Hey so I would really like it if I could get some advice on cleaning out clarinet and bass clarinet mouthpieces. Is there any "at home" ideas? I'm not in the mood to go down to the music store and spending $25 on a cleaning kit. Thanks for any help.

soap and warm water

soap and warm water? do clarinetists usually do that? is it wise? It sounds, err, hazardous to the instrument, wooden ones specifically.

Well since mouthpieces aren't made of wood and are made of plastic, I don't see how anything could be damaged by using soap and water.

DO NOT PUT THE CLARINET IN THE WATER, ESPECIALLY IF ITS WOODEN, if you do then you should oil the clarin IMMEDIATELY with bore oil, and hope it doenst split.
also, when cleaning the mouthpiece, its best not to put the cork under water, it will damage over time, if you do, then rinse the soap off and put some cork grease on it.

thanks for all of the help!!

my band teacher told me that you can clean a clarinet mouth piece out with tooth paste he didnt say any of tooth paste and its ok i tried it once

i put cork grease thoroughly all over the cork before i soak the mouthpeice, to avoid messing it up if it gets wet. you can rinse it with vinegar if it's really gross (i do this when i get a used mouthpiece with school instruments) but be sure to rinse the vinegar off- i've heard stories of mouthpieces soaked in vinegar turning funny colors. generally warm water and a mouthpeice brush works well for me.

i took all of this advice and what i did was mix some toothpaste and warm water in a cup and held my mouthpiece by the cork and let it soak for about 5 minutes (yea i got bored and read star magazine during this) and then i took a paper towel and wiped out the softened gunk. it worked really well.