The Doctor's Products"The""Legend"" Clarinet Swab" The Doctor's Products The "Legend" Clarinet Swab Design elements and materials in woodwind swabs have improved little in the last hundred years and also their efficiency at removing moisture from the bores of woodwind instruments This has all changed with aeronautical design software which can predict the best shape profile for a swab to give the most contact (ballooning principle) with the bore surface The missing element, until now, has been a way to control the folding and compression characteristics of the swab as it enters the bore to avoid improper folding giving only "edge effect" contact with the bore A chance meeting with a Japanese Shibori expert (Shibori is the revered ancient Asian art of folding fabric to form intricate patterns) resulted in a revolutionary solution The Shibori expert showed me that addition of a carefully defined notch in the leading edge of the swab would cause it to assume the desired shape and complete contact of the silk with the surface of the bore