Cleaning urine from a clarinet
Hello! This is my first post, so I especially apologize for the nature of it, but I am having great difficulty finding an answer. A month ago when some kids broke into my house to rob me they opened my clarinet case and urinated on the clarinet and case. In all the mess they left I didn't notice until it had dried, but it's definitely human urine (the cats are innocent!). I can't afford professional cleaning, and anyway I'd like to learn how to clean it myself. My instrument, fortunately in this case, is plastic. I really want to play again, if someone has tips or resources to share. Thank you!
-Jennifer
Hi, Welcome to the group.
In another life I once owned a commercial cleaning business, and this takes me right back to those days.
Firstly, what you do depends to a large extent on whether you have insurance or not. If so, then make a claim and it becomes someone else's problem.
If you don't have insurance, do you want to deal with this yourself? If so, what technical skills do you have?
If this isn't something you're comfortable with, pass it on to a repairer. Explain to him/her what has happened and instruction them to strip it, clean and repad it and return it to playing condition. They may charge a premium for the work due to its nature.
I would suggest you discard the case and find a replacement.
If you feel you can deal with this yourself then this is how I would set about it.
Break the instrument down into its major components and wash them in a bucket of warm water. Not hot, only lukewarm. Add some disinfectant such as Dettol to the water.
After several changes of water put the pieces on some kitchen paper and let it air-dry.
When dry, strip the instrument, remove and discard the pads and wash the body and keywork again in warm water. This will deal with any residue trapped in hinges, screws, etc. I'd suggest putting the pieces in a fine mesh laundry bag for this to minimize the chance of losing screws. You may want to consider replacing the joint corks at this point, but if they're well greased this may not be necessary. The urine will have been washed away, but you may still feel uncomfortable with the situation. It's your choice.
After this its just a matter of repadding the instrument, recorking if necessary and restoring it to playing condition. After this procedure your clarinet will be clean and free from contamination.
Remember that urine in itself is almost sterile and doesn't present as much of a health hazard as, say, blood. It's the act that makes it particularly unpleasant.
A few months back my elderly cat decided to pick a fight with my euphonium and peed all over it, so I do have some recent experience of this problem.