How to Clean and Sterilize a Mouthpiece At Home

Steve

Steve

Clarinet CE/Moderator
Staff member
CE/Moderator
How to Clean and Sterilize a Mouthpiece (at home)

Many players think that we repair people use voodoo magic and extravagant chemicals to clean built up residue on mouthpieces. But there are home products that can do a fantastic job without spending money on those "special" cleaners and sterizers.

First of all, you will need a vial or small glass. Something where the mouthpiece will fit into without much room (to not use much liquids). You will have the mouthpiece tip down into the glass or vial and the cork end up out of any liquids.

INGREDIENTS
You will need (a) vinegar; (b) an old toothbrush (soft or preferably hard bristles); and mouthwash.

Now pour some vinegar into the glass/vial and insert the mouthpiece tip down into it. Be careful that there isn't too much as the cork should be well out of the vinegar.

After 5 minutes take the mouthpiece out and use the toothbrush and agitate any buildup in or on the mouthpiece. Repeat this step a couple times as necessary. DO NOT have any silver plated ligatures or caps close to the vinegar for an extended period of time - the vinegar seems to badly oxidize the silver quite quickly.

Now to sterilize the mouthpiece clean out the same glass/vial and pour some mouthwash into it, place the mouthpiece in it tip down (and no mouthwash close to the cork) let it sit for 30 seconds if you wish, remove and rinse with water.

That is all to this simple method to clean and sterilize a mouthpiece. This can be used for a clarinet or saxophone mouthpiece

taken from:
http://www.clarinetperfection.com/mpcClean.htm
 
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My method is mostly similar. I have an article on mywebsite but it's only in Hebrew http://www.nitailevi.com/tests/mouthpc_cleaning/mouthpiece_cleaning.htm
There is also an article on Steve Howard's website http://www.shwoodwind.co.uk/Testing/Cleaning_mouthpieces.htm

There are seperate issues of cleaning and disinfecting. Here are some things I found.

There is a mouthpiece cleaner form Doctor's Products. It doesn't remove the hard built-ups. I asked the Doctor and he confirmed that it doesn't. It only removes some of the dirt, but it is supposed to make the hard build-up easier to remove by the vinegar. IME it does this.

The reason is this cleaner is supposed to be even less harmful than vinegar (which is already very mild). It is also supposed to help with disinfecting the mouthpiece. I found that a lot of very tough build-up can be hard to remove, and might need even 20 minutes or more in vinegar. That isad, I don't consider the Doctor's mouhtpiece cleaner especailly necessary since I've tried leaving mouthpieces in vinegar for a very long time, many times, to check nothing bad happen to them.

For disinfecting a mouthpiece, without actually letting it sit in alcohol (which might not be good for the mouthpiece, and could change its colour too), the conclusion I found is it is best to simply wash with soap. This is also the recommendation from the Doctor if I remember.

I also have a question. Do you have any experience cleaning wood mouthpieces this way? I'm worried the vinegar smell/taste will stick to the mouthpiece and stay even after washing it.
 
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I also tried the Doctor's mpc cleaner before and came to the same conclusion ... I use his container as my "vial" mentioned above ... it has a nice screw on cap. I also use old pill vials.

For wood mouthpieces I initially use bore oil, the kind you buy at the store in a small squeeze bottle. It seems to clean better than anything else. then wash with disinfecting dish soap and water.
 
...depends what you want your mouthpiece sterilise for - yourself, or in order to give the mouthpiece someone else?

If it's for your own, dipping the toothbrush into vinegar and carefully brushing out the 'piece will do, once every two months should suffice. Then simply rinse with not even lukewarm water, swab and let dry.
Doesn't hurt to simply rinse the mouthpiece after each use, occasinally toothbrushing round the mouthpiece patch (if applicable).
 
SteveSklar said:
How to Clean and Sterilize a Mouthpiece (at home)...Be careful that there isn't too much as the cork should be well out of the vinegar.
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Maybe it's obvious, but I have to ask.

  1. Is this procedure for HR pieces, metal pieces, or both?
  2. What cork are you talking about? I have a drawer full of saxophone mouthpieces. None of them have any cork. Do other kinds of woodwind pieces use cork? (Shows how much I know.)
 
Clarinet mouthpieces have a corked tenon which holds the mouthpiece inside of the barrel.
 
Al
Sorry, as Carl said clarinets have corked tenons. I copied this from my Clarinet website
and near the end it said "This can be used for a clarinet or saxophone mouthpiece"

I haven't ever tried it on my metal mpcs but I assume it works well. Though I haven't tried it on my silver plated mpcs.


Ben
the mouthwash is always a good idea just in case you may have had a mild cold, dog lick it, etc .... good to kill all those germs just in case :emoji_relaxed:
 
SteveSklar said:
the mouthwash is always a good idea just in case you may have had a mild cold, dog lick it, etc .... good to kill all those germs just in case :emoji_relaxed:
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Puts on her former job (paramedic) hat...

