8. Maintaining good looks with the right care

This is not really a piece of maintenance advice, but it does protect your mouthpiece: the bite plate. It keeps your sharp front teeth from damaging the mouthpiece. But it also helps with sensitive teeth, or if the instrument's vibrations feel unpleasant to you.

And now for the mouthpiece maintenance advice:

• After playing, the mouthpiece should be cleaned with a cloth inside and out, without exception.
• To get rid of stubborn grime or when using someone else's mouthpiece, use a special cleaning spray which also disinfects.
• When not playing, the mouthpiece should not be exposed to extreme sunshine.
• For transport in the instrument case, it's best to store the mouthpiece in its cap in a separate case. This will spare you unpleasant surprises, i.e. transport damage.

Caring advice for reeds:

• If you want to enjoy your reed as long as possible, remove it from the mouthpiece after playing and let it dry separately.
• Ideally, you should put the reed onto a flat surface for drying, e.g. a sheet of glass. Wood is problematic due to the moistness, which moves from the reed to the surface and back again. On glass, the moistness evaporates more easily.
• Perfectly plane storage prevents bending and curving.
• For storage, you can use so-called reed cases. These are also suitable for transporting your reeds without damaging them.
• Whenever you are taking a break from playing, we advise you to cover the reed with the cap. This protects the reed from accidental damage.

Reed case and cleaning equipment