Why Do My Woodwinds Always Break?

Why Do My Woodwinds Always Break?

By Corey Divine
Repair Technician
Palen Music Center - Springdale, AR

Woodwind instruments always seem to need more frequent repairs than brass instruments. This is a frustrating thing for many directors, and we often get asked why this keeps happening and what can be done to prevent it. The short answer is that there isn’t much that CAN be done. It is simply a fact of life with the basic construction of woodwinds.

A brass instrument is what it says it is - brass (or some form of metal). The sealing surfaces are metal, slides are metal, and pretty much everything is metal. The only thing that isn’t metal that is critical to the function of the instrument is the water key pads, which hardly ever move, and the felts, which are for noise dampening.

Woodwinds, on the other hand, have far more natural products in them, all critical to the sealing of individual tone holes, joints, and even the tone production with the reed. Most pads are either covered in leather (which is fairly durable but not without fault) or fish skin. Both of these materials are porous even though they look sealed to the naked eye. Underneath the surface is usually felt to allow a little shock absorption and then cardboard that adds stiffness to the pad. Most woodwinds also contain cork, which is used as a sealing surface between different sections of the instrument as well as regulation and dampening material. Felt is often used as well for sound dampening and sometimes as a regulation material to influence how the keys operate together. Higher end clarinets and piccolos are made out of wood, which naturally swells and cracks. Wood contains natural oils that are less reactive to the environment than water-based liquids.

Every one of these natural materials is like a sponge, and what happens when moisture is introduced to a sponge? It swells. And what happens when the sponge dries out? It shrinks. And what is carried into the instrument on our breath? Moisture. What is in the air around us? Moisture.

Moisture. It sustains human life. Without it, we die. Too much of it, we die. The same goes for your woodwinds. Too little moisture and your wooden instruments crack because the stiff wood cannot stand the strain, just as you can crack a dry sponge in half. Too much moisture, and everything not metal or plastic, swells up just like we do after the holidays when we don’t fit on our jeans.

Environmental factors also play a huge role in moisture introduced to the instrument. Summertime in the south is very hot and humid. There is a ton of moisture in the air, and that slowly seeps into every porous surface of the instrument. Conversely, winter is often very cold and dry, sapping moisture out of every porous surface. And just like the sponge, this changes the physical shape and dimensions of whatever dries out or swells up. Pads, corks, and felts may be thicker in the summer and thinner in the winter because of the amount of moisture in the air around us. And when something changes shape, it doesn’t always do so evenly. It may become thicker or thinner on one side than the other in the case of pads. Even the tiniest gap between the pad and tone hole is a leak. As a point of reference, many technicians use a piece of cassette tape, a cigarette paper, or a small piece of a mylar balloon to determine if a pad is sealing or leaking. The thickness of these materials is roughly .0005” (five ten-thousandths). A human hair is .003” (three thousandths). A gap 1/6th the thickness of a human hair will keep a note from working. Felt and cork also compress with age, leading to loose barrels or mouthpieces, lost motion in keys, or even a key not closing properly. 

What can we do? We cannot control the environment around us, but we CAN control the environment inside the instrument’s case, and even in the instrument. Just as many string players keep humidity control devices and a hygrometer in their case, woodwinds can also use these devices to control the ambient humidity in the case. Also, swab after playing. Every. Single. Time. Use a swab cloth, and get rid of the fluffy stick. That is also a sponge, and it holds moisture inside the instrument that can lead to mold and mildew. Mold and mildew love dark damp places, which is exactly what an instrument and case are when closed. On wooden instruments, oil the wood every couple weeks. It doesn’t take much when you keep up with it, you only need to drag a dedicated oil swab through the bore. When oiling is neglected - remember my comment earlier about oil being less reactive to its surroundings - the wood dries out and often needs to be completely immersed in an oil bath for hours or even days to re-hydrate the wood with oil. This requires a full disassembly and is quite expensive. Keep tenon corks greased. The grease blocks excessive moisture from reaching the cork. The excessive moisture makes it swell, and you won't know until you can’t get your clarinet apart. Ask me how fun this situation is.

Marching band... now that in itself is a whole can of worms for woodwinds. Marching band has many variables outside of our control. It rains outside. It’s hot and cold outside, sometimes on the same day. We can’t control the weather, so we must simply be prepared to deal with the side effects on woodwinds. If you are lucky to have a dedicated marching woodwind inventory, ask your shop to use synthetic pads, corks, and felts whenever possible. These materials are much more robust, often laughing at moisture. Use metal piccolos and plastic clarinets outdoors- save the wooden instruments for indoors. Encourage your students to keep their plastic beginner clarinet for marching band. And of course, put them away if it’s raining. No one wants to repad twenty piccolos in the middle of marching season because of a sudden thunderstorm... and I’ve seen this situation.

Most important of all is to establish a routine for getting your woodwinds to the repair shop with the intent of the technician not only fixing what is wrong but looking for materials that have not yet failed but rather might fail soon. Pads, corks, and felts often give visual warnings prior to failure, even if the instrument still plays. Technicians are trained to spot these signs, and just as much as you don’t want to send your instruments in during the school year, your technician wants to do a good job that lasts. You may have a minor adjustment to make here and there even when you have a regular shop routine, but if the instrument is regularly serviced, these follow-up appointments will be very minor, very cheap, and very quick. You won’t need to spring for $200 of pads in March when your budget is on its last breath because the technician will have already seen those pads failing and replaced them in the summer. And it won’t take two to three weeks either, because it may be a 20-minute repair rather than a four-hour repair.

I hope I do not paint too bleak a picture with this article, but rather I wish to present you with some hope that with a little thought into what we CAN control, you can get a little more reliability from your woodwinds during the school year. Material choices, maintenance habits, and a look at the forecast can go a long way to saving you some money.