{"id":564,"date":"2020-04-30T07:56:33","date_gmt":"2020-04-30T13:56:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress-686768-2265439.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=564"},"modified":"2021-01-11T07:15:46","modified_gmt":"2021-01-11T14:15:46","slug":"sterilize-recorder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cleanmyinstrument.com\/sterilize-recorder\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Sterilize a Recorder: Plastic or Wood"},"content":{"rendered":"
Musical recorders are wonderful instruments that are simple to learn but are still versatile and have a great sound. Many beginning students start with the plastic recorder simply because they don’t cost much and are easy to find. Professional wooden recorders though can cost over $300 and can be exquisite instruments. Whether you’re a student in a classroom setting, just learning to play the recorder at home, or an experienced musician, it’s important to know how to clean and sterilize your recorder.<\/p>\n
Before you sterilize a recorder, you’ll want to clean the instrument first. Take apart the recorder and wash each section with warm water and mild cleaner, soaking the recorder if it’s made of plastic. Clean the exterior with warm cloth and then rinse. Wipe the inside dry with a cloth and cleaning rod. For sanitization, saturate with\u00a0 mouthwash or Sterisol\u00a0 to kill germs. Rinse again and then dry by patting with a soft cloth. Allow to fully air dry before storing in its case.<\/strong><\/p>\n There are a few things you should watch out for with the cleaning process and some different options for cleaning and for sanitizing. We also have a some shortcuts if you’re ever in a rush to sterilize a recorder or don’t want all the hassle.<\/p>\n For the steps below, I’ll be using dish detergent and mouthwash for cleaning and sanitizing. I’ll list the other options below.<\/p>\n Let’s break down the full process of cleaning and sterilizing a plastic recorder. After all, each time the recorder is played, the inside is coated in saliva and we need to know how to get rid of that spit, and the germs with it!<\/p>\n Wait, what? Yes, many plastic recorders are actually dishwasher safe. Many teachers and recorder owners swear that this works for sanitization and that they haven’t seen any damage to their instrument. If you do this, make sure to separate your recorder joints and that you run the dishwasher without the heated dry cycle. Running the recorder through the dishwasher will also remove the joint grease though, so make sure you apply more afterwards so the joints will be easier to put back together.<\/p>\n Remember, this shortcut is just for plastic<\/strong> recorders.<\/p>\n Instead of saturating with mouthwash or Sterisol, use the spray version of the product. Just make sure you fully spray all areas. You can find it at your local music instrument store or online<\/a>.<\/p>\n Most of the steps to clean a wooden recorder are the same as a plastic one EXCEPT these 2 important rules:<\/p>\n We don’t need to go over each step in detail here since so I’ll mention what’s different with cleaning a wooden recorder.<\/p>\n Here are some alternatives to using soapy water to initially soak or wash your mouthpiece:<\/p>\n For sanitization, you can also use a 50:50 solution of vinegar and water to saturate your instrument.<\/p>\n That’s it? If you don’t have a lot of time to clean your recorder, you can remove just your mouthpiece and pop it into a glass that contains a mixture of half water and half antibacterial mouthwash, so that it’s fully submerged. Let it sit for about a minute and then rinse out with water and dry. The mouthpiece is the dirtiest part of the instrument so in this shortcut, we’re just focused it. However, you should really clean the full recorder if you have a little extra time.<\/p>\n The easiest way to keep the germs at bay is a little maintenance.<\/p>\n We’ve put together recommendations and links for each of the items mentioned here.<\/p>\n We hope this helped you with cleaning and sanitizing your instrument, so that you’ll have many years of enjoyment playing it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Musical recorders are wonderful instruments that are simple to learn but are still versatile and have a great sound. Many beginning students start with the plastic recorder simply because they<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":590,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,176],"tags":[44,43,45,46],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cleanmyinstrument.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cleanmyinstrument.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cleanmyinstrument.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cleanmyinstrument.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cleanmyinstrument.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cleanmyinstrument.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cleanmyinstrument.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cleanmyinstrument.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cleanmyinstrument.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cleanmyinstrument.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Steps to clean and sterilize a plastic recorder<\/h2>\n
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\nNote: if you don’t have a recorder rod, a knitting needle will also work since it has a hook on the end. You don’t want to get your cleaning cloth stuck within the instrument!<\/li>\n
\nNote, most of the germs will already have been washed away during the cleaning process. This extra sanitization step just makes extra sure.<\/li>\nFirst Shortcut: Put your plastic recorder in the dishwasher<\/h3>\n
Second Shortcut: Spray Sterisol<\/h3>\n
Steps to clean and disinfect a wooden recorder<\/h2>\n
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Cleaning Options<\/h2>\n
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Third Shortcut: Soak just your mouthpiece in a glass of mouthwash<\/h3>\n
Let’s talk prevention<\/h2>\n
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Missing a few cleaning supplies?<\/h2>\n
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Happy playing!<\/h2>\n