How to clean a saxophone mouthpiece 🎷QUICK GUIDE🎷 - saxophone lesson

[@smigs_mcgee]

This was the most useful guide I have found so far, I like that these are all household cleaning methods. Thank you!

[@aazizyan0313]

Wow! Thank you! This video actually helped a whole lot

[@PaulHaywood]

Hi Artur, your welcome. I'm so glad it helped! :)

[@floaty10]

Thanks. Great advice. I've wondered about how to get rid of the calcium buildup. Ta

[@PaulHaywood]

Hi Floaty, you're welcome. Hope it works well for you. Thanks for the comment btw! :)

[@saxhubdotjazz]

Distilled vinegar

[@graziagatto9516]

Thank u Paul, It was very useful. We're gonna do It today! Grazia & Enea 😊

[@penguinplayz1235]

Thanks, This helped for my concert!

[@1koir]

who else is watching this because they have to do band from home for school 😐

[@PaulHaywood]

Hey squish, i hope there's some videos of mine that will help you with your band studies. Make sure you tell your band buddies about my channel. Trying hard to catch that youtube growth curve and get my videos out to other sax players. :)

[@turtlewolf34]

Yes

[@claribass.contranet]

I'm doing this because my professor actually required it for a homework assignment 😂

[@Waitingtillroyalpeartagsme]

Me

[@davidlangford5383]

nice one paul really helpfull on the cleaning side

[@PaulHaywood]

Hi David, great to hear that! Thanks for the comment btw! :)

[@derycktrahair8108]

Good video. In the olds days as a young Army Bansman, the old guys said: " Don't clean your M/ piece too much....you'll ruin your tone". I thought it was BS. But what if you are on a m/piece that works, & the build up of Calcium over the yrs (from yourself) is part of the process in getting the Sound you want? Yes, keep it clean for hygiene, but scouring it out would put you back to square one (?). Just at thought. What do you reckon?

[@PaulHaywood]

Hmm, interesting concept there Deryck. Thanks for the comment by the way! :) I can imagine there is some element of truth in there, however if you build a sound and then don't clean you r calcium deposits out for 20 years, you'll end up slowly changing the piece of equipment your working with and will evolve with it. If you clean it every year or two the deposits will be small enough to not modify the tone ahrdly at all and you keep resetting the mouthpiece to how it was intended to work and resonate etc. I think i prefer the idea of resetting the surfaces and angles back to how they were designed and created and lket my sound and embouchure develop over time with that (factory reset) as a standard. Seems like a perfectly legitimate argument from the old guys though. HOwever, again, i like to squeeze as much projection out of my setup as possible and i'm pretty sure the calcium deposits would cause some waveform diffusion. possibly softening the tone slightly after many years of build up. which might be what one want. So in the end.... each to their own! haha

[@kenward1774]

I use hard rubber mouthpieces and I think one is plastic. My biggest problem with my clarinet and sax mouthpieces is the accumulation of the the very sticky goo from the back of mouthpiece cushions. The cushions move all over the back of the mouthpiece when I play a lot and the side of the cushion sticks out beyond the edge of the mouthpiece. And the goo left on the back of the mp is extremely difficult to remove. Hydrogen peroxide and disinfectants do not work. One repairman has recommended Ronsonol to remove the goo. But I've been afraid to try that. I really need the mp cushions because a pretty large chip was knocked off the back of one of my front teeth many years ago. It's not very noticeable from the front because the chip came off the surface of the back of the tooth giving it a fairly sharp edge which would dig into the surface of the mouthpiece if I did not use a cushion. I have one very good mp that I like to use on my alto sax, which I also inherited from a very good friend many years ago. What would you recommend? Sincerely, Ken WArd

[@tate333666]

Never heard of Fairy dish soap...Cool

[@sax4passion]

Hi nice idea to clean the mouthpiece. I usually clean it with toothpaste and brush it.

[@PaulHaywood]

Hi Rufus, that sounds like it could work really well too. probably still need the lemon juice to finish up the inside calcium though. :) Do you also leave it to soak before hand?

[@sax4passion]

@@PaulHaywood Just wanted to know that using lemon juice on Hard rubber/ Ebonite mouthpieces would not have any problem.?

