's not an inexpensive instrument, it was on sale for well over a thousand dollars.
My clarinet is wood so it's the one I wonder about more. It was about $700 new. A replacement case is around $75. I don't see any damage but what do you think? Do you think a deep cleaning and new pads would get the smell out? Maybe add in a new mouthpiece? If not at first do you think it would eventually fade over time and playing?
Our girl wants to take band in the fall and I don't want to buy more instruments. SO if these can be cleaned and turn out okay I could save a bunch of money or having to tell her no.
I plan on calling the local music store that sells instruments but if I want to take them to a professional band instrument store I'll have to travel over an hour.
I'm hoping someone might know a bit.
I was planning on having them cleaned professionally. I can't see any damage visually on either instrument. I know the wood has more pores than the metal for sure. So I was thinking the clarinet might be a wash and gone but again, I can't see anything wrong with it.
I think we bought the clarinet at Larsen Music in OKC. Long time ago...
The flute was a gift from my mother in law for a birthday. I'd always wanted to learn to play the flute but couldn't afford to buy one. I miss her every single day.
I called a couple of music stores that do band instruments in both Tulsa and OKC and it's around $250 each instrument to clean, cork, and repad. So I'm going to have to think on it.
The flute means more to me than the clarinet for sure. But they both have worth to me.
Thank you for your help! The school teachers are still on summer vacation so I will follow through on the local band director idea if I can find someone that knows his name. If he's on FB I can pm him.
Wild Woman, my insurance doesn't cover stuff not kept in the house. So there isn't any way to file a claim on that. It was my storage building. Not anywhere "I" would have put my instruments. When I am able to replace the clarinet I will. But everyone knows they are inside instruments now.
Don't know about a clarinet but I always cleaned my flute with the cleaning cloth and listerine if I had nasty to remove from the inside. My flute was silver so the outside was never deep cleaned because it could harm the silver's finish. If you have good instruments I would just suck it up and take it to a dealer to have them cleaned.
Your local music store may have someone who comes in (or they refer out to) for repair work. Or they may have someone in-house. One of our local ones does. In fact, my daughter's clarinet (was mine back in the day) is there right now getting checked over and repaired (failing B key and cork replacement on one piece of the barrel). Dropped it on Thursday at lunch, they called Friday just before dinner to say it is ready.
A full overhaul with all the pads being replaced, etc, may take longer. Especially the longer you wait and the closer it gets to the start of school and local marching band camps. Where we live competition marching band camp starts a week from tomorrow.
I don't know much about flutes (daughter has one of those also, for fun, but it isn't a higher end one like it sounds like you have). But I'd take that in too, and ask. I would not just assume that it'll be fine with simply replacing the pads. It might be! But depending on what got on/in it, I'd want to be sure.
If the cases got soaked (interior as well) then you will most likely want to replace all the pads on both instruments. Mold spores or mildew is not something you want to inhale when playing the instrument.
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Added: Just be sure to research the clarinet a bit before you decide to ignore it. Picked up my daughter's this morning and was chatting with the owner of the store. He had a lady come in a few weeks ago that had an old one, and her daughter wanted a newer one (an upgrade, one that was prettier with shiny keys). The one she had and wanted to get rid of was very old, but b/c of who made it and it's quality, was actually much more valuable than the newer one she was considering buying. It was a $2,000 clarinet. So be sure what you have before you decide to let it just get tossed or not seek out fixing any damage to it.
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I still would not just throw the clarinet out. It is wood, so if it has been sitting in water/moisture, it is possible that it might warp as it dries out. But just having *been* wet won't ruin it. Or if just the case was wet, it shouldn't ruin the wood. Clarinets get wet in marching band (it rains on football games) it happens. You wipe them dry with cloth. The insides of them get wet (with spit) and you use the swabs to dry them. They also should be regularly oiled to keep the actual wood from drying out and cracking. If it was well kept up, it is possible that you are only looking at pad (and maybe cork) replacement. And again, please verify the model and maker of the instrument before you assume it is now junk. Many older wooden instruments produce a different warmth of sound and are much more valuable than you might otherwise think.
We have a maintenance insurance through our music store that covers cleaning, repairing, greasing/oiling of our instruments.
Our son plays clarinet - he has 2 - his first was his plastic starter instrument (he uses this now if he has to play outside with marching band) and when we could tell he really liked it we got him a mid grade wooden clarinet.
(If he sticks with it and wants a professional clarinet someday (these easily run about $7000) he's going to get a good paying job after college and get it himself.)
I'd take them both to a music store.
I know it's a distance for you to travel but it'll be well worth the trip to get this done right.
Have them evaluated for how much it'll cost to refurbish them and if it's more than the cost of buying a new one, then just buy new.
If the wood is swollen, warped, rotting, etc, I'm sorry but you might not be able to save the wooden clarinet.
since I have mold allergies? I wouldn't play an instrument that smells like mold.
it needs to be cleaned by a professional.
If you had a storage unit and it leaked? Why not file an insurance claim? That's what I would do.
Please do not soak them. Both instruments have pads that will be ruined if they come in contact with water. If you want these two instruments restored, I'd leave it to a professional. Around here I had about 7 pads replaced on my clarinet and it was $125. A complete overhaul of a wood clarinet is $325.
Have you tried playing them to see if the water damaged the instrument? If it is only the case that was damaged then ditch the cases.
If you can not afford to put the money into these instruments or they deem them 'not worth the investment', I would suggest you purchase a used student model from your local music store. Less reliable options would be Craigslist, a consignment store (a local one had a clarinet for sale with 4 books for $25...yes you read that right...it was gone before I could get there.) yard sales, another local family whose child decided they didn't want to play, classified ads, or http://www.shopgoodwill.com/ but you're buying it site unseen... If nothing else maybe you could pick up one just for the case??
I'm not sure I would risk the possibility of inhaling spores when playing it if it wasn't completely cleaned.
My uncle died in WWII. He played an alto sax in a band. Someone in my family found it and took it in to repair. It had been in storage for possibly 20 years. The case and the sax smelled.strongly.of mildew. The pads were destroyed by mold.
I suggest that cleaning both instruments will help. The flute is metal and may not need to be cleaned because metal doesn't absorb smells. I'd wipe it down and do the usual home cleaning before I took it in. I would also try taking them out of the cases to air. That may be enough.
We took the sax to be refurbished. It was like new. I don't know how my mom and her sisters were able to get the smell out of the case but they did get out most of it. The case still smelled some but not enough to replace it.
I know you can get some smells out by filling the thing with crumpled newspaper. Baking soda in a bowl might work. My dad put coffee grounds in refrigerators he took in on trade. I think there are commercial products for this too.
I would call a music store or two, or even a couple of piano tuners in your area. Musicians tend to know each other and can refer you to someone closer to you that you might never find on your own. You might not need a "technician" per se but perhaps a skilled teacher who knows how to clean stuff that kids get into. There's no way I would soak a musical instrument that is valuable (and that you cannot afford to replace) without some serious advice from a qualified person.
Contact your school band director and ask him where he sends his instruments. He will probably send yours out with his. You know that the person he uses will be reputable and the cost will be far less.
