For a long time I’ve known that Cascade complete is the world’s greatest detergent. I do the dishes in our house and this brand EATS the waste food. Some kind of enzyme action. Anyway, I was getting some odd sounds from an old high end whistle (aluminum) and I tried soaking it in a solution of Cascade Complete. Wow, what a difference. Before the wash there was slight buzziness or something, especially on the second octave E. It’s gone now.
Crusty spit and food particles… 
If allowed to dry inside of the windway, the soap will keep condensation from building up and clogging your windway.
Does anyone know if Cascade Complete will harm brass finishes? I’m not sticking the Burke in there until I know for sure.
Find an old brass screw or hinge and give it a soak. You should know fairly quickly, but you might want to give it a good long soak.
My Clare is pretty nasty looking on the inside of the mouthpiece…all crusty looking…how do I go about cleaning it? Do I have to throw the whole thing in the dishwasher or what? I’m afraid the sticker will come off
A good long soak and an Air hose… That should blow any gung that has crustified in there. If 100psi of air pressure can’t get it out, then it aint movin…
Well, sounds good in theory but…
I see the inside of many windways, probably 50 or more a month on average, and let me tell you, some of the blocks, windways, and labium indersides have so much crud that nothing aside from a (proper) scrubbing with high strength (enough to burn you) hydrogen peroxide will clean the gunk off, and it’s really disgusting to boot. (need that barfing emoticon right here) If people could see what builds up on their blocks and windways from playing right after eating and or smoking… well, they’d likely be brushing their teeth a lot more before playing.
And yeah, all that build-up can have a huge impact on the tone and playability of your instrument: Many times people send instruments to us asking for a complete revoicing, because the instrument sounds terrible and plays poorly, however after a good cleaning some of these instruments sound fantastic and need nothing more. Something to think about…
Loren