[@PaulHaywood]

@@sax4passion yeah it works fine , and I've seen no problems myself and it's pretty well documented, alongside vinegar. Some types of old mouthpieces can occasionally lighten in colour slightly which is why we use the cotton wool to keep it in contact with the inner chamber rather than having to submerge the whole thing. I've used it on 3 different hard rubber/ black plastic mouthpieces with no issue. :) mouthpieces

[@simonc586]

If you're using a ebonite or HBR for mouthpieces. How do you remove the oxidation that can build up on it over time due to exposure to light? I don't play anything but I do restore tobacco pipes which use similar rubber in the stems and removing the deep oxidation from when they have turned from black to brown is a real chore. 14 grits of sandpaper, 2 polishing compounds and wax usually.

[@amelialalllalala3914]

Thankyou this is super helpful

[@vincentgaglio5106]

Great video I will do this thanks

[@PaulHaywood]

Hi Vincent. Thanks for the comment. I hope it works well for you. :)

[@vincentgaglio5106]

Paul Haywood Sax I never done this I always put a neck swab through the mouthpiece and warm water but I will do this very soon

[@russelleubanks2885]

Good stuff. Cheers!

[@romih.7945]

Thank you! Love it!

[@skyramirez2893]

how often do you need to clean mouthpieces?

[@damienlex6146]

Can you do the same for your reed?

[@PaulHaywood]

Which bit? the lemon juice or the physical cleaning?

[@richardclark9111]

The hard muck is the same as tartar on your teeth; phosphates of calcium. Citric acid is an excellent solubliser, but beware it can mess up brass if you are careless. Rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol kills germs. Your own germs are fine; it is germs from other people you have to worry about.

[@JohnSmith-uf9re]

I think that is great idea, but problem that I have is inside my saxophone. I have a one piece soprano saxophone. And i want to know if your idea or your opinion on cleaning the inside of the neck. Remember, the neck is part of the body of the saxophone.

[@APOLLO_PRINT]

i got brownish stuff on my mouthpiece, just put a lighter under it and rinsed right after (dont get it too hot,) dunno how but it worked

[@georgehaas7292]

How do I keep my mouthpiece form getting discoloration? I tried just using a toothbrush and running it under the sink and it took out the black pigment. I am scared to clean my new mouthpieces because I don’t want it to happen again, so what should I do differently?

[@tamasfoldesi2358]

Use cold water instead of hot.

[@melissagovea4734]

I ain’t got lemon juice can I just use lemon/lime?

[@PaulHaywood]

Hi Melissa, you can use the freshly Squeezed juice of a lemon or lime. If you mean a lemon and lime juice drink mix it's probably a lot less acidic and has sugars in. This may well still work as itll be slightly acidic, you might just have to leave it to work for longer. Another option is vinegar, if you dont have a bottle of it handy there might be some in a jar of something pickled. Although I take no responsibility for your mouthpiece smelling like pickles or onions if that's what you find to use! Haha XD Good luck and thanks for the comment and for watching! :D

[@melissagovea4734]

Paul Haywood Sax thank you!

[@pokediary5017]

Honestly I'm here cause i have two band classes and have my own saxophone and i got a Vandoren V16 A6 mouthpiece and there's always a bunch of residue on the outside and i didn't know how to clean it

[@PaulHaywood]

Did any of this help with that?

[@pokediary5017]

@@PaulHaywood yes it actually has, it helps a lot after I clean it and it sounds better

[@kokosax]

I got a Theo Wanne fire 2 and after 5 months (cleaned after every gig ) got deteriorated..I’m sad about it …it’s something normal ?

[@PaulHaywood]

what were you cleaning it with?

[@kokosax]

Dish soap 🧼

[@ailishbethd4033]

I thought you weren't allowed to use household detergents? I used water and vinegar

[@turtlewolf34]

How do I know my mouth piece is clean?

[@turtlewolf34]

Pls work pls work pls work

[@jonathanmohan6529]

They said my mouthpiece was moldy. It was just calcium 😪

[@lubyankaquintero1600]

Isn't that bad for your mouthpiece

[@user-ig7nq7pc7k]

You obviously have never refaced a mouthpiece, have you? The difference of thousandths of an inch affects playability. I would NEVER, EVER "scrub" the table, rails or tip. At MOST, get the softest Scotchbrite (the WHITE one) and give these areas a LIGHT cleaning with Scotchbrite, which will not change the facing numbers. Anything else and you are pressing your luck.

[@PaulHaywood]

That's what I'm using, a soft non scratch sponge, it's the same as white scotchbrite pad, and a toothbrush with soft nylon bristles. I'd obviously never use a scouring pad, I specifically say in the video not to use a scouring sponge pad.