Our swab was first developed around the turn of the century by individual horn players that saw a need to clean the moisture from the bore of their instruments. Back then they would get a towel, tie a string and weight to it, and drop it through their horn. Many advances have come about since the wind instruments were first invented but the need to remove the moisture from the bore has always remained. Some of the new products for horns include swabs that are designed to be left in the bore of the instrument, and act as "moisture magnets" to help dry the pads. In fact, what happens is the horn stays "wet" and the pads never have a chance to dry and end up deteriorating at a faster than normal rate. So the swab, designed to be a "saver of pads", becomes a "destroyer" of pads. Here at The ORIGINAL SWAB Company we saw a need for an all cotton swab similar to the swabs made by the first wind instrument players. A swab that will clean the walls of the horn as well as remove the moisture. Once the instrument is clean, the bore is left "open" so air circulation will dry the pads naturally.
