A question for those of you with silk swabs ...

[WriterMom]

I have a "Gem" silk swab (recently purchased from wwbw.com) for my alto. Unfortunately, it has a fairly large metal ring where the cord connects to the swab. I'm afraid that over time the metal ring will scratch the inside of a sax. I'm not so worried about my current alto, which isn't in the best of shape anyway, but if I get a new one, I don't want it all scratched up inside.

Does anyone here have a "Jewel" or a "Hodge" silk swab (both sold by musiciansfriend.com)? If so, can you tell me if it has a metal ring on it, or anything that could possibly scratch up a sax?

Are there any other brands of silk swabs that don't have the metal ring?

[3saxes]

I use hodge swabs and they use a weight, similar to a fishing weight which is coated with rubber so that it doesn't have any exposed metal surfaces to scratch your instrument. They work very well. You can buy them direct from Ann Hodges also at:

http://www.annhodge.com/annhodge/swabs/swabs.html

Good Luck!

[Roger Aldridge]

I recently got GEM silk swabs for my horns from Roberto's. Specifically, I have the clarinet and tenor sax swabs. None of them have a metal ring like you described. Rather, the chord is connected directly to the swab. On the other end is a rubber-coated weight. I don't see anything with these swabs that are a problem.

It doesn't make sense that GEM would use a metal ring on their alto swab and not on tenor. I wonder if WWBW may be selling an older version of the swab. Can you confirm that your swab is made by the GEM company that's in CO? It might be worth your while to contact Roberto's in NYC and ask them if their GEM alto swab has a metal ring or not.

In compairing GEM and Jewel silk swabs it appears to me that GEM uses higher quality materials in their products and, overall, is a heavier duty swab.

[Saxturtle]

I modified my swab with an old cotton tube sock by threading the weight through a hole in the toe area (how did that get there?) and pull the patch/brush/metal clip all the way into the sock. This assembly sucks up waaay more moisture than the original 3x5in silk patch ever had a prayer of doing, and the metal clip doesn't see the light of day...

[Coufman]

I recently bought a GEM silk clarinet swab for my soprano, and it does not have a metal ring. The cord is sewn into the swab. I also got mine from WWBW. It sounds like either it is not a GEM, or it is an older version.

[Beowulfmk]

Mine has a metal ring, just like yours. Here is what I did. I wrapped a soft fabric around the ring so that it does not scratch the bore.

[BrassaxMan5]

I use a Hodge tenor swab for my alto(they shipped us one by mistake, but I kept it), and it's got this weight, and it doesns't scratch up the inside at all! works great!
and no, I wasn't bribed to say that

[WriterMom]

I actually have two of the GEM swabs: a clarinet one (which I use for swabbing out my alto's neck) and an alto one. The clarinet one does not have the metal ring or any exposed metal parts, but the alto one does.

It's odd that they would have the metal ring on the alto swab, but not on the clarinet or tenor ones.

I think I'm going to use the alto swab (possibly modified a bit, as one of you recommended) with my old alto, and buy a Hodge alto swab for use with the new one ...

[Sexyhombre812]

I've seen these Microfiber swabs sold only from WWBW and they seem like theyre good, If u tried them before let me know how they are. Im converting from pad savers to Swabs :wink:

[francois]

I use the BG swab that feels like chammy leather but is in fact synthetic.

It's the most absorbant thing I've tried.