Dog's mouths are cleaner than people's mouths. That's why human bites are much more prone to complications post-injury than canine ones.... I'm just sayin'. :???:

Back to current CE role...


I'm wondering what it would do to the Silverite Dukoff mouthpieces? I keep forgetting what they're made of. Anyone remember what the main component in the metal is?
 
SteveSklar said:
the mouthwash is always a good idea just in case you may have had a mild cold, dog lick it, etc .... good to kill all those germs just in case :emoji_relaxed:
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...I'm not a huge fan of oversanitising. A healthy immune system can cope with that without a problem, and we'd better keep it up and running instead of letting it idly twiddle fingers. A common virus doesn't survive much longer than very few hours outside the human body, they love moisture and warmth.
The biggest source of contagious critters are probably the ones around us, not a rinsed and dried mouthpiece.

But I digress...nothing against mouthwash if you're susceptible to colds and other ailments, don't get me wrong. (No, I don't lick grab poles in trains in order to remain in shape)
 
Helen said:
Dog's mouths are cleaner than people's mouths.
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Anyone who doubts that should check out the Usenet saxophone discussions lately. :cry:

Sorry, end of hijack. I clean my pieces with a brush that came in a sax maintenance kit and a squirt of dish detergent. A good rinse is important if you don't like the taste of dish detergent. I hadn't thought about sanitizing. Cheap vodka, maybe?
 
Al Stevens said:
Cheap vodka, maybe?
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Straight alcohol tends to discolor hard rubber mouthpieces. The alcohol content in mouthwash is generally around 25%, depending on the brand, and I haven't seen that ever discolor a mouthpiece.

Vinegar is an acid (acetic, if I remember my high school chemistry), though not a terribly strong one. I'd use it to do a bit of cleaning, but I wouldn't soak the 'piece: it might start to dissolve. At least the cork/glue on a clarinet mouthpiece might dissolve ....

I wonder if the stuff a barber uses would be as good. I know it doesn't discolor rubber: it's used on rubber combs.
 
"Helen" said:
Dog's mouths are cleaner than people's mouths.
Click to expand...
Al Stevens said:
Anyone who doubts that should check out the Usenet saxophone discussions lately. :cry:
Click to expand...

I don't care .. if a dog licks/slobbers on my mpc I'm gonna sterilize it !! :emoji_relaxed:
 
I still don't feel good about kissing someone after their dog kissed them. Not that this is going to happen to me anytime soon but conceptually.
 
For calcium deposits the vinegar soak does a good job. I've even (accidentally) left hard rubber pieces in overnight with no harmful effects. Since we clean lots of mouthpieces in the shop we use the small ultrasonic cleaner available from Harbor Freight for about $50 with Dawn dish detergent. It does a great job. When they come out it is once through with a brush and a rinse and the mouthpiece is good to go.

John
 
I agree with John. I left mouthpieces from both (different types of) hard rubber and plastics especailly for a long time, and there was no damage at all. The vinegar I use is synthetic, not for food, 5% acetic acid.
 
jbtsax said:
For calcium deposits the vinegar soak does a good job. I've even (accidentally) left hard rubber pieces in overnight with no harmful effects. Since we clean lots of mouthpieces in the shop we use the small ultrasonic cleaner available from Harbor Freight for about $50 with Dawn dish detergent. It does a great job. When they come out it is once through with a brush and a rinse and the mouthpiece is good to go.
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But then how does it smell? When I clean mine with a toothbrush and a very small amount of toothpaste and rinse, they come out smelling like new rubber. Go figure.
 
Gandalfe said:
But then how does it smell? When I clean mine with a toothbrush and a very small amount of toothpaste and rinse, they come out smelling like new rubber. Go figure.
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Abrasives, however gentle they might be, will cause the burned smell in hard rubber. Toothbrush soaked in vinegar (deposits) or liquid hand soap (no deposits) should do the job sufficiently.
I found out that a drop of olive oil on your finger, gently massaged into the piece, will get rid of the burned smell and restores the blackness to a satisfying degree.
 
There is no such thing a sterilizing a mouthpieces unless you have access to an autoclave or a gamma-irradiator, or at least that your mouthpiece can tolerate baking in oven at decent temperature (I can't recall exactly). The moment you touch it again, it obviously is no longer sterile. The definition of sterile implies something to the effect of less that one infectious particles per million. So a mouthpiece maker who makes one million and one mouthpieces can tolerate that max one of them has an e-coli stuck on it somewhere. I gather most will have to settle for sanitize when it comes to mouthpieces.
 
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Gandalfe said:
But then how does it smell? When I clean mine with a toothbrush and a very small amount of toothpaste and rinse, they come out smelling like new rubber. Go figure.
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Some of the very old mouthpieces give off a sulfur smell no matter what. Buffing helps somewhat but I haven't found anything that eliminates the odor entirely when the rubber compound has started to break down.

On the newer hard rubber pieces that we handle most often the sulfur odor isn't a problem and they don't seem to pick up the odor of the vinegar or the detergent either.

John
 
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