My son is going to be starting a new instrument tomorrow...baritone sax. Because of the cost of the instrument, we don't rent this; he will use the school's sax. There are 3 students who play this at the school, one per grade level. The older students have one to keep at home to practice, but we will have to pick the third one up at school for him to practice. This is not a problem. The question I have is how can he sanitize the mouthpiece (he has his own reeds) during the school day? The one he will be using is the same one the other 2 students will play in class. (As happy as I am for him for playing this instrument, a big part of me is going EEWWWWWW!!)
Here is my suggestion (not as a band parent, but as a former band student). Buy a Bari Sax mouth piece so he will have his own mouth piece. Then he won't have to use the communal (sp?) mouth piece. Your band director should be able to get one for him provided you pay for the mouth piece.
HG...I agree completely. Garnet, great idea. We'll be doing that. But until we get it....what to do? I have a pack of clorox cleaning wipes, but not sure if that's a good idea to put into the mouth afterward. (Poisoning him kind of defeats the purpose of killing the germs!) Would antibacterial wipes be okay to rub over the inside and outside of it?
Have you tried to get to Marsh Woodwinds? I went there to buy my daughter a new clarinet mouthpiece and they had a massive stock of instrument supplies. (Way more than any of the other area stores that I've gone to...) I know it is in Raleigh somewhere around the Mordecai shops, but I don't remember the real directions. I would google them and see if you could call and see if they have one in stock...
I used to play bass clarinet in highschool and had to share the instrument. I know the instrument mouth pieces are a little different, the clarinet one had a cork, I don't know if the sax mouth piece has one but if it does you don't want to get it wet. I used to clean mine out with toothpaste, because I didn't want to clean it with anything I didn't want to put in my mouth. You could probably also use a cloth and cleaning rod with some mouthwash. Most importantly, he needs his own reeds. Honestly, especially when you first start out, everyones different instruments are so interesting we'd all try out our friends, so chances are he'll end up with his mouth on someone elses mouthpiece anyway.
Like someone else said, you don't want to get the cork part wet of the mouth piece (otherwise it won't fit into the sax right). I don't know much about the Sax (Alto, Bari, Tenor ... and that's about all I know that and it has a mouth piece). I would just get over to an instrument place ASAP to get one if you think it would take the band director too long to get you one. I would name a place, but it's been so long since I was in those stores that I would probably name a place that's out of business. I know there is a music place in Crossroads somewhere, but I don't recall which side it's on. I only know because I rode with a friend to pick up reeds for her son's Sax. And I am fairly certain I saw mouthpieces (but this was a year ago).