So i guess my piccolo (Yamaha YPC-32) has pretty much always done this but it seems worse this marching season.. so I guess I spit a lot or something is wrong because spit ALWAYS gets stuck between the pads and the instrument making it not work or sounding horible.. its mainly the Bb keys thats the issue, sometimes the Ab. I can't even play an entire show without this happening and its SUPER annoying.. anything I can do? If its just me and that i spit a lot is there anything I can do to fix that? I never has this problem in concert band with same picc.. i guess its probably me but just wanting suggestions
Don't worry, this is a common problem with piccolos. What it is is condensation not spit. You can invest in a piccolo flag which is one piece and just takes a second to swab through your piccolo. You can use it with you piccolo still completely assembled, You can get a piccolo flag that breaks down into two parts so that you could easily carry it in your pocket. If you have a minute break, just use is quickly. You can also use pad drying paper (or perm or cigarette paper) but that will be more time consuming. When I used to play mine even in a concert, in between songs I would swab it out with my piccolo flag to keep it dry inside so it didn't accumulate too much condensation. Hope that helps!
Yep, pretty common.
You may be able to get the most-affected pads redone in cork, which might help.
But you really will have to swab it out.
It is condensation, not spit, and you will definitely get more condensation playing outside when it is cool or cold out, since the instrument will be that much warmer than ambient air when you're blowing warm air through it.In an indoor concert, there will be some condensation but not nearly as much as you will get outside in the cold.
Since this picc is a conical bore, you would need a very small swab (flag) to get it dry still assembled. But you will need something to swab the wet out, I would plan on swabbing sometime when you aren't playing during each show,e specially if you have to disassemble the HJ to swab it. I have seen ruined piccolos on eBay, that got a swab stuck in the smallest end, so err on the conservative side.
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