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Doublereed Archive - Posting 000004.txt from 2005/04
From: William Safford <williamsafford@-----.com>
Subj: [DR-L] Re: HELP! HELP! HELP!
Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2005 15:33:35 -0500
I've read the messages on the IDRS list as well as this list to and from
you about this. =
First of all, best wishes to you for getting your prized Heckel back into=
excellent playing order. =
A few thoughts come to mind in addition to what has already been written:=
=
- Take a few deep breaths. =
That's easy for me to say, of course--my bassoon didn't just break.
True--but then I'd hope that someone else would be giving me the same
advice. :-) =
- Think long term for the repair of your bassoon. =
April 16th is just one concert, even if an exciting one for you. That
Heckel, absent the current situation, is worth $25,000 or more, plus it's=
your pride and joy. It is better to play this concert on a borrowed
bassoon, or reschedule the concert, and get your Heckel repaired as well =
as
possible, rather than have a rush job performed on the Heckel just for th=
e
sake of this concert. =
OTOH, if the repairman tells you that there is no problem getting the
repair done in that amount of time, and if you trust that repairman, that=
's
a different story. =
(Please take this as general advice. I am not trying to make any kind of
commentary on any specific repairman, pro or con.) =
- Don't do anything else to the bassoon yourself. =
Let the repairman do the rest. =
One time I had a professional-quality bassoon on loan. I was considering
buying it. At the end of a lesson, I cleaned it using the swab in the
case--it broke off in the bore of the wing joint. My teacher and I looked=
at each other, then I got out my cellphone and called the local woodwind
repairman. It was about twenty minutes before closing, and he was about
twenty minutes away. The first question he asked after I described the
situation: "What did you do to try to get it out?" I replied, "Nothing." =
He
told me to come over. He waited a few minutes after closing for me to
arrive. I handed him the wing. He disappeared in the back, and emerged
about a minute later with the offending swab extracted. He told me that
"nothing" was the best response I could have given. It made his life much=
easier, plus I hadn't done anything that could have damaged the instrumen=
t,
permanently or otherwise. He didn't even charge me for the extraction! A
stuck swab is a heck of a lot more trivial of a problem than a broken
tenon. =
- Try to figure out *why* the tenon broke. =
Was this purely your fault? Did you drop the instrument, or zig when you
should have zagged? Or is there something wrong with your instrument that=
needs further repair--some wood rot, or something like that? Or was there=
a
defect in the instrument that only now came to light? Are there any other=
structural problems with the instrument that need attention? =
- Borrow a high-quality bassoon, and start getting used to it JIC. =
Sh*t happens. The repairman could get partway into the job and find
additional problems that can't be fixed within your timeframe. Also,
repairmen are human: they have heart attacks, are involved in car crashes=
,
have family members pass away, etc. Be prepared JIC the repair can't be
completed before April 16th. =
In addition, there is always the possibility that your bassoon might have=
a
different feel to it post-repair. It might even end up feeling *better*
than before, if the repairman fixes something that you didn't know was
amiss until the tenon actually snapped. It might be good to get used to
another instrument, again JIC. =
HTH. Best wishes for both the repair of your instrument, and that upcomin=
g
concert. =
--Will Safford =
Message text written by INTERNET:doublereed@-----.org
>Double Reed players, especially repair persons, I need your immediate
help as never before. I was just
taking my beloved Heckel 13000 series bassoon apart to go to a
rehearsal and THE TENON FOR THE WING JOINT BROKE OFF RIGHT AT THE
ENTRANCE INTO THE BOOT!!!! The end is still stuck in the boot,
including part of the liner. I phoned Keith Bowen in Seattle to see if
he could fix it asap-I have a chamber music concert coming up on April
16th in which I am giving the world premiere of 10 love songs for mezzo
soprano and bassoon to poems by Jennifer Gueguen: "Love Always", which I
just finished composing in December-and Keith is out of town (in Europe)
until April 11th. If there are any repair persons who could help me out
I would be eternally indebted. Please respond to my personal email
account;
klimko@-----.net
I feel absolutely destroyed by this-in all my bassooning years no horror
like this has ever happened to me before. If any of you repair persons
can fix it right away, I will ship it out to you tomorrow.
Right now, I am going to fix myself a stiff drink!!!!!!!
Panically yours, Ron Klimko
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