Klarinet Archive - Posting 000266.txt from 1995/07

From: Virginia Lyons <lyonsva@-----.NET>
Subj: Re: Help req. re stuck barrel
Date: Thu, 27 Jul 1995 12:52:00 -0400

Martin Pergler wrote:

>Hello all. I just returned from a week long chamber music camp.
>Unfortunately, the temperatureand humidity were high, and the barrels
>on both my Bb and A are wedged on to the top joint, all the way in
>(from chasing strings pushing A445). They refuse to budge an iota even if
>I try to wiggle them slighly from side to side. Any suggesions what to do?
>
>I suspect the trouble is from all the moisture, both from the air and from
>the 7 or 8 daily hours of playing, far more than my usual 1 or 2. I'm
>worried that since they are pushed all the way in it would take
>prohibitively long to dry out naturally, since very little air gets "inside"
>the joint.

I would suggest storing them in a cool, dry place for a while (I know that may
hard to do in the midst of the summer!) A friend of mine had this happen to
his old beat up clarinet one time, so he put it in the freezer for a while
(!) - I don't know if I'd go to that extreme with my own instruments, but it
did the trick for my friend!

Ginny Lyons
Waterloo, Ontario
lyonsva@-----.net