A little bit of mould...

It is not uncommon for a student to get a little bit of mould on their saxophone or clarinet reeds if they leave them on the mouthpiece and don't dry them after use. This is why I insist that my students get into the habit of drying the reed and mouthpiece after use and storing the reed in its plastic cover or a reed protector case. I also suggest that they should clean the mouthpiece about once a month in lukewarm water and some kind of non-toxic cleaning aid. (I used to use Dettol, but now I just use a simple dish-washing liquid, it doesn't leave a bad taste and is probably slightly healthier. Some people use Milton.) To make a little extra money, when I was still in college I was able to buy a few saxophones and hire them out to my students. I had a policy that I would only hire to students I was currently teaching, but when I left the one school to start full-time teaching I felt comfortable continuing to hire them out as I felt the students would have a good idea of how to look after the instruments especially since I had made sure to teach them. Anyhow, the idea of hiring an instrument is usually to try it our before committing to the expense. So the parents of this one little boy decided it was now time to buy him one. I'm assume that he must have left the hired saxophone in its case for a while and the result is in the pictures below:

The moldiest reed I have ever seen!!!

There is only one thing to do with a reed like this...in the bin it goes!

Mouthpiece, ligature and even the cap needed a good soaking and scrub.

I'm not sure what people do with instruments, or if they live near the beach but this one came back with a lot of rust.