New And Improved Thumbrest

Okay, so, clarinets have thumbrests. They are not rests for one’s thumbs as one would think, but rather a device for taking the weight of the clarinet on one’s right thumb. Thusly, they have padding. Way back in the day when I got my clarinet, it had a little sticky rubber foam pad on the thumb rest. That quickly vanished and was replaced by a poorly cut piece of surgical tubing. This lasted for some years, maybe four or five. By the end of that time it had gotten Really Nasty and Decrepit. This brings me up to the beginning of marching band and a severe need of a new and functional thumbrest.

I’ll try to explain the creative process.

What does a thumbrest need? a cushion, weather resistant, a non abrasive easily cleanable exterior, can’t fall off easy…

What materials do this? fabric…felt! well, if the exterior is waterproof (because it is cleanable) and it shouldn’t spend too much time outside the stretchy rubber sticky tape my father has ought to do…

From there it is a simple matter of cutting the felt in the shape of the thumbrest (two layers) and wrapping it to the thumbrest in the rubber tape.

That thumbrest lasted me a year or so until it wore through on the edges, forcing me to make a new one or march with a steel thumbrest (no fun, I’ve done it).

These are pictures of the old one in it’s decayed form and the new one in all it’s glory.

This view is of the thumb side of the old fix.

This is the thumbside of the new rest. Yes, it is ridged, that is not an artifact of my poor photography.

This is the topside upsidedown. I made it pretty.

Breaking Stuff

Mouthpieces are not supposed to look like this.

This is what happens when a clarinet is dropped mouthpiece down on the floor. The clarinet is fine, the mouthpiece shatters.

I am less miffed about this one being broken than I am about it being a mouthpiece less than a year old being broken because I’ve had my other one since forth grade.

Blah, mostly.